#17 - Shavous - Zman Tefillah, Hadlakah and custom to eat dairy
Dear Rabbi,
1) - As we begin
Shavuoth, we wait to pray tefilath Maariv until nightfal, if somebody keeps
usually Rabeinu Tam, does he have to wait now too?
2) - When do women light the
candles on first night Shavuoth?
3) - Bnai Ysroel in the widerness only ate the
Mannah, how come we eat milk food to remember the fact that on first time
Shavuoth they consumed milk food, as they were unprepared for the halachic
comlexities of preparing meat?
Isaac
Dear Isaac,
Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a is of the opinion that no waiting for the Zman
of Rabeinu Tam is necessary for beginning to recite Maariv on first night
Shavuoth.
As for light kindling on that evening, although there are opinions
that because of the issue of Temimoth (seven complete weeks) women wait until
nightfall, the accepted tradition is to light on the Zman, as in any other Yom
Tov.
In regards to the Mann, Igrah Dekalah writes in Parshas Beshalach that they
did not eat any other food during the forty years in the wilderness but Mann.
Not every one agrees though , there is a Midrash on Shir Hashirim that maintains
that contacts were made with other nations and they supplied wine for Nesachim
from Ein Gedi. Then again, they had an ample supply of cattle with them as
described in the Torah. It is interesting to mention the opinion of The Gilione
Hashas on Berachot 48b, that the miracle of the Mann included its transformation
to being the actual food that one had in mind as he ate it. And that is the way
the were able to comply with eating Matzah and making Kidush during that period.
It is then conceivable that they actually had "virtual" milk food from the
Mann.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a
Answered by: Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
Published: May 27, 2009