The custom of eating dairy products on Shavuot is not mentioned in the Torah, nor in the rabbinic literature, and most of the explanations suggested for it are rather arbitrary. So, for example, in his book "Yahadut Halakha L'ma'aseh" (Judaism of Practical Religious Law), Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau explains that the Hebrew word mehalav, formed from the Hebrew letters mem-het-lamed-bet, meaning "from milk," is a Hebrew acronym for the verse "minha hadasha lehashem beshavuoteikhem" ("when you bring a new meal offering to the Lord in the feast of weeks," Numbers 28:26). It it is more likely, however, that the tradition is nothing more than a local custom that was common in several Ashkenazi communities and was enthusiastically adopted by the local dairy industry.

Yet whoever wants can imbue this custom with a completely different meaning. On various occasions throughout the year, we commemorate our affiliation with the Jewish people, the State of Israel or even the human race. Shavuot, on the other hand, affords us an opportunity to recall a much more universal and earlier identity: our affiliation with the mammalian world. Along with us, its members include another 5,000 or so other known species. They may be tiny, like the water shrew, or gigantic, like the whale; what they all have in common is the fact that they are nourished on milk in the period after birth.

The problem starts with the fact that apart from human beings, none of the other species of mammals continues to consume milk throughout its life. Nor does any mammal nurse on the milk of animals of another species. In this respect, humans are different.

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"Naturally, milk is intended only for cubs," says nutritionist Prof. Shmuel Edelstein, of the Carmit Medical Center in Rishon Letzion. "From the moment an animal stops nursing, it no longer sees milk. The same is true with babies: They should drink milk until the age of 2, and then stop. After that age, there is a change in the composition of the enzymes in the body and the human loses the ability to metabolize lactose."

Metabolizing lactose

Prof. Edelstein lays the groundwork for an in-depth and controversial discussion: Milk, one of the most basic ingredients in the Western diet, has been attacked in recent years by health consultants, environmental organizations and animal-rights activists; the purity and innocence associated with the maternal liquid are presented by them as camouflage, behind which lies an industry that is indifferent to the well-being of the public, the environment and cows.

In the history of the human race, milk-drinking is a relatively new phenomenon. Before the domestication of the cow, sometime around the eighth century B.C.E, it would have been almost impossible to eat milk products, and most adults lost the ability to metabolize lactose once they passed the age of nursing. This inability does not present a real danger, but in many cases leads to stomach aches and diarrhea if one continues to consume milk.

Only at a relatively late stage did the ability to metabolize lactose appear in a small percentage of humans. It started in our region, in the lands of the Fertile Crescent, and spread to Asia Minor and Europe, after controlled fresh milk became a substantial source of food for people.

But today as well, an absolute majority of humans is unable to digest lactose. According to a study published in 2002, over 90 percent of the population of Africa and of eastern Asia is unable to digest lactose; in Western countries, the rate is around 80 percent - in Sweden, on the other hand, only 4 percent of the population is lactose-intolerant.

As far as Israel is concerned, no comprehensive studies have ever been done, but according to most estimates, around 60 percent of the population cannot digest lactose. This is perhaps why milk consumption in Israel is substantially lower than in Europe: the average European consumes 73 liters of milk annually, whereas the average Israeli consumes just 55 liters.

Beyond metabolizing lactose and unrelated to it, many people feel that milk causes their allergic reactions to be intensified. Apparently, the reason for this is that the protein in milk, casein, stimulates the immune system.

Edelstein does not completely reject consumption of dairy products, but believes it is advisable to minimize it as much as possible. "We're not meant to consume it, so at the very least it is worth reducing the amounts," he says.

Irit Poraz, the chief dietician of the Clalit health maintenance organization, and the director of the nutrition and diet department at Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, angrily rejects the claims of milk opponents. For several years now, she has been waging a battle to halt the progress of milk opponents and argues that those calling for a reduction in its consumption are causing a threat to public health. "There is no scientific basis for the approach of milk opponents," she says. "There is a certain swath of nutritionists and natural healers issuing recommendations not to consume milk, even though their conclusions are not based on studies, as is standard in the medical world, but on experience and personal stories. The entire scientific and medical world acknowledges that milk is the best possible source of calcium, protein and other substances. These are findings derived from controlled studies and international recommendations."

According to Poraz, even for those among us who are unable to digest lactose, milk consumption in small quantities does not pose a problem. "The recommendation for someone who is sensitive is to drink small amounts," she says. "We are all born with the enzyme that breaks down lactose. It is true that many older people who have not drunk milk for years have trouble drinking fresh milk in a large amount. But there is a variety of milk products that do not cause a problem for most of the population."

The IDF is in on it too

The Milk Council, the joint company of the milk producers and the government, has in recent years been promoting the "3 a day campaign" - an educational program intent on encouraging consumption of at least three milk products per day. It mimics a similar campaign launched by the U.S. organization of milk producers, with the support of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Collaborators in the Israeli campaign also include Clalit Health Services and even the Israel Defense Forces (IDF): the Milk Council offers supplementary classes for soldiers at medical bases on the topic of "The importance of milk consumption," in which participants enjoy a breakfast based on milk products.

The IDF Spokesman said "many studies support the health benefits of milk, while some dismiss them. IDF soldiers are still at an age at which it is very important to consume milk products. The Milk Council is a nonprofit organization and as such, there has been collaboration with it in the form of seminars and lectures at various opportunities."

Poraz also supports the campaign enthusiastically. According to her, consuming milk and milk products are essential for today's youth, in order to reduce the risk of osteoporosis - the loss of bone mass due to a shortage of calcium. "We, at Clalit Health Services, are very proud of the fact that milk consumption rose in 2006," she says. "After many Western countries embarked on milk promotion campaigns, it was only natural that Clalit would also join this trend. It is essential because young people do not get enough calcium, and that is a catastrophe. Only one in 10 teenage girls consume the recommended calcium allowance. We are likely to see the results in another 40 years or so, in the form of osteoporosis. Bone mass develops only until the age of 22 - after that, it no longer increases. Therefore it is important for children and soldiers to consume milk, because they are at the age when bone mass is still developing."

The high percentage of calcium in milk is the most common explanation cited by milk advocates, but the ability of the body to absorb the calcium in milk is the subject of some controversy. According to statistical studies by the World Health Organization, osteoporosis is actually widespread in countries where milk products are consumed in the largest quantities - such as Scandinavia, Britain and the United States.

According to Prof. Edelstein, despite the large amount of calcium present in it, milk is not a good source of this substance. He says, "most milk products also contain a lot of phosphorus, and it competes with calcium to be absorbed by the body. Therefore, most of the calcium in milk becomes inaccessible. The trend around the world is not to encourage milk consumption, but to fortify other food products with calcium - for example, bread or orange juice. In Israel, this effort has been pretty unsuccessful, but that is the solution."

Poraz rejects the claim: "It is true that milk contains phosphorus, but so does mother's milk. So what? So calcium is not absorbed even when a baby nurses? These are half-truths. The best possible calcium absorption is from milk products."

Lactose sensitivity as a political issue

Like other issues relating to health and life style, there are some who describe the question of lactose sensitivity as a clear-cut political issue. They will argue that European peoples, who are able to digest lactose, are also the ones with the most commercial and political power and as such they spread their menu and eating habits to countries with other culinary traditions.

When it comes to the Germans, for example, it seems that milk consumption is a longstanding component of their diet: The Roman historian Tacitus described as early as the first century C.E. the milk diet of the Germanic tribes, which was based apparently on fresh milk and a kind of white cheese. In Chinese tradition, however, milk is almost repulsive; one of the most insulting stereotypes attributed in China to white people is "they smell like cheese."

Nonetheless, in recent years, under the influence of Western eating habits, the emerging middle class in China has started consuming milk products voraciously: yogurt, ice cream, milk drinks and even cheese have become new status symbols. In the last five years, the Chinese urban population's milk consumption has tripled. Even though the number of dairy cows tripled in five years, the local milk industry there is still having trouble keeping up with the pace.

This trend is being enthusiastically encouraged by the local government, which hopes in this way to improve the income of millions of agricultural communities, which are currently lagging very far behind urban centers. The country's prime minister, Wen Jiabao, recently declared his goal of having every Chinese schoolchild drink half a liter of milk per day.

Behind the possibility of an entire nation suffering from a plague of stomachaches, the dramatic increase in milk consumption in China and other Asian countries is one of the most significant changes in recent years in world agriculture. According to Israel Flamenbaum, the director of the cattle unit at Israel's Ministry of Agriculture, the price of milk powder has nearly doubled over the past six months - more than any other basic food item - and this may result in massive exports of Israeli milk.

23 times worse than methane

The environmental impact of the Chinese milk revolution may be destructive. At the end of April, a group of international environmental organizations issued a report on the impact of the world cattle industry (the basis of the milk industry) on global warming. According to the report, one kilogram of methane gas, which is emitted for the most part by cows, causes 23 times more climate damage than the same amount of carbon dioxide - the most common greenhouse gas emitted by the burning of fuel. Therefore, in most countries with a developed cattle industry, the contribution of cows and sheep to the greenhouse effect is greater than that of industry; a dramatic expansion of the milk industry will further increase the damage.

Beyond that, the cattle industry also pollutes water sources directly. In Israel, the Environment Ministry determined "the cattle and dairy industry has been identified as the biggest polluter among the various agricultural industries." Most of the pollution comes from the flow and seepage into water sources of contaminants originating from cow waste. The ministry even stated that "cow waste is equivalent to the excretion from around 20 people, in other words, 350,000 head of cattle in Israel, as far as the potential contamination of water sources, are the equivalent of the entire population of the country."

Flamenbaum, of the Ministry of Agriculture, feels that cattle manure actually contains a promise for a better world. "The argument that the cattle industry pollutes shows a lack of understanding of cow excretion," he explains. "The waste is not the blight. It is a resource for improving the soil and also for producing energy." And indeed, the reforms in the industry that started in 1999 - and which are scheduled to end this year - constitute one of the largest agricultural projects undertaken in Israel, at a cost of some NIS 2.2 billion. In principle, the reform was intended to streamline the industry, by reducing the number of dairies by 30 percent and setting up giant regional plants, which was supposed to lead to a situation by which nearly all the country's milk dairies are organized to operate in a manner that is environmentally sound - or so the Environment Ministry claims. Only the operations in the vicinity around the Gaza Strip and in the Upper Galilee have received an extension for implementing the reforms through the end of the year.

Flamenbaum says that "NIS 1.5 billion has been invested in order to make efficient use of excretions." This means, he says, that "at the end of the process, all dairies in Israel will collect the cattle manure and use it - either as fertilizer or to produce gas and electricity."

If cows could talk

Another issue relates to the quality of life of the cows themselves. Even though there are more people who refrain from eating meat than there are people who abstain from eating milk products, the industrialized milk business causes cows no less suffering than the meat industry.

The life of a dairy cow is filled with pain and suffering. It's not only milk that is emptied from the cow, but also its life forces, which are effectively used to ensure maximum milk production. From the age of 14 months until its slaughter a few years later, the cow is repeatedly artificially inseminated so that it will continue to produce milk. Between pregnancies, the cow is given a short period of two months to recover. In addition, cows are usually housed in close quarters, which in many cases leads to aggressive behavior among them. And of course, when a cow no longer produces milk, it is sent to the slaughterhouse.

It should be noted that with regard to density in the dairy barns, there has been some improvement in the wake of the dairy industry reforms, and the incidence of illness in Israeli cows has declined. Israel even prides itself on having developed particularly efficient methods of cooling cows off, which have enabled breeders to reduce mortality in the summer months.

Efficient production is essential for Israeli dairymen, who do not enjoy high profit margins for every liter of milk. And indeed the Israeli dairy industry is very efficient: According to Milk Council data, the average milk yield per Israeli cow is 11,118 liters per year, 58 percent higher than the average yield in the European Union. This figure is 10 times greater than the average yield produced around 50 years ago.

Many veterinarians in the United States and Europe have argued in recent years that intensive milk production is achieved at the cost of damage to the cow's health and shortening its life. Dairymen naturally argue that increased production actually indicates greater bovine well-being. "The fact that the Israeli cow produces so much milk stems from the fact that it receives the best possible conditions," says Flamenbaum. "Basically, the cow repays for all the good we bestow on it. If the cow could talk, I'm certain she would say things are good for her."

? One cup of milk contains around 285 mg of calcium, about a quarter of the recommended daily allowance.

? In 1970, immediately after receiving her first ministerial appointment to the post of education minister, Margaret Thatcher ended the distribution of cups of milk to schoolchildren, one of the symbols of the British welfare state. As a result, she was referred to as "Thatcher, the milk snatcher."

? In the standard process of pasteurization, milk is heated to a temperature of 63 degrees Celsius for a period of 30 minutes.

? Eighty-five percent of all mothers in Israel nurse their babies.

? Fifteen percent of Jewish mothers and 35 percent of Arab mothers continue to nurse their children beyond the age of 1. The World Health Organization recommends continuing to nurse babies, in addition to giving them other foods, at least until the age of 2.

? A poll conducted in Britain in 2005 found that a third of husbands tried to milk from their wives' breasts.

? Soy milk was supposedly invented by Prince Liu An, of the Chinese Han dynasty, who lived in the second century C.E. He is also said to have invented tofu.