The Controversial Fridge Magnet

The Controversial Fridge Magnet

“Yuck! Eema, what IS THAT?”

Earlier this week, my teenage daughter noticed the 5-shekel magnet I bought at the corner store. It made me smile. And I thought I could write something about it for JewishMOM.com, so I brought it home and put it smack-dab in the middle of our fridge among Tsoofy’s masterpieces and random magnets advertising mehadrin sushi, fancy fruit gift platters, and a highly-recommended dryer repairman.

thank you eema English

But my daughter didn’t like it, at all!

“What? Like all a woman does is CLEAN! And do LAUNDRY! And COOK! That is SO insulting!”

But I feel differently about this magnet. And here’s why.

Mothers can do many things which people consider impressive. We can be doctors or lawyers or accountants. We can be teachers or rebbetzins or community dynamos. An elite few will even grow up to be bloggers;)

But yanno what?

The truth is…does your family have clean clothing to wear? Food to eat? A house to live in, where every Friday night you can see the floor for a few hours?

Then you should know, that is huge. Your primary purpose in the world is to be the akeret habayit–the essence of your own Jewish home. And I, for one, appreciate your hard work for your family very much!

And, IMHO, Hashem does too.

10 comments

  1. Thank you Chana Jenny! Although our chores are never ending, and seemingly mundane . . . to the contrary, when each task is done – as to Hashem – then the work could not be more important.

  2. Did your daughter get a chance to read this blog?

  3. Thank you.
    For when it seems like I haven’t got anything done… Except for those minimum. Thank you for reminding me that it isn’t nothing.
    Good shabbos

  4. sheva lazaros

    Good Shabbos. This is great. I’m gonna find that magnet for my fridge too. You said it beautifully. By the way, what did the Cohanim do all day when we had the Bais HaMikdash? Roast meat, bake loaves, clean the rooms, repair and clean garments, recycle garments for other use (wicks for fire). Sounds familiar, no??

    • They also had to wash the floors from all the blood… We have our own mikdash me’at (small bais Hamikdosh) and whether we do the chores ourselves or arrange for paid help or train our growing children to help out, we don’t have to feel inferior for taking on this job. The atmosphere in our homes is directly related to our attitudes.

  5. Chana Jenny, you are absolutely hilarious! The sense of humor you sort of sneek in to every article cracks me up. For instance, you could’ve made do without the line “some even get to be bloggers”; or, “so every Friday night you can see the floor for a few hours;” and the article would still be great. I like the way you write. No, I love the way you write! Thanks so much.
    Do you ever plan on doing a luncheon for your readers?

  6. Nechama Koren

    This is so funny cause my daughter just bought me the same magnet the day before to say thanks!

  7. With a lot of humor you sais very deep things, yet the yetser hara of our time keeps shouting at us how humiliatkng and neverending the housework is…. I am in Rabbi Nivin course on the rôle of women and it helps accepting our rôle even if the modern western goyish society in which we have been educated keeps depressing us! Yecher koah mrs jewish mom, our definitely favorite blogger!!!!

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