Q&A: Koshering Utensils
Koshering Utensils
Question
Hello, and happy holiday to Rabbi Michi
I have a few questions regarding the kashrut of utensils. I should note that I live in a home where I am the only one who keeps kosher, and the others are secular.
I would appreciate it if you could answer each question individually, as well as offer any advice or tips for the situation I’m in.
1. If they heated food in the oven and microwave, which I had already koshered, and that food was prepared with utensils that were not koshered but only went through the dishwasher (secular family members who came for the Seder), do I need to kosher the oven and microwave again? They didn’t use the stovetop burners, but they did place things on them from time to time. What is the ruling regarding them?
2. If they put into the place where I keep utensils that I had koshered, utensils that are not kosher (they had been koshered, but then were used for food with supervision that I trust, except that it was prepared in non-kosher utensils) — what is the ruling regarding the utensils that I koshered?
Do they need hag’alah, or is it enough to wash them with soap? I should note that I don’t know which utensils they used and then put into the pile of my kosher utensils.
Thank you very much in advance
Answer
1. Regarding the microwave: if the food was heated in a closed container, there is no need to kosher it again. Regarding the oven, the food is usually open to the cavity, so the question is whether the food that was heated was leavened food.
As for the stovetop, as long as the contact was not while hot, there is no need to kosher it again.
2. Anything that was not hot does not render things forbidden. Just make sure it is clean.
Discussion on Answer
In principle yes, although there are studies examining this. For now there still aren’t agreed-upon results sufficient to change the Jewish law on this. It also depends on what kind of utensils.
With today’s utensils, do we need to be concerned about absorption and emission?