All Ezzy had to do was give each pot a quick rinse. How hard could that be?

Ezzy Danberg looked at his watch.

“Oh,” he thought to himself. “It’s almost time to pick my job.”

Every year, before Pesach, the Danberg family would meet in the kitchen, and each family member would pick a crumpled paper out of an old goldfish bowl. On each paper was written a different Pesach cleaning job.

Ezzy thought back to the year before, when he and his two brothers had been given the job of cleaning out their minivan.

The Danberg family spent a lot of time in their minivan. Although they tried to clean it from time to time, a lot of crumbs, pizza crusts, and wrappers inevitably piled up on the floor of the car. The boys had divided up the job: Ezzy would sweep out all the large crumbs and wrappers, then his brothers would come and do all the rest.

Ezzy, as usual, had figured out a shortcut. Why work hard putting the garbage into bags? He simply took a large broom and swept everything out of the car and onto the driveway. It was a very windy day, so as soon as the garbage hit the pavement, it was blown away by the wind. Ezzy imagined that many birds and squirrels had wonderful meals from the crumbs of the Danberg’s minivan.

For some reason, Rabbi Danberg was upset. He seemed to have seen some candy wrappers blowing down the street.

Ezzy had shrugged his shoulders. At least he’d gotten the job done. That had been a great shortcut. He hoped to find another shortcut today.

He quickly made his way to the kitchen and joined his family around the old goldfish bowl on the table.

Rabbi Danberg began to address his family. “Now remember,” he said, “Pesach cleaning is a big mitzvah. When it comes to doing mitzvos, the harder you work, the more reward you get.”

He suddenly stopped, and turned to face Ezzy. “Please,” he pleaded, “whatever job you pick today, try to do it right. Don’t take shortcuts. Just do the job right, even if you have to work a little harder.”