Manhattan, NY – First, Joey and Dana Small cordon off their apartment, room by room. Then they begin their search. Every cupboard, closet, doorknob, coat pocket, remote control, couch cushion and crevice is thoroughly inspected.
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Their target: any speck or crumb containing the leavened flour of wheat, oats, barley, rye — otherwise known as chametz, and forbidden observant Jews during Passover, which begins Monday evening. As each room in their one-bedroom apartment on West 100th Street is cleared, the Smalls’ “no chametz fly zone” expands.
One thousand one hundred square feet never loomed so large.
Finally, after almost 4 weeks and perhaps 25 hours of cleaning and preparation, armed with an arsenal of extra sponges, sink strainers and mops, the young couple are ready to tackle the kitchen. Out comes the big gun: Easy-Off.
Last Sunday afternoon, as Mr. Small methodically went through each item in his overstuffed freezer, he exulted in his liberation. “I feel really good right now,” he said to his wife. “We should have done this months ago.” The celebration lasted only a moment.
“Now we have to get the refrigerator to look like this.”
For some Jews, the annual purging of leavened items, in deference to their ancestors who fled Egypt in such a hurry they did not have time to let their bread rise, is a labor of love. For most, it’s a chore.
But to watch the Smalls — she is 27 and a consultant at an employee-retention firm; he is 28 and a teacher recruiter at Yeshiva University — in their pas de deux of intricate cleaning maneuvers is to see them revisit the very foundation of their union. During the Passover of 2006, they met during a mission to Bobruisk, Belarus, to create a kosher Passover experience for Jews there.
“I never really put together how much I owe to Passover cleaning,” Mr. Small said, “but it’s because I was scrubbing the ovens, refrigerators and counters of a kitchen in a café that we were making kosher that I met my wife.” On the mission the next year, working with relocated Soviet Jews in Germany, Mr. Small proposed.
For the Smalls, on a holiday that celebrates the delivering of the Jews to freedom, cleaning takes on a decidedly spiritual aspect.
“Passover is all about redemption, and for those Soviet Jews, redemption is so real,” Ms. Small said as she wiped down the toys of her 7-month-old son, Noam, whose baby food containing kinyiot — rice and legumes that are not technically chametz but are avoided by many Ahskenazic Jews during Passover — has been cleared with the rabbi.
In the name of tikkun olam, or repairing the world, the Smalls strive not to waste the food they must get rid of, donating it to synagogues’ food drives and pantries.
Many people pay cleaning crews hundreds of dollars or more for their annual Passover cleaning. But for the Smalls, the satisfaction they get from cleaning their home themselves is an essential part of the experience.
“Having a successful Passover means putting in the necessary physical and spiritual work beforehand,” Mr. Small said.
The payoff for Mr. Small comes when he takes his first bite of matzo pizza, his special Passover delicacy, and doesn’t have to worry about crumbs — at least for the next week.
Why does it take 4 weeks to do 1,100 sq. ft home?
there is cleaning and there is CLEANING. ask my mother in law, she will explain.
I live in 1300 SF and it takes 8 weeks
the mitzvah is to get rid of chumetz not to clean the dust
I live in an 1850 square foot home, (1st and 2nd floors), plus a finished basement. After cleaning my own home for 35 years, I decided to enlist the aid of some housecleaners, who were recommended by Angie’s List. It was a big mistake, as they ruined a drain in my bathtub, and did other things that they were not supposed to. When I sent in a less than complimentary evaluation about them, to Angie’s List, they tried to lie and claim that they were never in my home. However, when I faxed a copy of the cancelled check to Angie’s List, they changed their tune. Incidentally, I just finished cleaning my home for Pesach (Stove, Refrigerator, floors, walls, cabinets, rugs, polishing of furniture, etc.). It wasn’t that bad. it is much easier than shoveling snow in the winter, mowing the grass, or schleping furniture. I enjoy doing it myself, and not having to depend on incompetent and lazy house cleaners.