Is Tevilas Keilim Always Required?
BY RABBI YECHIEL TEICHMAN
The Torah mandates that utensils acquired from non-Jews must be immersed before being used. However, certain utensils are precluded from this requirement. In this article, I will explore two possible exemptions:
- A utensil that bears a claim of being exempt;
- A machine that will be ruined by tevila
Various appliances and utensils bear hashgacha stating that tevilas keilim is not required. If the manufacturing was done in non-Jewish factories, is this possible? Assuming it is, would purchasing such an item in a non-Jewish supermarket restore the obligation of tevila?
The Mechaber¹ writes that utensils crafted by a non-Jewish craftsman from metal provided to him by a Jew are exempt from tevila. The Rema writes that one should tovel such utensils without a bracha. There is a machlokes found throughout shas as to whether a craftsman acquires ownership of a kli he fashioned until he is paid for his work, or not. The Shach² writes that this question was unresolved and remains a safek. Thus, the Rema requires a utensil fashioned by a non-Jewish craftsman to be toveled without a bracha as it may have been owned by the craftsman. The Mechaber understands³ that the requirement to tovel a kli is not determined solely by ownership; rather, it depends on which person is viewed as the owner (רשותו) דין. The one who owns the materials and for whom it was made is identified as the owner — not by the craftsman making it. Since it is identified as the Jew’s kli, it is exempt from tevila.
A Jewish distributor looking to certify utensils ordered from a non-Jewish factory as being exempt from tevila, must acquire ownership of the raw materials before the utensils are made. According to the Rema, the distributor must also pay up front for the work to circumvent any possibility that the non-Jew acquired the utensils on account of his work.⁴
If such utensils are sold in non-Jewish stores, may the Jewish buyer use the utensils without tevila? Potentially, there are three possible reasons or arrangements to allow doing so:
- The Jewish distributor sells the utensils on consignment. The utensils still belong to the distributor (and the store is merely functioning as a broker) and, therefore, the utensils are exempt from tevila.
- When the non-Jewish store acquires ownership of the utensils, seemingly, they must be toveled. For when a Jew sells a utensil to a non-Jew and reacquires it, he must tovel it.⁵ However, Rav Moshe Feinstein⁶ writes that this halacha may possibly only apply to a kli that was originally purchased from a non-Jew (and toveled). When it is subsequently sold to a non-Jew, the kli reverts to its original status (of a kli akum). A kli that was originally a Jewish kli may possibly not be subject to tevila even when sold to a non-Jew and repurchased. Rav Moshe concludes that there is a safek whether tevila is required and, therefore, tevila should be done without a bracha.
- Another possible consideration as to why Jewish utensils purchased in a non-Jewish store may possibly be exempt from a chiyuv tevila is that the store purchased these utensils to sell them. Accordingly, they may qualify as klei schora (while under non-Jewish ownership), and may possibly not become subject to a tevila obligation. The source for this sevara can be found in the Beis Yosef. Beis Yosef writes that a Jew who borrows a kli from another Jew, if the owner of the kli bought it from a non-Jew to be used for schora (resale), the borrower will not need to tovel it. Although the Issur V’Heter argues and requires the borrower to tovel the kli, it seems that the concept of a kli schora being exempt from a tevila obligation was not rejected.⁷ Accordingly, a non-Jew who has ownership of klei schora may possibly not create a chiyuv tevila.
Rav Shlomo Miller shlit”a⁸ said that when purchasing such keilim (with a hechsher exempting it from tevila) from a non-Jewish store, tevila should be done without a bracha.
A common question we often receive at COR is from people who purchased Keurig machines and similar items that cannot be toveled for practical reasons: they will be destroyed by being immersed in water.
The poskim discuss a scenario when it is impractical to tovel utensils. There is a dispute as to whether a person is permitted to toivel a kli on Shabbos or whether such tevila would violate a rabbinic infraction of tikun kli.⁹ The Shulchan Aruch recommends avoiding this disagreement, and instead, advises gifting the kli to a gentile.¹⁰ ¹¹ Once the kinyan — the act of acquisition — takes place, one may immediately borrow the kli back from the gentile for use on Shabbos.¹² Performing the kinyan eliminates Jewish ownership from the kli, rendering it exempt from tevila. The Beis Yosef¹³ adds that this strategy is not limited in its application to Shabbos. Indeed, it may be implemented any day of the week in a scenario where there is no mikvah.¹⁴
This concept can be extended to Keurig machines and similar utensils. Rav Shlomo Miller shlit”a, maintains that an item whose usage will be nullified by tevila, would not require tevila. A similar concept is found in hilchos tzitzis siman yud. The Beis Yosef writes that a very long garment would not need tzitzis strings if the strings will constantly be dragging on the ground and tearing. If such a garment would be obligated in tzitzis, the owner would have to be always repairing the strings. The principle of אין דרכיה דרכי נעם would preclude such a garment from needing tzitzis. So too, if a kli will be destroyed by tevila, it would not be necessary to tovel it before use. Practically, Rav Miller advises selling such an item.
So when such shaylos come to our desks, we advise selling the machines and borrowing it back. When the caller is unable to do so, we refer them to Halacha Institute of Toronto, which has a system set up to assist people in this regard.
Rabbi Yechiel Teichman is a Rabbinic Administrator and Halachic Advisor at COR
Kashruth Council of Canada | www.cor.ca — 2023 / 5784, Halachic Corner, pp. 10–11
COR, the Kashruth Council of Canada, is one of the world’s largest kosher certification agencies, certifying thousands of products, restaurants, and facilities. Learn more at cor.ca, or read about our certification services at corkosher.com.