by
Rabbi Michael Laitner

Rama (Rav Moshe Iserlis), Orach Chayim 493:3

‘There is a custom to display flowers on Shavuot around the Synagogue, and at home, to commemorate the joy of the giving of the Torah. There is also a custom, in many places, to eat dairy products on the first day of Shavuot. It appears to me, that the reason is to commemorate the two cooked foods taken on the night of Pesach in memory of the Pesach offering and the Chagiga offering. Thus we eat something dairy, and then afterwards something meaty. We need to bring with this two loaves, placed on the table, which is in place of the Mizbeach (altar). Through this we remember the two loaves which were brought in the Temple on ‘the day of the First Fruits’.

Chaye Adam, 131:13

The Vilna Gaon (Yoreh Deah 178, Sefer Ma’aseh Rav ch. 191) forbade the custom of placing trees in shuls and homes on Shavuot, since in his day, non-Jews did the same on one of their festivals.

Beit Yosef Yoreh Deah 178

Anything non-Jews do which has some benefit (not a bizarre custom), or which they to honour something, is also permitted for Jews in their context, (such as flowers on Shavuot)

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Responsa Yechaveh Da’at 4:33

Today, the custom is to decorate the shul with flowers, roses and tree branches, and there is a good reason for this which is founded in a Midrash. Thus, there is no prohibition of ‘uvechukoteihem lo taylaychu’, and the customs of Israel ‘are Torah’.

Mishna Berura OC 493:10

In memory of the rejoicing of the giving of the Torah: Since there were flowers around Mount Sinai, as it says ‘the flock and the cattle should not draw near’ (Shemot 34:3). The later (post 16^th century) authorities wrote: In a place where it is the custom to distribute herbs to perfume the shul, this should not be done between ‘Baruch Sheamar’ and the end of the Shacharit amida, so that blessings can be made on them, as in between these prayers, it is forbidden to interrupt to bless on them.

We are also accustomed to place trees in the shuls and the houses, as a reminder that on Shavuot, we are judged on the fruits of the tree (see Tractate Rosh Hashana 2a). The Gaon of Vilna stopped this custom since today it is a non-Jewish practice to display trees on their festivals.’

Mishna Berura ibid, 12

Dairy foods: See the Magen Avraham: I heard in the name of a great Rabbi, that the real reason for this, is because when the Jews stood by Mount Sinai and received the Torah, and then returned to their homes, the only ready to eat food was dairy, since meat needs much preparation - to find and check a suitable knife as G-d had commanded them, to porge the veins of forbidden fats and blood, to wash and salt . They also would have needed to cook in new vessels, since the vessels which they had used previously, within the last 24 hours before the giving of the Torah, could not be used. Therefore, they decided that the best option, in the circumstances, was to eat dairy foods, and we do so too in commemoration.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Responsa Igerot Moshe Yoreh Deah 4:11,5

ה. איך לנהוג הלכה למעשה בעניין שטיחת עשבים בבית הכנסת בשבועות

בדבר שטיחת עשבים והעמדת אילנות בחג השבועות, שהגר"א (הובא בחיי אדם כלל קל"א סימן י"ג) אסר מאחר שעושין העכו"ם בחג שלהם סמוך לשבועות, וטעם מהרש"מ (בדעת תורה, שכתב שכל דבר שיש לו טעם אין בו איסור דובחוקותיהם, וא"כ כיוון שאנו עושים לזכר שנידונים בו על פירות האילן מותר. ועוד שהגויים מעמידים האילנות בחג שלהם גם בחוץ, ואנחנו עושים כן רק בפנים) אינו כלום כדכתב כתר"ה. ועיין בעה"ש שג"כ כתב שבדורות שלנו ביטלו, כוונתו להגר"א שנתקבלו דבריו.