My mother told me over this saying when I was a young girl, but it still rings loudly in my ears every Erev Pesach: “Daddy is not chametz and the children are not the Korban Pesach”.
When I’m busy cleaning for Passover and a child gets in the way (how dare they!) I might get frustrated and annoyed. Now that I’m a Mom I see that this is easier said than done!
So, yes, it’s that time of the year again! Shortly after Purim, when I’m still quite in denial about the long haul ahead of me with all the pre-Passover preparations.
I usually like perusing the Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12 Steps during this period. It is actually quite similar to the spiritual process that a Jew should be undergoing. Take ‘Step 2’ for example, “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of G-d as we understood Him”. This is very in sync with the spiritual process of getting rid of chametz within ourselves before Passover.
Looking back, I can now reminisce with a smile about the many pre-Passover glitches I’ve experienced. About four years ago, Seder night fell out on Monday night. I was so organized that I managed to clean out my refrigerator on Thursday morning and made a huge meat, fish and chicken order later that day. With great acrobatic care, I managed to insert the food into my spotless, empty fridge, whilst not allowing the food to touch the floor or countertops. We went away for Shabbat and returned on Sunday morning. The house reeked. Where was that horrid stench coming from? Searching high and low, it did not occur to us to look in the refrigerator… After about an hour of searching, we opened the fridge door- wow! The cleaning lady had forgotten to turn the fridge back on and I had actually inserted my meat order into a warm fridge…!
Another year, I hired a teenage boy who was interested in earning some money before Passover. He doused my entire fridge in bucketfulls of soapy water, all the while constantly reassuring me, “Geveret, I am Israel’s expert in Frigidaires.” …I spent the next few days (Erev Pesach!) calling technician after technician to repair the fridge whose electrical and mechanical workings had been destroyed by ‘overdose’ of water! It’s a miracle nothing happened to the boy when he plugged the soaking plug into the socket. …I later had to explain to ‘Israel’s expert in Frigidaires’ that water and electricity don’t mix!
Something interesting happened yet another year when I bought a brand new gas stove two days before Pesach. Utterly exhausted, I dumped a whole chicken and a handful or potatoes in a pot of boiling water. This was after Bedikat Chametz, at around 9 PM. I turned off the stove, or so I thought I did, and fell into bed at midnight. We all awoke to the smell of chicken and potatoes- it turns out I had lowered the heat, but not turned it off completely! I served this “chulent” for lunch a few hours before the Seder. My brother-in-law, who happened to be eating by us then, splurted, “Delicious! Just the way my mother made it!” And, of course, I must conclude with my Dad’s classic:
Once, on Erev Pesach which fell out on a Friday, my Dad, who was then 16 years old in Casablanca, was appointed by my grandmother to take the chulent pot to the local large communal oven. (They actually call the chulent “Dafina” in Morocco.) He rode there by motorcycle with his younger brother sitting behind him clutching the Dafina pot tightly. My Dad, a big talker, was busy talking up a storm to my uncle while winding through the picturesque Moroccan streets. A few minutes passed before he noticed a lull in the conversation. Why was David, his younger brother, not answering his questions? Turning on the breaks, he looked behind only to see David about 100 meters away, on the sidewalk, with the contents of the Dafina pot all over him! Turns out a motorcycle with a spiky package had brushed them by and ‘picked up’ the Dafina pot. David, ever responsible, had not wanted to let the pot go, so he went along with it!
I hope these cute anecdotes have provided you with a much-needed lighthearted break from your pre-Pesach madness… Happy cleaning!
