There are two funny images I like to circulate this time every year as we approach the Passover holiday. The first is a cartoon of a truck with large text on the side reading "Morty's Passover Cleaning." On the driver's side door is the word "chametz" inside a circle with line struck through it. Underneath the large "Morty's Passover Cleaning" text on the side of the truck it reads:
Orthodox $89.95, Conservative $49.95; Reform $19.95.
The second image is of a person's office cubicle and it's completely covered in aluminum foil. Even the desk chair, computer, keyboard and mouse are completely covered in aluminum foil. Most likely this photo was taken of the scene of an office prank, but I like to circulate this photo with the question, "Do we go overboard when it comes to Pesach cleaning?"
Let's look at the first photo. Is there some truth to this? I always maintain there has to be some truth to a joke for it to be funny, so let's say that on the whole, yes, Orthodox Jews would spend more money for Passover cleaning than Conservative Jews and Conservative Jews would spend more money for Passover cleaning than Reform Jews. Perhaps, this image strikes us as offensive, but we'll unpack that in a moment.
I remember as a kid before we got granite counter tops watching my mother cover all the counter tops in aluminum foil and then redoing this process each morning of the holiday because some of the aluminum foil had ripped the night before causing little sections of the white Formica counter to be revealed. This was done despite the fact that our house was completely spotless after having been thoroughly cleaned for the holiday. The thinking was that the counter is of a porous material and would have retained some of the chametz from the year which would contaminate our Passover food.
Do we go overboard cleaning for Passover?
Orthodox $89.95, Conservative $49.95; Reform $19.95.
The second image is of a person's office cubicle and it's completely covered in aluminum foil. Even the desk chair, computer, keyboard and mouse are completely covered in aluminum foil. Most likely this photo was taken of the scene of an office prank, but I like to circulate this photo with the question, "Do we go overboard when it comes to Pesach cleaning?"
Let's look at the first photo. Is there some truth to this? I always maintain there has to be some truth to a joke for it to be funny, so let's say that on the whole, yes, Orthodox Jews would spend more money for Passover cleaning than Conservative Jews and Conservative Jews would spend more money for Passover cleaning than Reform Jews. Perhaps, this image strikes us as offensive, but we'll unpack that in a moment.
I remember as a kid before we got granite counter tops watching my mother cover all the counter tops in aluminum foil and then redoing this process each morning of the holiday because some of the aluminum foil had ripped the night before causing little sections of the white Formica counter to be revealed. This was done despite the fact that our house was completely spotless after having been thoroughly cleaned for the holiday. The thinking was that the counter is of a porous material and would have retained some of the chametz from the year which would contaminate our Passover food.
Do we go overboard cleaning for Passover?
