More reflections on having servants

My internal conflicts with having “servant staff” have come through repeatedly in my blog entries.

The “good parts” of having servants are immediately apparent. We come home every day to gourmet and freshly cooked meals, and a clean house. In some senses, this really should be the norm for everyone. What are the alternatives we face in the US, for those that work outside of the home? We can:
• Come home from work, shop for fresh items, and cook something delicious and nutritious that won’t be ready till midnight
• Wake up a couple of hours before you leave for work, and cook for the evening
• Re-heat food prepared from over the weekend
• Prepare something quick and processed and not terribly healthy
Over the years, I have done all of these things…

The “strange” parts of servant staff are more subtle and unfold over time.

First, there is joy even in the most “unpleasant” parts of our routines, a joy that we probably rarely reflect on, and certainly not while we are immersed in those routines. I remember waking up with infants in the middle of the night…and with four sons, that went on for years, cumulatively. If on any morning I were asked whether I would like someone to take on the 3:00 am duties, I would have eagerly accepted the offer. But looking back, I am happy to reflect on the “stuff” that I did, and I would be less happy now if I had “outsourced” it. Though I would have impulsively outsourced it if I were given a choice at the time.

Second, and perhaps not unrelated, you feel less “connected” to your own house. In the states, I was intimately familiar with the kitchen, and spent more waking time there than in any other room in the house. That is not true here, of course, where I do neither the cleaning nor cooking myself. And here is one of the consequences of that: Amnon had an Israeli friend over a few weeks ago, and I made them coffee. I often make an Israeli concoction referred to as “café mukszaf” – it’s just instant coffee, sugar, and few drops of water which you mix vigorously with a spoon for several minutes till the mixture gets thick and pale, and your wrists start to hurt. By infusing air into it with vigorous mixing, the coffee gets a layer of foam on top and actually tastes creamier. I proudly brought the coffee out to Amnon and our guest. Amnon took a sip….and discovered that I had inadvertently made the concoction with salt. (It was a white substance in an unmarked empty Nutella jar.) We all laughed, and I made more coffee for all….But I reflected on the significance of not actually knowing where the sugar is in your own kitchen.