This year I’m celebrating the holiday of Shavuot with luscious Cheesecake Blintzes. Eating foods made with dairy products is a tradition for many Jews around the world but, to me, eating blintzes is always a celebration of my maternal grandmother and the memories I have of her frying blintzes.

This year Shavuot begins at sunset on May 21 and ends at nightfall on May 23.

Blintzes not only reflect the custom of eating milk products on Shavuot but also commemorate the wheat harvest that was part of the ancient holiday. In addition, blintzes resemble Torah scrolls or the tablets of the Ten Commandments, echoing the Shavuot theme of celebrating the giving of the Torah.

When I was a girl, I watched my Grandma Anna perspiring over the hot stove in her less-than-spacious apartment kitchen, juggling two, small steel pans. Grandma, to put it simply, was not known for her cooking, but her blintzes were outstanding. I was too young to know to write down the recipe (if she even used one), but I did inherit her blintz pans.

It was also from Grandma that I learned to put some coins in the “pushke” (charity collection tin) to support Jewish charities and........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)