Shavuot, the celebration of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, is a cheese lover’s dream.

Why cheese? The laws of kashrut did not exist before the Torah, so all of the cooking utensils were impure. Jews had to learn how to perform a kosher ritual slaughter before they could consume kosher meat. Therefore, it was easier to make dairy meals.

Have fun casting your own plaster tablets. Carve the first 10 letters of the Hebrew alphabet to symbolize each commandment. Parents should mix the plaster of Paris for young children.

One of the loveliest traditions of Shavuot for girls and women is dressing in white and wearing flower crowns. In Ancient Israel, young unmarried maidens dressed in white and danced among the vineyards, hoping to be noticed by eligible young bachelors.

It is traditional to serve dairy specialties for Shavuot. This is a reminder that the Land of Israel is “a land flowing with milk and honey,” (Exodus 33:3).

People who stay up all night studying during the Tikkun Leil Shavuot enjoy sweet snacks to help them stay awake. There is one very special type of Shavuot treat that almost disappeared during the Holocaust. It is a Sephardic recipe from the Jewish community of Salonika.