31 Oct KASHRUTH QUESTIONS: WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT FROM THE OU

Does one need to tovel
electric appliances?
There are many different
appliances; there is no one rule. For
example, an urn should be toiveled.
Obviously, after you toivel an urn, you should not
use it for a while until it’s completely dry or you’ll
risk ruining it.
Other people
ask about a
toaster oven.
In terms of a
toaster oven,
the only thing
that has to
be toiveled is
the pan that
you’re baking
on. One of the most popular questions we get is
about the coffee maker, the Keurig machine. The
Keurig machines are almost completely plastic,

and moreover they will not survive being put into
the mikva, so there are many reasons to be lenient.
Number one, because it’s mainly plastic. Number
2, because they won’t survive being put in the
mikva. Number 3, because the way they’re used is
by plugging them in and there are opinions that
say that something that needs to be connected to
the ground, doesn’t need tevila. You can’t use your
coffee maker without connecting it to your plug.
Given all those reasons, one doesn’t have to toivel
their coffee maker.
Does one need separate peelers &
cutting boards for vegetables for
both milchigs & fleishigs?
You don’t necessarily need to separate. If you’re only
cutting tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, it’s not
a big deal. But if you cut an onion and the onion is
fleishig, the knife becomes fleishig, and vice versa.
So, because you have sharp vegetables; onions,
garlic, radishes etc., my strong recommendation is
to have separate cutting boards and peelers.

Could bringing my knife in for
sharpening cause a kashrus
problem?
The sharpening itself is not a kashrus issue. They
take the knife and put it through a sharpener, there’s
nothing not kosher about it. The issue is, you need
to be confident that the knife you gave is the knife
you get back. If at all possible, you should use a
company that sharpens only kosher knives.