We all need money, and sometimes, as an independent writer and video content creator, I don’t always make enough. In such cases, I pull myself up by my bootstraps and take on odd cleaning jobs that, although exhausting, pay well. 

Not too far from my house in the city center of Jerusalem is a “ridge” of high rises overlooking Emek Hamatzleva (Valley of the Cross) and the Knesset. There, swimming in excess, live some of New York’s finest and brightest Orthodox Jews, but mainly during the holiday season. Some are old money with apartments of outdated 80s-style wooden panels, flowered tile kitchens, and green appliances; others are new money with renovated apartments of single-slab marble-covered bathrooms, central air, and stainless steel sinks. 

My ‘cleaning boss’ inherited the job of managing their properties from his father and will eventually pass it down to his son in training, a true family business. He takes care of their payments, communicates with contractors, provides...