Behind, as Usual/ Full-Price
Well, I’m only two days into Pesach cleaning, and am already behind schedule. It’s always like that. I tend to overcrowd the first several weeks of Pesach cleaning, in order to have more time at the end for the real important area, the kitchen and dining room. I feel that it is not very yomtivdik (holiday-wise) to enter Passover exhausted from the cleaning.

The missing part of Ricki’s hearing aid piece arrived. It cost me only 30 shekels (a bit under $10). The thing is, I happened to see the price that THEY were charged for the part: only 18 shekel. Which means that their mark-up is 2/3rds of what they were charged, or a full 40% of the total. I almost didn’t wish I knew……. I was happy with the price until I saw the amount of mark-up. But since they had to attach the part to the aid, I guess it’s OK. Twelve shekels (under $4) is more than fair for that.
I’m just wondering if the hearing aid itself (an expensive item) was ALSO a 2/3’s price mark-up. It’s true that they had to fiddle with the computer a bit to adjust the aid for her needs, but their service, in my eyes, is not worth $1000.

“You Know What”

Well, the famous Harry Potter books villain is called a frightened “You know who”. The frum (religious) Jew woman has her own scoundrel, her scared “you know WHAT” : Pesach (Passover). Almost everyone I called tonight asked me: “Have you started cleaning?” “Have you started Pesach?”
No, I have not yet started the thorough all-house cleaning that must be completed by Passover. And I wish that somehow I had somehow managed to start. But more than all this, I know that to get hysterical about it won’t help.
We all like to organize our belongings, shine our silver candlesticks, and have the house sparkling by Seder night (the first night of Passover). But there is no Biblical or rabbinical injunction to do half of what we do. We know that there are areas we can cut corners if need be. So why the hysteria?

And more importantly, what type of message are we sending our offspring when they hear us moaning and bewailing our tasks? That “Yiddishkeit” , Jewish laws, are a chore?
Yes, I know it means more work. More work, less sleep, and aggravation with teens who could help but often don’t. But since we are going to do it anyway, let’s do it with a smile and a song (at least part of the time).

Trying Our Best

Although I try and post every day (except Friday-Saturday), I am not promising it. (This will be more frequent as Passover approaches.) Besides, if I don’t have a good idea, why should I push rubbish into your minds? But yesterday’s lack of posting was not for the lack of a good idea. It was because I was too busy cleaning.

I think we all know that daughters-in-laws are apprehensive when their husband’s mother comes to visit. They will clean up a bit (or a lot), and try and make a good impression. This is one reason I would never “pop in” on my sons without calling first.
But it isn’t limited to mother-in-laws, either. My son and his family are coming for Shabbas (Saturday), and I made time to clean up the house as well as I could. Suddenly, all the places I have been meaning to “get to” screamed out their unseemliness as I saw them through my imagined “daughter-in-law glasses”.
It is hard enough for a daughter-in-law to pack up for the weekend, schlepping two children and a suitcase. In addition, there is less privacy, and undoubtedly the pressure on her to show a good face. In addition, the weather here in the summer is hot. All of this means that they don’t come that often. So why should I allow the house to be dirty, a factor that could only decrease their visits?
But frankly, it goes even beyond this. If the computer technician is coming, I will straighten up the room where the computer is located. If the stove needs fixing, I will move it and sweep behind it before “Mr. Fix-It” arrives. Why? What do I care if this fellow, who I have no need to impress, sees a dirty floor?
The answer is simple. The technician, who does not know me, will also not know all the varied reasons that my housecleaning is not up to par. And we all like to “look good”, and earn the respect of others. If we do not have the self-respect to try and make a good impression, if we don’t care about the opinions of others, it shows a lack of being connected to others. Yet at the same time, we have to have enough self respect to not overdo beyond our reasonable capabilities. After all, we are NOT our floors, and we have worth far beyond them.
So how much time did I spend cleaning, you ask? I plead the 5th.