Help! A Week and a Half Until Passover!

"Just like Shabbat, which arrives every week and not by surprise, Passover never comes as a surprise either; it's celebrated every year on the same date," says Miriam Richolski, a coach for order and organization. "Initially, the correct way to handle things is to distribute all tasks wisely throughout the year, since Passover cleaning at home doesn’t have to be done exclusively in Nisan, and life continues after Passover."

Why don’t most of us operate like this? Procrastination: Women reassure themselves: 'There's time, there's time, we can wait...' or 'Why start so early?' There are also sayings like: 'I'll wait because I work best under pressure,' and then Rosh Chodesh Nisan arrives and they're shouting for help in real distress. A tremendous tension arises at home, causing significant trauma for the entire family."

But what to do if we've already reached Rosh Chodesh Nisan, and the house is still not close to being ready for Passover?

Step One - Take a paper and write down for each room in the house what you'd like to do to make it look its best. These might not necessarily be things to be done by Passover, but things you can list now since you're focused on spring, blooming, and change. Cleaning? Organizing? Replacing certain furniture? Fixing the blinds? Beautification of the room – put it all on the paper, which tolerates anything. 

Step Two- Take a new paper and write down what truly seems right to do at this stage, two weeks before Passover. Remember, you're not supposed to do everything alone. Enlist the help of your husband, children, hired help, and professionals like carpenters and electricians.

"The emphasis is on getting the chametz out of the house and the joy of the holiday."

"This might not be the time to sort through all the children's photos – a task that can certainly wait until the summer. And you may decide that without clean windows, you can't have holiday joy, so that also goes on the list – but not necessarily for you to do it."

"Now open a calendar and mark who does what, and when, according to the time available to you – including the professionals. Make a task list for the house for the electrician, carpenter, or plumber. When they arrive, you'll have an organized list to give them."

How to schedule tasks over the remaining days? Miriam recommends planning from the end to the beginning. "How do you want the night before Passover to look – a cooked meal and an afternoon rest? Schedule cooking, showers, nap time for this day first. Now, when will the Seder table be set? How do you plan the burning of chametz? The day needs to be precisely planned. When you've finished planning the night before Passover, go backward, to the night of bedikat chametz. What needs to be done that day? And further – when are the Passover utensils brought out? When are the holiday groceries done? (Keep your list from year to year, with notes about real-world conclusions). When does cooking begin?"

"It’s important to prepare for Passover in reasonable doses," stresses Miriam. "Designate some hours of the day to cleaning or organizing for Passover, and maintain the blessed routine for the rest of the day. The eve of Passover is not a reason to let laundry pile up or to stop cooking for the children. This way, with reasonable cleaning and keeping routine, you pass on the message that the holiday is fun and friendly. It’s also important to engage them in helping out according to their abilities – and to reward them generously for it. If they worked well in the afternoon, for example, perhaps tomorrow morning we’ll take them to the zoo. Such an approach will help them love the preparations for Passover."

What’s wrong with the old method where the mom works from morning till the wee hours of the night, trying to make the house sparkle? Very bad, says Miriam. "Many women have bad memories from this, 'I won’t forget how my mother always arrived exhausted to the Seder table.' This horrible experience is then replicated by the daughters in their homes. Do you stay up every Thursday night cleaning for Shabbat? This is bad for the mothers and the children."

After many years in the advice field of organization, Miriam Richolski can tell of very severe cases of 'Passover cleaning syndrome' she has encountered. "There are women who take psychiatric pills to cope with the pressure. Some women don’t remember anything from Purim because it passed over their heads – they were busy being anxious about Passover. I know a woman who was hospitalized mentally due to Passover cleaning and met some others there under similar circumstances... it doesn't have to be this way and it shouldn't be this way. Whoever learns to live right will never experience Passover in a panic attack."

(Miriam Richolski, Organization and Order Coach)

"Passover Shopping? This Week Already"

Yael Zalts, a home management and organization consultant, recommends opening the calendar, first for the eve of Passover, which this year falls on a Friday. "Chametz is burned on Friday. What do you need to do that day? Organize lunch for the children, wash everyone, send them to rest, and then dress the children for the holiday. The table needs to be set too. All of this means it’s definitely not advisable to rely on cooking on Friday. So when? On Thursday? If you’re doing the big sponge cleaning before bedikat chametz, there won’t be much time left for cooking. It turns out cooking needs to be on Tuesday and Wednesday."

"To be able to cook for Passover on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, the kitchen has to be Passover-ready, so on Monday, the kitchen should be koshered, and the Passover utensils brought out. To make this possible, on Sunday, finish with the kitchen touches, finish the Shabbat leftovers, and ensure all chametz dishes are washed and ready to be stored in the chametz cabinets."

"Since you’ll be so busy next week, by this Thursday, you should already have all necessary products. Ideally, Passover shopping should be done on Tuesday or Wednesday this week, and today – Monday – clean the fridge to accommodate kosher-for-Passover products."

"Of course, this schedule is only in the very undesired situation where you do everything alone!" Yael clarifies. "If your maid washes the house on the eve of bedikat chametz, you'll definitely have time left for cooking. If your husband does all the Passover shopping, you’ll have many free hours for other tasks. The principle is remembering what must be done and what they require: You can’t cook for Passover without shopping, and you can’t shop if there’s no place to store the products, and so forth. It should be clear what’s left to do before Passover, and who’s doing which task."

If you feel that you’re the only one who remembered at the last minute that Passover is coming – rest assured. "Just yesterday I sat with a group of women who work very long hours every day," says Zalts, "they simply didn’t realize that bedikat chametz is only a week and a half away. People wake up only at the last moment."

If possible, Zalts recommends enlisting the kids as much as possible. "Depends on their age, of course, but teenagers can really do everything. You just need to know how to match the work to the child. Boys, for instance, often like operating devices. Give them a vacuum cleaner and for them, they’re not cleaning – they’re operating a device."

Zalts also has a few shopping tips: "It’s a good idea to start right now with Passover shopping because certain products will definitely run out within a few days and won’t arrive anymore. Besides, understand that Passover shopping always happens in several rounds: there will always be something missing and you'll need to return."

"Regarding clothing shopping, these days aren’t ideal because of overcrowding in stores and also price-wise. Of course, if new clothing is needed for the holiday, then it’s needed, but I recommend, if possible, buying one outfit for the Seder night and waiting for Lag B'Omer when the sales begin, to buy more."

(Yael Zalts, Home Management and Organization Consultant)

"Passover Cleaning is Not Spring Cleaning"

And after all the advice on the necessary arrangements, it’s important to remember what halacha demands – and what our expectations are. Rabbi Shay Amar explains: "Passover cleaning is not spring cleaning, as the gentiles do this season. A Jew who cleans the house before Passover does so only because of the mitzvah of our Sages of checking chametz by candlelight, and the house must be free of chametz for this purpose." Accordingly, he says, there’s a distinction between the cleaning required per halacha and other cleanings that can wait. "For example, one doesn’t have to paint the house just before Passover, or exert oneself shining the windows. These tasks can definitely wait for another time."

Or take the library in the living room, which cleaning can consume quite a bit of time. "According to most authorities, books don’t need checking except for siddurim and bentchers, which require checking, cleaning, or selling to a non-Jew. Even those stringent as per the Chazon Ish that books need checking can cover them and sell them in the chametz sale."

Rabbi Amar also recalls righteous women working hard to clean an oven they don’t intend to use for Passover. "An oven not to be used for Passover requires normal cleaning, not scrubbing that strips it." Generally, he says, it’s advisable to familiarize yourself with halachic guidelines before starting the cleaning process, and if in doubt, consult a rabbi. You'll be surprised that halachic requirements for Passover cleaning are much easier than the Nisan spring cleaning standards of the neighbors.

And most importantly, may we all have relaxed holiday preparations and a kosher and happy Passover.