PESACH CLEANING
If Purim is my very favorite holiday,
then Pesach is my very least favorite. I hate it.
Why should I clean? Why should anyone?
Is there any work more Sisyphean than dusting? Dust is cosmic. Dust is the
stuff of the formation of galaxies. Dust is more sublime than we can
fathom. From dust we are and to dust we shall return. Anyone who thinks that
they can rid their miniscule homes of dust doesn't have the first notion of the
greatness and vastness of creation.
Dust, if you ponder the subject with the
depth it deserves, is as Pesachdik as it gets.
What is the desert, after all, if not a huge dust heap? Isn't that what we are
supposed to be celebrating - our liberation from
Besides, I find the accumulation of dust
on my shelves very convenient. F'rinstance, when someone phones (as is wont to happen once a month or so on
the average), I can jot the person's name and number down right there on a
handy, nearby shelf. No need to say: "Just a minute. I'll find a
piece of paper and a pen" and then make the poor schmo
wait 1/4 hour 'til I find them buried under the dust.
Dust makes me feel good. I never miss an
opportunity to ROFL.
I always thought that Pigpen was the
true star of the cartoon and found that nauseatingly sweet and insipid Charlie
Brownnose nothing but annoying.
I also dearly want a cat, but because I
have guinea pigs I have to wait until they die. In the meantime, the dust balls
that are forming in my house are my ersatz cats. They look just like those
pricey Rag Doll cats. How would you feel if someone swept your cat away and
dumped him?
The mites are my companions and in the depths of depressive
despair it is to them that I turn for comfort and solace. They advise me wisely
and well.
To our Xian brethren I say: Console
yourself that all you have to worry about is going into hock to the tune of
your yearly income for Xmas. At least your dusty world is not shaken and
uprooted.
In our next episode: Doreen laments having to eat matzah and horseradish.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan,