Spring 2025

We are an Am Kadosh, a Holy People, who are mandated by Hashem to imbue all aspects of our lives with holiness. We elevate even the mundane activity of eating and vest it with special kedusha (sanctity): the food on our plates must be kosher and the table on which we eat is likened to the holy mizbe’ach. The plates themselves, and all keilim (vessels and utensils) used to prepare our food, must likewise be infused with kedusha.

Just as an aino Yehudi must tovel in a mikvah in order to become Jewish, so too must keilim acquired from an aino Yehudi undergo tevila in a mikvah before being used by a Jew. This is the mitzva of tevilas keilim.

If a kli requires tevila, it may not be used even once before it is toveled. If a kli was used numerous times without tevila, one is still required to immerse it before its next use. Keilim may either require tevila with a bracha, tevila without a bracha, or no tevila at all – depending on what material they are made of and what their intended use is.

Keilim Requiring Tevila With a Bracha

• Metal or glass keilim which have direct contact with food during preparation or during the meal
  • Metals include: gold, silver, iron, copper, lead, tin, brass, bronze, stainless steel and aluminum
  • Glass includes: Pyrex and Corelle dishes

Keilim Requiring Tevila Without a Bracha

• Keilim made from glazed china, glazed ceramic, glazed stoneware or porcelain
• Dutch ovens, Corningware and Teflon-coated metal pans
• Metal and glass containers when used only for food storage and not brought to the table
• Disposable aluminum pans which will be used only one time
• If there is a doubt whether a kli was already toveled

 Keilim That Do Not Require Tevila

• Keilim made from unglazed ceramic, unglazed stoneware, wood or plastic
• Keilim that do not come into direct contact with food (e.g., a corkscrew, can opener, the heated base of a crockpot)
• Ordinary glass container of a food item that was bought and emptied by a Jew (e.g., a juice bottle or jam jar)
• Keilim made by a Jewish craftsman (whether Shomer Shabbos or not) for a Jewish-owned company and sold directly to a Jewish customer.
• Keilim used exclusively with raw, non-edible food (e.g., a metal meat tenderizer)
• Keilim not manufactured for food usage and used only occasionally in food preparation (e.g., an arts and crafts knife)

Who May Tovel

Anyone may tovel keilim, including a small child or an aino Yehudi. The tevila must be done in the presence of a Jewish adult to verify that it was performed correctly. The recitation of a bracha can only be said if an adult Jew does the immersion. If many keilim are to be immersed with the help of a child or an aino Yehudi, the Jewish adult should initiate the tevila process by immersing a kli with a bracha, after which the child or aino Yehudi can take over.

Where to Tovel

The immersion must be done in a mikvah that is kosher for tevilas nashim. One may also tovel in the ocean. Natural rivers that rise due to rain or melting snow may be used only after they settle back to their normal level. A competent halachic authority should be consulted before using a lake or pond, as they may be used for tevilas keilim only when they meet certain halachic criteria.

When to Tovel

Tevilas keilim may be performed during the day or night, except on Shabbos or Yom Tov. In case of necessity, if one needs to use a non-toveled kli on Shabbos or Yom Tov, it should be given to an aino Yehudi as a gift and the Jew should borrow it back. After Shabbos, if the Jew re-purchased the kli from the aino Yehudi, it requires tevila with a bracha. If the Jew continues to use the kli without re-purchasing it, it will require tevila without a bracha.

How to Tovel

The kli to be immersed must be completely clean – free of dirt, dust, rust, stickers, labels or glue. If the kli was toveled with a label, a rabbinic authority should be consulted. If the label is intended to stay on permanently, such as a warning label, one is not required to remove it before tevila.

If a bracha is required on multiple keilim, one wets his or her hand in the mikvah water prior to the immersion, holds one of the keilim in the wet hand, says “Baruch….al tevilas keilim,” and immerses the kli; the remaining keilim are then toveled without another bracha. If only one kli is being immersed, the bracha is “al tevilas keili” (in the singular).

The entire kli must be submerged in the mikvah water at one time. Care must be taken that keilim being toveled are not touching each other in a way that would prevent water from getting in between them. One must ensure that there are no air bubbles trapped in the kli, as they would prevent water from touching the entire kli. For this reason, a narrow-necked bottle should be toveled neck-up so that the inside of the bottle will fill completely with mikvah water. Similarly, a pocket-knife used for food should be toveled in its open position so that the water will touch all areas of the blade. Equipment made of multiple components that are assembled as a single unit should be toveled in the manner used and not piece by piece.

An electric appliance that will certainly be ruined if toveled may be used without tevila, as it is impossible to fulfill the mitzvah. One can assume that an appliance with a digital display or a computer chip will be ruined if toveled. For this reason, a Keurig machine may be used without tevila (see Sidebar).

An electric appliance which likely will survive the tevila process should be toveled (though there is no guarantee it won’t be damaged). Simple electric devices generally fall into this category. After tevila, it is important to let the appliance dry very well – for at least three days – before using it, as it is more likely to short-circuit if it is damp.

Ownership Issues Affecting Tevila

A purchased kli requires tevila if the manufacturing company is owned by an aino Yehudi, even if all the workers are Jewish. Unless one has information to the contrary, one should assume that all companies outside Eretz Yisroel have some aino Yehudi ownership. Tevila is not required when one borrows or rents a kli from an aino Yehudi.

If the manufacturing company is Jewish-owned, and the kli is crafted by Jews and sold directly to Jews without any aino Yehudi middleman, the kli does not require tevila. For example, a kiddush cup manufactured in Israel and purchased there from a Jewish-owned store would not require tevila. However, one manufactured outside Israel would require tevila with a bracha.

A kli requires tevila whether it is bought or received as a gift from an aino Yehudi. This requirement would apply even if the Jew owned the kli originally, sold it to an aino Yehudi, and subsequently bought it back. If someone converts to Judaism, their keilim require tevila (without a bracha) even if they were only used for kosher food, since the keilim were transferred from the possession of an aino Yehudi to the possession of a Jew.

If a person buys a kli to give as a present, he can choose to tovel it beforehand, but this is not required. He should inform the recipient if he toveled it. If the item might be returned to the store unused, the giver should not tovel it before gifting it.

If a person buys a kli and fills it with food to give as a present (such as mishloach manos), the tevila requirement will depend on the worth of the kli:

• If the kli is not valuable, it is subordinate to the food and does not need tevila by the giver. The recipient can eat the food from the non-toveled kli. If the recipient wants to reuse the empty kli, he would need to tovel it.
• If the kli is valuable enough that it could be given as a present without the food, the giver should tovel it before filling it with food.

Miscellaneous Tevila Issues

If one received a used kli from an aino Yehudi which had been used with non-kosher food, it must be kashered first before it is toveled.

Any kli that requires both kashering and tevila should be kashered first.

If a kli that requires tevila was mixed with keilim that have already been immersed, and the untoveled keili is unidentifiable, all of the keilim should be re-toveled. If this poses a difficulty or expense, a rav should be consulted.

If one is invited to eat at a friend’s house and it is known that the keilim have not been toveled, a rav should be consulted. If the host is a shomer Torah u’mitzvos, one may assume that he fully complies with halacha.

If, in error, a non-toveled kli was used to prepare food, the food is still considered to be kosher. The food must be transferred to a properly toveled kli before further cooking or consumption.

It is impossible to address all the issues and questions that may arise regarding tevilas keilim. When in doubt about a particular facet of this mitzvah, always consult a competent rabbinic authority.

See the STAR-K site for a handy list of keilim and their tevila requirements.[1]

(See also a related article, “Tevila Exemption for Appliances with Electronic Components,” by Rabbi Zvi Holland.)

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[1] See https://www.star-k.org/articles/kosher-lists/1170/tevilas-keilim-guidelines/.