Let cleaning be the worst of your problems - opinion

• Published date: 29 March 2024
• Author: HERB KEINON
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

But we dreaded it for different reasons

The Wife dreaded it because she had to deal with all the kids' costumes and figure out which day they were supposed to wear them to school. Costume day was never, of course, on Purim itself, which was a vacation day, often – somewhat inexplicably – a multi-day vacation from school.

But if Purim landed on Shabbat or Sunday, as happened this year, everything moved back and forth, and it was just impossible – as new immigrants – to keep track. We feared we'd send little Yankel to school as Mickey Mouse on the wrong day, holding him up to ridicule in front of his peers and scarring him for life.

The Wife also dreaded Purim because it meant having to prepare all the mishloah manot, which fell directly into her lap in our household's division of Jewish holiday labor chores. That division went roughly like this: I set up the candles each night on Hanukkah, cleaned the hanukkiah at the end of the holiday, and put up the sukkah; she essentially did everything else.

Except for Passover cleaning. We shared Passover cleaning, which explains why I dreaded Purim. In our house, the day after Purim was the opening bell for Passover cleaning.

The arrival of Purim is a telltale sign that Passover is only 30 days away, which means you'd better get moving on cleaning the house. My father taught me that big chores are always more manageable when divided into small bites, and I internalized that life lesson. When Purim hits, we divide the housecleaning into 30 days – we call it 30 days of bleach and tension.

That was when the kids were younger, and we were less wise. Back then, we went crazy cleaning for Passover, not content just to scrub the oven, wash out the refrigerator, and clear all the cupboards of hametz.

Back then, we went around the house with a fine-tooth comb, closet by closet, drawer by drawer. The kids ate in every room in the apartment, so who knew where breadcrumbs could be scattered? We sought elusive crumbs among the toys and the kids' books, in their sock drawers, and underneath their mattresses.

It was a tremendous job, and it began the day after Purim.

Time is the best teacher

WITH TIME, however, we've mellowed. One reason for this mellowness is simply that the kids have grown, moved out of the house, and stopped leaving cake crumbs in the clothes hamper.

Another reason, however, is that with time, we have learned to differentiate between Passover and spring cleaning. Passover cleaning is meant to remove all the...