Shavuot is on the horizon, which means everyone is preparing for a holiday whose main ritual is eating blintzes. Don’t get me wrong, I love blintzes, but I’ve been thinking about a good way to combine the custom of eating dairy on Shavuot with the theme of the Israelites receiving the Torah on Shavuot. What I’ve come up with is this: butter sculptures. Specifically, butter sculptures of the Ten Commandments, Moses on Mt. Sinai, and a Torah scroll.
This seems like a fun Shavuot activity. In fact, it seems so obvious I’m kind of shocked that there aren’t a whole lot of Biblical butter sculptures already. Think about it! Ruth collecting wheat, Jonah inside a whale, Esther in a harem, Jacob wrestling with an angel—these would all make great butter sculptures.
And then, use the butter to make babka and rugelach. It’s a triple mitzvah. And so delectable. Who’s with me?
Shavuot
Pronounced: shah-voo-OTE (oo as in boot), also shah-VOO-us, Origin: Hebrew, the holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, falls in the Hebrew month Sivan, which usually coincides with May or June.