The timing couldn’t be better. In the United States, June is National Dairy Month.
Back in 1937, it started out as National Milk Month, designed to encourage consumption of the beverage. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, “it was initially created to stabilize the dairy demand when production was at a surplus, but has now developed into an annual tradition that celebrates the contributions the dairy industry has made to the world.”
As Jews prepare to celebrate Shavuot and the receiving of the Torah—this year, the holiday starts on the evening of Tuesday, June 3, and continues until the evening of Thursday, June 5—dairy is on their minds, one of the key players in festivities marked by sweetness.
In the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, the Kosher Spot is celebrating its one-year anniversary—it opened shortly before Shavuot last year—and store manager Naomi Grossbaum has been handling a larger-than-usual request for dairy products. In addition to Cholov Yisroel milk, on the shelves are the highest caliber of kosher-supervised cream cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese and sour cream, all of which come from New York.
“We’re the main kosher store in the area; we serve people in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul,” says Grossbaum, co-director of Upper Midwest Merkos-Lubavitch House with her husband, Rabbi Yosaif Grossbaum. “But people come from as far as North Dakota.”
Most customers shop at the store, though Grossbaum says they do sometimes ship items: “We love to help people out.”
Right now, they are stocked with cheese Danish and cheese swirled-pastry, and cheesecakes in various flavors—plain, cherry, blueberry, cappuccino, chocolate, marble and more. “We have all kinds of cheesy items,” she says.
Buying, Baking and Freezing
The women emissaries of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement all over the world have been shopping and baking, mixing and planning for this week’s smorgasbord of traditional dairy delights.
It is customary to eat dairy foods on the two-day holiday of Shavuot. Among other reasons, it commemorates the fact that upon receiving the Torah, including the kosher laws, the Jewish people could not cook meat in their pots, which had yet to be rendered kosher.
“We’ve been doing this for 17 years—hosting a Shavuot program and buffet luncheon for adults and children, with readings of the Ten Commandments,” says Chaya Posner, co-director of Chabad of Rancho Mirage-The Torah Oasis in California with her husband, Rabbi Shimon Posner. “We call it ‘Cheesecake on Sinai’… it’s a marathon cheesecake session.”
She expects more than 100 people, but for many years, “I was nervous that we would even have a minyan. Now, I just try to make sure everyone arrives in time to hear the Ten Commandments.”
They will also hold a children’s program, where kids can make Torahs out of rolled-up fruit leather and pretzel sticks.
All of the cheesecakes and cake-like bars—12 different varieties—are homemade, and have been stored in the fridge or freezer waiting for Shavuot to arrive. Add to that five lasagnas, eight quiches of one kind and two of another, and a selection of pasta dishes that will be prepared right beforehand. Posner’s shopping list included 20 to 30 pounds of cream cheese, 15 to 18 pounds of cottage cheese and eight pints of fresh cream. And don’t forget the ice-cream—lots and lots of ice-cream.
“There’s enough of every kind of food, an overabundance,” says this mother of eight and grandmother of five. “There are even leftovers, which is a good thing.”
Posner notes that her Chabad House-oriented event is very different from the holiday celebrations she experienced as a child, growing up with 14 siblings in a suburb of London. “You can get all kinds of milk products in London, but we grew up making very few cheesecakes. We had blintzes and dairy, but it wasn’t a very big deal.”
She lives a few hours from Los Angles and can get most of her Cholov Yisroel products there, but says the rise of stores like Trader Joe’s and Costco has been a welcome change for many, as they offer products like feta cheese and mozzarella cheese from Israel. “Today, the world has gotten smaller, and the availability of these foods is a big help.”
Time for FaceTime
However, her oldest child and daughter, Musie Kesselman—co-director of Chabad of Greenville, S.C., with her husband, Rabbi Leibel Kesselman—finds it a bit more challenging getting her dairy goods. She drives to Atlanta to get certain Cholov Yisroel products, but says it’s often “hit or miss.”
“We wind up not using much dairy” on a daily basis, she says. “The kids drink almond milk. When we’re in Atlanta, we can get cheese, and when we visit family in New York and Florida, we can get much more,” which she stores in two big freezers in her garage.
The couple, in Greenville for just two years, welcomed their third child a month ago. With that in mind, Kesselman says she started stocking up on goods and even baking for Shavuot right after Passover. She made most of the food ahead of time for the 60 or so people she expects Wednesday afternoon at their holiday event, but couldn’t find the chocolate graham-cracker crust she needed for her espresso chocolate-swirl cheesecakes before the baby was born.
So afterwards, her mother came to visit and finish up, baking that last variety for her. (Her sisters had brought her a stack of crusts and other items she needed.) At the same time, a friend went to Atlanta to pick up more dairy supplies, FaceTiming Posner on the phone so she could read the Hebrew writing on the packages and determine what was needed.
Posner thought that was great—modern technology at its most helpful. Kesselman says she appreciated the support in whatever form. In fact, it all came together rather nicely.
The only thing left to do, she notes, is dress the salads.
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