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A friend gave me a compliment on my house, and then mentioned it's a mitzvah to keep it so clean. Is this just a figure of speech, or is it really a mitzvah to maintain a pleasant environment for others? I didn't see anything like this on the 613 mitzvot I read. I do notice, though, every time I go to a Jewish friend's home, we seem to take particular care to have everything just right in our homes when we can. The practice is not limited to Judaism, of course, but there is a subtle difference I've noticed in culture.
Sorry for the odd (notice, I didn't say stupid, because I'll get lectures that there is no stupid question ) question.
I'm not aware of any mitzvah to keep one's house clean. However, a Jewish husband has an obligation (you'll see this often written directly into a kosher Ketubah when two orthodox Jews get married) to ensure his wife is not overwhelmed by the cleaning of the house, and often times this means he has an obligation to purchase a "cleaning person" to help his wife get the house clean.
With a large families, this often manifests itself in the husband either pitching in himself and taking some of the house cleaning burden, or forking out the cash for the cleaning person - no matter how tight dollars are. In my own case, I do significantly more than 50% of the house cleaning, and my wife takes a leading position on raising the children properly and cooking (that is our deal - we both like this arrangement. She cooks and I clean). We also have a once-a-week cleaning lady.
I suspect in more secularized Jewish homes, there are simply less children to mess up the homes, and therefore it's easier to keep the house clean. Once you get past 5 or 6 kids, it's a never-ending battle to keep cheerios off the floor, stains off the carpet and you know what off the toilet rims... Nice trade-off, IMO, for the delight that a large family can bring the parents.
Thanks for the info. I think the term "mitzvah" gets used a lot, leaving the newly Jewish a bit confused at times.
Sounds like you have a great arrangement in your home.
When your kids are older, it's so much easier to keep things clean. I think younger children are always better off in a more "lived in" home that is real, and full of love, than a place that is clean but no one is comfortable in. I've been in both, and much prefer the former.
A friend gave me a compliment on my house, and then mentioned it's a mitzvah to keep it so clean. Is this just a figure of speech, or is it really a mitzvah to maintain a pleasant environment for others? I didn't see anything like this on the 613 mitzvot I read. I do notice, though, every time I go to a Jewish friend's home, we seem to take particular care to have everything just right in our homes when we can. The practice is not limited to Judaism, of course, but there is a subtle difference I've noticed in culture.
Sorry for the odd (notice, I didn't say stupid, because I'll get lectures that there is no stupid question ) question.
Thank you!
depending on the speaker the person could be using it in the more colloquial sense of "its a good deed" rather than something explicitly mandated by halacha. Though my sense is that the common usage, even by secular jews or those who do not follow halacha as a system, is for the kinds of good deeds that DO overlap with halacha, and with aggadic ethics. "You helped that blind man find his way on the subway, what a mitzvah!" Using it for a clean house - an accomplishment, something to be proud of - but a mitzvah? A MORALLY or ethically worthy act (again, when not used in its halachic sense)? Odd.
14 Keep your camp ritually clean, because the Lord your God is with you in your camp to protect you and to give you victory over your enemies. Do not do anything indecent that would cause the Lord to turn his back on you.
depending on the speaker the person could be using it in the more colloquial sense of "its a good deed" rather than something explicitly mandated by halacha. Though my sense is that the common usage, even by secular jews or those who do not follow halacha as a system, is for the kinds of good deeds that DO overlap with halacha, and with aggadic ethics. "You helped that blind man find his way on the subway, what a mitzvah!" Using it for a clean house - an accomplishment, something to be proud of - but a mitzvah? A MORALLY or ethically worthy act (again, when not used in its halachic sense)? Odd.
One of my bubbies would call everything I did to help around the house a mitzvah. "You put your clothes away, what a mitzvah!" "You helped mom in the kitchen, what a mitzvah!"
One of my bubbies would call everything I did to help around the house a mitzvah. "You put your clothes away, what a mitzvah!" "You helped mom in the kitchen, what a mitzvah!"
Aw, she sounds cute.
Spending more time with this lady, I now see she is the same way. My kids were washing their hands in the temple bathroom and she told them to use more soap. The kids later said they thought she'd say it was a mitzvah to use lots of soap. She likes things really, really clean.
My question is how many of the 613 mitzvah are still followed?
As many as we can.
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) question. 
