I plan on this being my last Pesach-related post. Thanks to a pre-Yom Tov discussion with our offspring, we enjoyed the last day of the holiday. Two out of our five guests actually showed up. On erev chag, I went around to the neighbors collecting potatoes, which they were happy to donate to the cause before they got moldy. I had to ask the guests to bring their leftover matzah, and I used up every onion and carrot in the house.
My son read the Torah so beautifully that even the ezrat nashim (women’s section) quieted down. No one could see him, and I wanted to turn around and point to myself so everyone would know he was mine. But I restrained myself. My husband said that a lot of the men came over to him afterward, but I didn’t get any of the glory. Oh well, he taught him.
Here are Mother in Israel’s tips for after Pesach.
- Make a list of what you ate. Mine reads something like: Went away for Shabbat. Ate 7+ kg of matzah, 60 eggs, 2/3 liters of oil, 120 potatoes. Make sure to have enough peanut butter in the house for before and after Pesach, and buy extra tuna.
- Mark down what equipment you need to buy, and what was kashered. Keep the list handy in case you see something on sale. Get rid of the things you didn’t use.
- Put away what you can for next year, and note that as well. I put away foil and plastic, potato starch (it keeps for years), dish detergent, Shabbat toothpaste, and paper cups. I know people who keep spices in the freezer from year to year.
- Resist making Pesach dishes and utensils chametzdik, unless you planned it in advance. You’ll miss those items next year.
- Think about your Pesach preparations–what worked and what didn’t? For example, I am planning to cut inexpensive plastic tablecloth material into drawer liners, because cutting shelf-paper is a time-consuming chore.
- Finding space to store Pesach items can be a good investment.
Come to my shul. You can wear whatever you want. We run the gamut from hippy-dippy to plain blouse and skirt to slightly nicer than everyday to you-wouldn’t-be- embarrased-to-wear-it-in-yuppieville.
Headcoverings range from nothing to scarves to everyday hats to fancy hats to sheitels. And nobody cares what anyone is wearing.
Glad you had nachas from your son.
Wish I had your organizational abilities. Maybe I should go back to setting up my kitchen now.
So nice about your little boy- too bad your shul has so many clothes-horses. I hate that. It’s one reason I like our shul- most of the gals are more casual. Nice, but casual.
I also cut up some cheap tablecloths for drawer and shelf liners! Great minds….
Yeah, our shul is also fairly open about clothes…
Good thing, too. I just FINALLY got around to getting some maternity clothes. For chag, I worked hard to appear presentable, but I didn’t get beyond that.
Btw, it’s more costly, but the
fastest/easiest way to line shelves/counters/etc is tin foil. I did the whole fridge in under 10 minutes.
Half the counter was with plastic tablecloths – took about 30 minutes. The other half I did with tin foil – took under 5 minutes. It looks funny, but it’s sooooo much faster and easier. For the 20 shekel I invested in tinfoil (I always buy Diamond – it’s Reynold’s for export.), it was such a time savings.
Well, I know we’re in the wrong shul. SOme of the people are nice though. And not everyone dresses fancy.
Trilcat, titchadshi on your clothes. I’ll keep in mind the tinfoil idea.
It must be a drag to be surrounded by people who are into clothes. I wouldn’t guess that where you’d live it would be like that!
My 3-year-old daughter’s hair is still so short that I just run a wet comb into it and sometimes add a little clip to keep it out of her eyes, but usually nothing.
A belated kol hakavod about your son’s leining. It’s nice to enjoy it, even just to yourself!
Speaking of tinfoil, Trilcat, my mother covers funny spots with it for Pesach, and always muses that when we lived in Israel from 1978-84, it was such a luxury! But now it’s readily available, a lot less expensive, and works in a pinch (or as the standard in your case!) Glad it’s useful to you.
I only made it to shul for yizkor too. The shul we go to has two minyanim. The early minyan, which my husband attends and I also prefer. They get down to business and it isn’t a fashion show. However, with the younger kids, we can’t both go to the same minyan and daven uninterrupted, so my husband goes to the early and I usually don’t go. The later minyan/the main minyan is a fashion show. Large, loud and pretty slow. It’s not for me, but if I want to go to shul, that’s usually where I wind up after my husband gets back from the early minyan. That’s where I davened yizkor. I literally just went for yizkor and then left.
The weather was so bad, the new clothes that others had bought went un-paraded (is that a word?) or so it seemed.
I only got out once when my son insisted on going to shul for birkat hacohanim with his Ashkenazi practicing cousins on Shabbat (!). I quickly rushed him to the nearest Sephardi Beit Knesset. He had a bit of a temper tantrum because he wanted to go with them for the big event, as he had done a few days before on the 1st day.
When we have to go to family again, I’m planning on stopping in there again. The crowd was nice and rather underdressed so I fit right in. My fancier days are over, at least for now.
RM, they’re into clothes but it’s still not the 5 towns or anything close (no offense to my 5 towns readers).
SS–well, at least you made it.
SL–How frustrating about the weather! Why were you adamant about him not going the second time?
I’m not sure I understand the question. The 1st days the weather was terrible, the last days a bit warmer. I think my husband took the kids to the Ashkenazi shul when I was sleeping for birkat hacohanim. Shabbat was the only issue since Ashkenazim don’t say kirkat hacohanim everyday. Of course, Sephardim need Cohanim. đŸ™‚ That doesn’t seem to be an issue in Mizrachi Batei Knesset.