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...
