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For every Jewish woman
Rav Pinchas Scheinberg, zt"l
on how to....
In former times, wealthy people who had large houses also had many servants who did their every bidding, while poor people, who could not afford servants, lived in small homes with one or two rooms.
Understandably, the pre-Pesach chores of the rich were performed by the servants, while the poor, who had only their one or two rooms to clean, a few pieces of furniture a minimum of utensils, and some clothing, took care of their needs themselves.
In those days, the cleaning was hard. Tables were made of raw wood, requiring them to be scrubbed or even to be shaven to ensure that no pieces of food were hidden in the cracks. Earthen or wooden floors also needed to be thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned.
Look to the Passover pages on the The KosherChannel.com for loads of ideas and recipes on how to arrive at the seder with your crown intact.
Today, we seem to be caught in a trap. The average modern home is larger than formerly. Furniture, utensils and clothing are much more plentiful. The average home today could compare with the more affluent homes of previous generations. However, we do not have the servants that they had, so that today, all the chores fall on the housewife. At the same time, she still feels obligated to clean and scrub as they did formerly, even though she has laminated furniture and tiled floors, making this type of cleaning unnecessary.
As a result of this, the pressure of pre-Pesach cleaning has reached unnecessary and overwhelming levels. The housewife often becomes anervous wreck, unable to enjoy the Simchas Yom Tov of Pesach andunable to perform the mitzvos and obligations of the Seder night.
Every woman must enjoy Pesach. This is an obligation clearly definedin the Torah as explained by Chazal. She must look forward to it and not dread it like a Tisha B'Av. Every woman and follow the Hagadah with the rest of the family. Clearly, the performance of her pre-Pesach duties must be balanced against her Pesach obligations
This address was originally delivered 20 Adar II, 5749 (Based on the responsa of HaRav Chaim P. Scheinberg, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva Torah Ore to questions posed by women attending his regular chizuk talks.
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