I apparently caused some consternation among a few readers when I mentioned recently that I had begun my Pesach cleaning already. Perhaps a few words of explanation are necessary.
Cleaning for Pesach in February is a psychological ploy as well as being a practical event. Psychologically I am hoping (praying?) that I can convince myself that an early start will mean that the two weeks before Pesach will not be the roller coaster ride that it usually is. If I start now I can leisurely wend my way into Pesach. That's my intent; how well this will actually play out has yet to be seen. As with other psychological ploys we sometimes use to calm ourselves, this one may not work out as hoped for.
The practical reason is my attempt to finally separate out from preparing for Pesach those items that have absolutely nothing to do with Pesach but have a lot to do with Spring Cleaning. I have never once in 37 years found any chometz on my dining room chandelier; yet, every year right before Pesach I dismantle and clean every inch of that chandelier. Yes, it needs a thorough cleaning, not just a dusting, and once a year sounds about right. But why in the mayhem and madness of the two weeks before Pesach? If I clean it now it will still be twinkling clearly two months from now. And I can handle one grungy, time-consuming task now, which might not be the case two weeks before Pesach. There are any number of other tasks that have become associated with cleaning for Pesach that have no actual relationship to Pesach. Washing the ceiling in the kitchen comes to mind, as does cleaning the ceiling fan in the living room. I'm hoping that at least some of these tasks won't show up on my to-do list this year.
So no, I'm not looking to "prolong the agony" as one reader put it. And it's not about cleaning-for-Pesach-one-upmanship either. Consider this as a scientific experiment. I'm testing to see if I can avoid pre-Pesach-I'm-never-going-to-make-it-and-who-thought-up-all-these-crazy-jobs-itis.
9 comments:
Nice try, Prof K, but no dice. The last two weeks before Pesach are still going to be insane. And you wash your kitchen ceiling? Seriously? That has never even occurred to me.
Just don't call it Pesach cleaning, since it's spring cleaning in the winter. You are right to do it now. I started trying to finish the food in the freezer. I used to wait until Purim, but now the freezer is larger and the house is emptier.
Raizy,
A painter many moons ago told me that people should look up more often. Steam and smoke in a kitchen rise, not fall. They stick to the ceiling, especially in the winter when we usually don't have open windows in the kitchen to help remove the steam. The stickiness makes the ceiling paint less light reflective. The heat in the room "bakes" the gook onto the ceiling. The same goes for any lighting fixtures that are near the ceiling or the ones built in. The lighting level goes down the more buildup you have on them. Some years my answer is to get my hubby to paint the kitchen ceiling.
Perhaps I will go clean my kitchen ceiling now. Fortunately, there isn't much ceiling.
So for those of us who believe that prolonging the process only feeds into that unnecessary negative image people have about Pesach - let's just call it SPRING CLEANING as long as you are cleaning chometz free areas (like your ceiling) and AFTER Purim, we can call it Pesach cleaning.
mmmmkay? :)
G6,
I'd love to call it Spring Cleaning, but on a day where the weather report is calling for possible snow flurries the "Spring" part just doesn't work for me. And off the topic a bit but why DO we call it Spring Cleaning? I can't believe that whoever coined this term left all the cleaning to be done for the springtime. Frankly, I'd be just a tad hesitant about eating in a home where someone's kitchen "only" gets cleaned thoroughly once a year, ditto for the bathroom.
My grandmother always officially began her Pesach cleaning on January first. She tackled all the jobs that, as you pointed out, we associate with Pesach but that have really nothing to do with the chag. Calling these jobs spring cleaning doesn't make them any easier or less time consuming for me. Pesach cleaning or spring cleaning, it's still the same work.
My mother-in-law A"H used to say, "Dirt is not chametz". Technically, what she meant was "not all dirt is chametz". Call it what you like, it's not really Pesach cleaning.
I actually did start my Pesach cleaning this weekend. I cleaned and checked the room where I store my nonperishable Pesach foods when I come home from the store. That way, I can start shopping at any time and I know I have a clean place to put things.
"I cleaned and checked the room where I store my nonperishable Pesach foods when I come home from the store."
You have a whole room for this? I have a cabinet! (Which reminds me, it probably is time to clean out that cabinet so that dh will feel free to start buying Pesach nonperishables -- it is already in the stores! Ack!)
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