Cleaning Dishes on Shabbos

Question

My wife goes crazy when the dishes are in the sink over Shabbos. She heard that there is a heter to wash them if it bothers her. Is this the halacha?

Thanks.

Rav Zafrani

The first thing you need to do is make sure that the dishes are being washed without a problem of meleches sechitah, such as by using netting and not a sponge.

Even if that is the case, I do not feel that the mess justifies washing the dishes on Shabbos. If one will not need the dishes for the rest of Shabbos, then one should not wash them, since this is considered hachanah for after Shabbos. My rebbetzin is extremely careful to ensure that the house looks orderly, and in our home we neatly pile the dishes in the sink until after Shabbos and it does not look messy at all.