There have been many reasons given for the minhag on Shavuos to eat dairy. We would like to present a novel idea. The Mekubalim write that because of the chait of Adam eating from the Aitz Hadaas, the world was sticken with three cataclysmic downfalls and compromises. The three degernations were with אדני, with אמת, and with אדם. To be more specific, the first letter of א in each word was blemished. The letter א symbolizes Hashem who is called the Alufo Shel Olam.
When Adam ate from the Aitz Hadaas he decreased the awareness and consciousness of Hashem being the Master of the Universe. By removing the Aleph of אדני, he brought the remaining letters of דין strict judgement into the world.
A second seback that occurred after the chait was the middah of אמת lost its Aleph. Before the fall of Adam his choices were between absolute truth and falsehood. After the downgrade his choices were between good and evil which is relative. Without the letter Aleph in אמת we are left with the word מת. On the word שקר Chazal say אין לה רגלים. It only has one foot of the letter Kuf, in contrast to אמת which each letter has two feet to stand on. Sheker's nature is that it will eventually die and pass on, in contrast to Emes which is eternal.
A third calamity which occurred was that Adam lost his destiny to live forever. The Aleph of אדם was severed from אדם leaving the remaining letters of דם which symbolizes death.
This dimunation of the Tzuras Haadam after eating from the Aitz Hadaas which is symbolized in the damaged three Alephs, is hinted in the passuk (Mishlei 16,28) ונרגן מפריד אלוף. In the Medrash (Bereishis 20,2) it says that the word נרגן is referring to the Nachash. He lied and argued רגן)) to Chava and Adam by twisting what Hashem said in order to persuade them to eat from the Aitz Hadaas. His purpose for doing so was to be מפריד אלוף separate Aluf (Hashem) from Adam, and remove Hashem's dwelling from the world. We suggest that in the word מפריד we can find the fallout of the three אלף's. If one adds the three אלף,'s with the kollel it comes out to 334 the same gematriah of מפריד. For by sinning against Hashem all three אדם אמת אדני lost their influence and presence in the world.
The joint mission of our Avos was to reconstruct the original dimensions of Adam Harishon and repair the above damaged Aephs. The Igra D'Kallah writes in the beginning of parshas Toldos
והנה הג' אבות הקדושים תיקוני של אדם הראשון, וכתבנו במקום אחר דהנה אברהם תיקן א' דאדני, על כן אמר דניאל (ט יז) למען אדני, למען אברהם שקראך אדון, ולא היה אדם שקראו להקב"ה אדון, עד שבא אברהם וקיבל אדנותו במסירות נפש לכבשן האש (ברכות ז' ע"ב). ויצחק תיקן א' דאדם במה שנשפך דמו על ידי עקידה. ויעקב תיקן א' דאמת תתן "אמת ליעקב (מיכה ז כ), על כן אמרו רז"ל (תענית ה' ע"ב) יעקב אבינו לא מת, והבן.
Our Avos were devoted to fulfill the mission to rectify the loss of these three Alefs. Avraham Avinu repaired the Aleph of אדני for it was Avraham who called Hashem the name of אדני spreading to the pagan world Hashem's supremacy and dominion over the cosmos. Yitzchak rectified the Aleph of אדם by his willingness for his blood to be spilled and sacrificed on the alter at Har Hamoriya. Yaakov fixed the Aleph of אמת as the passuk says תתן אמת ליעקב. Chazal say on Yaakov יעקב אבינו לא מת . The word מת is without the Aleph in contrast to with the Aleph אמת תכון לעד truths do not die over time.
Am Yisrael were enslaved in Mitzrayim to correct the chait of Aitz Hadaas as hinted in the words of Hashem to Avraham in Bris Bein Habesarim ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך. The Nodeh Beyehudah writes that the word תדע spells the word דעת hinting to the עץ הדעת. Following his theme, the three Alephs that needed a tikkun since the chait of Aitz Hadaas is hinted in the same passuk ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה which adds up to the gematria 333 which is three times the letter אלף.
Pharoah when he chased after Beni Yisrael after giving them permission to leave, bribed his followers to pursue Am Yisrael and be rewarded ארדוף אשיג אחלק שלל I will run after them I will reach them and I will divide the spoils amongst you. We suggest that here in the passuk we find mentioned the three letter Alephs in a row alluding to the three Alephs that the Avos worked on to repair. Am Yisrael barely escaped sinking into the fiftieth level of tumah on their way to receive the Torah which would bring them back to the madraigah of Adam Harishon before his chait (Shabbos 146). As it says Yisrael who stood by Sinai were cleansed from the tumah of the Nachash. Pharoah did not want them to receive the Torah lest by it they will bring tikkun to these three fallen Alephs and thereby make a dwelling place for Hashem to once again reside in this world just as it was with Adam in Gan Eden. He chased after Am Yisrael with his army for the goal of אחלק to separate and split the Alephs from their words which to him were the spoils of war (שלל) from Am Yisrael. Bring them back to Mitzrayim and let them sink into a level of no return and make the Three Alephs doomed forever.
As we mentioned, at Matan Torah the Three Alephs had a comeback. Am Yisrael were given the Torah which is called תורת אמת . The end letters of the first three words of the Torah spell emes בראשית ברא אלקים. The mispar katan of אמת which equals 441 is 9. The Torah purposely began with the letter ב so that every unit of three letters in the Aleph Beis should come out to be gematriah nine. For instance, בגד 234=9, הוז 567=18=9,8910 = 27=9, 11,12,13=36=9 etc. the Torah is emes through and through.
I recently saw another amazing allusion to this concept of the falling and fixing of the Alephs. At Matan Torah the tikkun of the Three Alephs took place. Concerning the Two Luchos, the Torah writes (Shmos 32,16) והלוחות מעשה אלקים המה והמכתב מכתב אלקים הוא חרות על הלוחות. The words מעשה אלהים המה add up to the Three Aleps in their full form אמת אדם אדני. We suggest another hint to the rectification of the Alephs at Matan Torah with the gematriah .תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהילת יעקב The word מורשה means an inheritance for the congregation of Yaakov. מורשהalso equals the numerical value of אמת אדם אדני.
Matan Torah reconstructed the stature of Yisrael to mirror that of Adam Harishon prior to the chait. However it did not last long for we again lost those Alephs by committing the chait of the Aigel. This is hinted in the passuk (Shmos 22,26) that the Leviim killed the worshippers of the Aigel כשלשת אלפי איש. This number correlates to the שלשת אלפין the Three Alephs that once again lost their attatchment to their sources.
This is also hinted in the מחצית השקל which was given as an atonement for the chait of worshipping the Aigel. The meforshim ask why only a half of shekel was to be given and not a whole one? If you look deeply in the letters of מחצית you will find that their gematriah is אדני אדם אמת minus their .אלף This is a painful reminder for Yisrael of what they once possessed at Har Sinai and the grave misfortune of what we lost until this very day.
When we were in Mitzrayim we were at a very low nadir in ruchniyus almost sinking into the 50th level of tumah. Yet the passuk says אם יהיו חטאיכם כשני כשלג ילבינו if your sins will be like scarlet red they will turn white like snow. That is why in the Beis Hamikdash the red scarlet string turned white at the moment they threw the goat carrying Yisrael's sin off the mountain, a symbol that demonstrated Yisrael's atonement from Hashem. Our mission was to fix Adam's failure by the Aitz Hadaas. It was as if Yisrael had this red string wrapped around earth all this time which we weren't able to repair the damaged tzurah of the Tzelem Elokim.
Our Avos began the journey of the new construction of Man called Am Yisrael. In this new construction was the building and reattaching of the Three missing Alephs to דין דם מת . It was at Sinai at Matan Torah that this centuries long goal was achieved. כשלג ילבינו like white snow will be your aveiros, פסקה זוהמתן the filth of the Nachash has been removed. The comparison to שלג is not only about the color but rather about its gematriah which is three times אלף 333. Here lies the promise that we will finally one day completely correct the chait of Adam by attaining this destiny of שלג and the Three Alephs. With our eating of milk products which possess the whiteness of שלג on Shavuos, we will be reminded and inspired to the purity and saintliness that we once embodied on the original day of Shevuos during Matan Torah and daven for this angelic state to once again return to us forever אכי"ר.