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7 Nissan 5763 - April 9, 2003 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family


Costly Disposables, Seriously?
by Sara Fried

The story goes that many years ago, people used to eat from plates which were not thrown away after one use! They used to put them into basins or maybe into the sink, and then wash them in hot soapy water with the aid of a dishcloth. Then they used to dry them with a tea towel and replace them into the cupboard. They did the same to cups and glasses. And they washed tablecloths and sometimes even ironed linen serviettes that went with them!

Just think of the amount of space needed to house all those dishes, meat and dairy! Nowadays, with the end of this incredible story, we have one large drawer in which we keep all the disposable tableware, and that's that. We still need quite an amount of space to house the pots and pans, but this problem is rapidly being solved by the use of disposable tinfoil dishes and containers for the microwave. Do you remember such things as enamel saucepans and iron baking tins? It may not be wise to admit this; it might give away your age. Storage boxes were also made of some heavy cumbersome material before they discovered cheap plastic.

Do you think I am exaggerating?

Who uses the beautiful china dinner set, including platters, bowls and salad dishes, set aside for `company'? Who, nowadays, borrows dishes from a gemach for a simcha in her house? The gradual erosion of the dishes gemach is a direct result of disposable paperware. It began with simchos (when people still did their own `catering') and then continued in the home for regular use. It was so convenient. Instead of having to shlep dishes from a gemach ("I'm sorry, lady, the dishes are all out at the moment. You should have booked them earlier"), having to stand washing them all up when the guests were gone, then counting each item and searching through the garbage for a lost knife, apologizing and paying for broken dishes -- people now use disposable ware almost entirely.

Here we have two schools of thought. One feels that it is wasteful and a pity to throw good money into the garbage after just one use, and therefore, they invest in the cheapest paperware available. The other opinion, maybe among those who still remember the old elegant service, is that even though it is made of paper, let it be of the best quality and pretty design, with matching napkins and tablecloths. It seems that nobody gives a thought to the fact that it might not be appropriate to expect distingushed guests to perform the major feat of cutting a steak with a plastic knife.

Possibly, this is the reason why exclusive or even less elite caterers set the tables with beautiful silverware, porcelain plates of various sizes and elegant thick stemmed glassware in amounts which vary according to what the host is paying the caterer.

However, this article is about the revolution in disposables. The innovation of using and discarding an article was begun by a fellow by the name of Gillette, who invented the disposable razor blade about 100 years ago. Till then, men who wanted a shave (not Jews, of course, who are forbidden to use a razor) had to visit the barber on a daily basis. The world began to develop a mindset that something could be manufactured with the express purpose of surviving not more than a few uses.

Let us take the handkerchief. Ladies used to take out meticulously ironed, scented white lace bordered hankies, with their initials hand-embroidered in one corner, from smart crocodile leather handbags. Children from good homes used to bring starched ironed napkins to school to put under their packed lunches. They had to bring a clean, ironed handkerchief, often pinned into a pocket, to nursery or school each day. After that, before the advent of the packets of tissues, Teacher kept a toilet roll on her desk.

Plastic cutlery came into existence with the arrival of fast food stores and takeaways, about sixty years ago -- in America, of course. These plastic and paper goods abolished the need to employ waiters to clear tables of heavy dishes and having to wash them up. They also facilitated the setting up of takeaways at any street corner.

The greatest boon of all seems to be the disposable diapers, or nappies, as the British still call them. When our mothers talk about the olden days, they always bring up the nappies: grandmothers tell how they scrubbed them and boiled them, while mothers relate how they washed them in the washing machines, hung them up to dry and then folded them just so, according to the size, and sometimes gender, of the child.

The more well-to-do used a nappy service, putting out bags of used, smelly nappies, and receiving a bag of clean folded nappies in return. All this is a thing of the past (as is the livelihood of the nappy service personnel). There are not many women who persist in using the cloth nappies on a daily basis, in spite of the not inconsiderable addition to the weekly budget. Incidentally, one result of the disposable nappies seems to be that mothers cannot be bothered to `train' their children. In the olden days, most children were toilet trained by the age of two or even earlier. Not any more.

It is not only the paper goods which are disposable. As mentioned, the mindset of the world has changed. Machines are made with built-in obsolescence, and engineers are not prepared to repair them after a certain age. Smaller electrical appliances are not repairable at all. It is cheaper to buy a new iron, electric kettle or tape recorder than to try and get one fixed. Gone are the days of the solid wooden furniture which lasted through generations, and now fetches astronomical prices in the antique market.

Everything is now made of chipboard with a thin veneer of substitute formica, which does not last longer than a few years at most. If one moves house, this furniture will not survive the move.

Years ago, a sewing machine was almost a must for every young bride, even if she was not an experienced seamstress. Who turns sheets nowadays? Who patches clothes (or mends socks) apart from the fashion houses which charge enormous sums for new patched designer- name jeans?

Watches, pens, cameras -- they are all cheap and disposable. Knife grinders, cobblers and watchmakers are few and far between. Everything and everyone is replaceable in this day and age. Older people are fired from their jobs as soon as the employers feel they are not as useful as they were. Young married partners split up, often for no very good reason. Marriages, too, are disposable.

It is not presumptuous to say that our way of thinking has been changed. Values have changed. We are not taught to treasure or appreciate the value of things. In the same way as one can dispose of paperware -- ideas, ideals and people are all rubbished; they have lost their worth.

There still are, however, thank G-d, many people who value the elegance of real dishes, who use real handkerchiefs, and even linen tablecloths. Certainly in the Torah world, values do matter and youngsters are educated to realize that older people are of great value -- and people are not disposable...

 

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