Updated March 2024

GENERAL GUIDELINES

• The utensil to be immersed must be completely clean – i.e., free of dirt, dust, rust, stickers, labels or glue. (Practical Tip: WD-40 is very effective in removing adhesive.) One should wet their hands in the mikvah water, hold the vessel in the wet hand and say, “Baruch…asher kid’shanu b’mitzvosav v’tzivanu al tevilas keili” – keilim for multiple utensils – and immerse the vessel(s).
• If one forgot to make the bracha, the immersion is valid.
• The water of the mikvah must touch the entire vessel, inside and out.
• The entire vessel must be under water at one time, but does not have to be submerged for any prolonged period of time.
• A vessel’s lid or cover can be immersed separately if it is removable.
• If a basket or net is used to hold small utensils, the basket should be immersed in the water, the utensils placed in the basket, and the basket swirled under the water, so that the water will touch all areas of the utensils.
• A narrow-necked bottle should be immersed neck up, so that the inner surface of the bottle will fill completely with mikvah water.
• Care must be taken that no air is trapped in the submerged vessels.
• Anyone may tovel keilim, including a small child or a non-Jew, however, a Jewish adult must be present to verify that it took place. The recitation of a bracha can only be done if a Jew does the immersion. Therefore, if many utensils are to be immersed with the help of a child or a non-Jew, the owner should first immerse a few vessels with a bracha and then the child or non-Jew can take over.
• Utensils require tevila with a bracha if: (a) they make direct contact with food during preparation or meal time and (b) are made from either a metal (such as aluminum, brass, copper, gold, iron, lead, silver, silverplate, steel or tin) or glass (including Pyrex, Duralex, and Corelle).

For a comprehensive listing of kitchen utensils, and which require tevila – with or without a bracha – and which do not, please refer to the STAR-K Tevilas Keilim Chart.