minhag - Why do Ashkenazim eat Milchigs (dairy) on Shavuos?

Why do Ashkenazim have a Minhag to eat Milchigs (dairy) on Shavuos?

Answer

Seven answers from Aish HaTorah:

1. They just got the laws of kosher slaughter and weren't yet prepared.


2. Torah is likened to milk.


3. Gematria of Chalav is 40 and Moshe Rabbeinu was on Har Sinai for 40 days.


4. Because bikkurim is joined to the command to not eat meat and milk together (so eat two meals, one meat and one dairy; I had not heard this before now).


5. An alternate name for Har Sinai is Har Gav'nunim, which is linguistically related to milk. Also, gematria of "gevina" is 70, for the 70 faces of the torah.


6. To comemorate Moshe being nursed by his mother under Paro's nose.



7. This may have been the first time Jews ate dairy, since some say that until the Torah explicitly permitted it, milk was considered a limb of a living animal, and forbidden under the 7 Noahide laws.