Moroccan Jews are well-organized, apparently
Call it Mimuna, Maimuna, or whatever, but, for the life of me, I can't imagine getting all of our Passover pots, etc., put away in just a few hours. It takes us weeks! As of this morning, the only parts of our apartment that are back to chametz are the dining room table and the refrigerator. The rest of the kitchen gets switched tonight, if for no other reason than that the cleaning lady is coming tomorrow.
posted by Shira Salamone at 10:12 AM
6 Comments:
We have everything put back together almost immediately. On the last day, things get put away in the permenent home... After breakfast, dairy stuff goes back in the storage cabinet. After lunch, meat pots/pans start getting put back. When the last meat utensil is washed after lunch, the whole box goes into storage.
After Havdalah, we ran the disposers to clean out everything, dumped the last pots/pans out, washed an put them away.
You put things away after cleaning them, and there is no reason that it can't be in the permanent home -- there is no magical drawer where using a different one is preparing for after Yom Tov. By the time you reclaim the "sold chometz," you can be ready to go.
Had the clock shift not occured, we'd have even made it to a super market to pick up English muffins for breakfast. :) When my kids are older, I expect to make pizza at home that night.
Wow, we're never been that well organized. It probably doesn't help that (a) my accountant husband is in the middle of tax season, and (b) we really have to be absolutely sure that everything's in the right box, because getting them down again from the top of the bookshelf is becoming even more of a project now that we're both over 60.
Shira,
Some German Jews have a custom similar to maimuna, but it is done the first Motzai Shabbat after Pesach so it is a little easier to prepare.
Basically, we have beer and cake the first Motzai Shabbat after Pesach. Some also listen to German classical music that night. This is because the German custom is to not start the custom of refraining from listening to music during sefira until Rosh Chodesh Iyar. The Yekkish tradition is to start counting the 33 days of no haircuts/music that day so for us, Lag B'Omer is just a temporary reprieve, not the end.
Anon, that's fascinating. I've heard that some Jews observe the restrictions of Sefirah beginning in Iyar, which makes sense, since one is not supposed to mourn during the month of Nissan. But I wasn't aware that German Jews had a special observance on the first Motzai Shabbat (Saturday night after Sabbath) after Pesach. Thanks for the information.
Shira, my wife is a tax accountant, no reprieve there, but we have two things on you: Age and Storage
When we built our kitchen and rest of the house, we put extra cabinets in everywhere. Lots of built in storage. We have a 24 inch deep cabinets over the pantry, ovens, and fridge, which we use for bulk storage. We also have some extra storage under a display, with dedicated homes for Pesach stuff.
We also put granite everywhere.
As a result, we can turn over the Kitchen to Pesach in about 4 hours, and put it back in 1 hour. We don't go too crazy with Pesach cleaning, have the house professional cleaneds and once over the place.
Pesach prep is tiring and tedious, but not terribly time consuming, and returning everything isn't bad either. When we were more on the ball (before children and my wife moving into tax), we had extra boxes that we turned all our normal drawers over, now we just turn a few over.
The hardest part is the fridge/freezer, mostly because there is a LOT to take out and clean.
Also, the pesach "appliances" -- food processor, blender, etc., mixer attachments, etc., mostly gets used Pre-Chag, so most of that is put back in storage before the first Seder.
We have a LOT going on this time of year, so everything has to move fast. :)
We also eat a LOT of fresh produce, so there isn't much different during Pesach except which vegetables get used.
Clorox wipes are your friends, they make cleaning VERY easy, and render things inedible, so we're not scrubbing nooks and crannies.
Modern Florida construction is also easier than older New York apartments... And tile floors instead of carpet also reduces the prep work dramatically.
Miami Al, we're coming to your house for Pesach next year. :)
The fridge is a major pain because my husband and I seem to be the only people who can figure out how to get the shelves and other components back in after they'd been scrubbed, so the cleaning people, bless them, always need help from at least one of us.
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