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"Utensils which are bought from a non-Jew, even if they are brand new, require immersion in a kosher mikveh."

--From
Weekly Halacha: Selected Halachos Related to Parshas Vayera by Rabbi Doniel Neustadt

If one sells one's dishes to a non-Jew as part of mechirat chametz, must they be toveled again once bought back after Pesach? Should they be re-kashered first?

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    I don't think one sells the dishes but only the chameitz.
    – rosends
    Apr 7, 2016 at 12:32
  • @danno the case here is that they did. Whether it was a waste if time is irrelevant
    – Double AA
    Apr 7, 2016 at 13:44
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    @Danno Chabad do sell the dishes as well. Apr 7, 2016 at 14:19
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    For more on the chabad opinion see "Shulchan Menachem". There the rebbe explains a rationale to the alter rebbes practice noted in @sabbahillel s answer.
    – andrewmh20
    Apr 11, 2016 at 18:35
  • I believe that because of this problem we dont sell the actual utensils, rather we sell the belios of chametz contained in them, therefore you do not need to retovel the utensils because the actual utensil was never the property of the non jew. Apr 13, 2016 at 8:55

3 Answers 3

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As with many questions of this type, the answer is "it is a machlokes" You would have to consult your specific Rav.

The OU actually goes into some details on this.

What’s the Truth about . . . the Sale of Chametz on Pesach?

The utensils themselves present more of a challenge. The question of what to do with chametzdik, non-kasherable dishes is discussed in the gemara (Pesachim 30a). Rav rules that all chametzdik utensils must be destroyed and may not be used after Pesach.[15] Shmuel disagrees and maintains that they may be used after Passover. The halachah follows Shmuel, and the Shulchan Aruch states (OC 451:1) that there is no need to sell or otherwise dispose of one’s chametzdik utensils. They simply need to be scrubbed clean of any visible chametz and locked away. After Pesach they may be used. The common practice is thus not to sell dishes. Such dishes, however, may not be used for food preparation on Pesach—not even for cold food (Rema, OC 451:1). They may be used for non-food purposes (Rema, OC 450:7) and sold to a non-Jew on Pesach (Shoneh Halachot 450:12). The discussion above pertains to chametzdik dishes; vessels that do not contain any absorbed chametz but are merely being used to store chametz are often sold in the contract used for mechirat chametz, similar to the way warehouses that store chametz are sold.[16]

Lest one desire to be overly stringent, selling dishes may result in an additional obligation—one would have to immerse the dishes in a mikvah upon repossessing them, as all metal and glass utensils acquired from a non-Jew[17] require immersion.

A significant dissenting opinion is the Shulchan Aruch HaRav (Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe). In his contract,[18] he explicitly included the sale of those utensils that have actual chametz on them. The Lubavitch custom is thus to sell the utensils, but because the chametzdik utensils are never actually transferred to the non-Jewish buyer’s domain, they do not require immersion once they are returned to the original owner.[19] The Ben Ish Chai (Tzav: 9) also states that the utensils should be sold. This is not the standard practice.

The story is told[20] that on Motzaei Pesach 1933 the Chazon Ish had a dream in which he was told to immerse all of his pots. The next morning he found out that the rav through whom he had sold his chametz had erroneously sold the pots.[21]

[15]. This was the practice among the Beta Yisrael Jews of Ethiopia, where most of the utensils were made of pottery.

[16]. See Stern, 7:16, p. 54.

[17]. For the many divergent opinions on this topic, see Darkei Teshuvah, Yoreh Deah 120:90; the long footnote in Rabbi Zvi Cohen’s Tevilat Keilim 3:3; Yabia Omer 6, YD:11 and Yechave Da’at 3:24 (where Rav Ovadia Yosef asserts one should not sell utensils and rules that they require immersion if sold). The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 114:2 also says not to sell utensils. Utensils made of material that do not require tevilah may be sold.

[18]. “Hilchot Mechirat Chametz,” found at the end of Hilchot Pesach (p. 234 in the 5773 ed.).

[19]. See the sichah from 1976 printed in HaMaor 54:2 (380): (March-April 2001): 3-5.

[20]. See Rabbi Shimon Finkelman, The Chazon Ish: The Life and Ideals of Rabbi Avraham Yeshayah Karelitz (New York, 1989), 57.

[21]. On the Chazon Ish’s opinion that there is no need to sell chametzdik utensils and that sold utensils require tevilah, see Emunah U’Bitachon 3:8 and Chazon Ish, OC 117:15.

Eliyahu Kitov on Chabad.org says that if selling the dishes is required, then because of the nature of the sale (which seems that the non-Jew did not remove them from where they were stored) it is not required to tovel them. However, there are those who say that it is not required to sell them.

Selling Your Chametz

Only chametz that is visible need be sold to a non Jew. As for chametz like that which is absorbed in one's dishes, for example, it is sufficient to wash the dishes thoroughly and put them away in a place which one will not enter on Passover.

Some authorities, however, maintain that this is not sufficient and include dishes in the sale to the non Jew. When these dishes revert to Jewish ownership after Passover, they do not require ritual immersion (as is normally the case with dishes purchased from a non Jew) due to the specific nature of the sale.

Rabbi Moshe Zywica says the same thing on the OU website but from the other angle and in fact, those who would require tevilah after repurchase, would forbid selling the dishes.

Immersing Ourselves in Tevilat Keilim

Finally, tevilah depends on the utensil’s provenance, as noted above: if it was manufactured by, purchased from, given as a gift by, or bought back from, a non-Jew, it requires tevilah. It is for this reason that many poskim prohibit the selling of chametz utensils before Passover, as they are of the opinion that the utensils would require tevilah upon “re-purchase” after Passover.

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  • Great answer. Regarding the Alter Rebbe's view, he requires that prior to the sale, visible chometz be removed from the vessels. The Rebbe gives a long explanation of this in Likkutei Sichot (pp. 364:3-370, hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14941&st=&pgnum=373) comparing this process to the vessels owned by the Jews for Shavuot at the giving of the Torah. It can also be found in Nitai Gavriel on Pesach, Vol. 1, pg. 124. Apr 13, 2016 at 13:17
  • The rebbes explanation can also be found in Shulchan Menachem.
    – andrewmh20
    Apr 20, 2016 at 19:37
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The lubovitcher rebbe discussed this and made a chiddush that tevilah is only required where the non jew had access to the utensils. He also suggested that because of today's manufacturing processes this may not be fufilled and possibly today's utensils do not require tevillah hence some chabad do not make a brachah because of a safek brachah.

Likutei sichos vol 18 parshas Mattos 2nd talk paragraph 4-5 pg 366 in the original yiddish

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    Thanks. See third para above in yellow
    – mbloch
    Apr 11, 2016 at 14:04
  • If you could link to this sicha on hebrewbooks that would be great! If there was a hebrew version you that you could link to that would be even better!
    – Yehoshua
    Apr 11, 2016 at 22:11
  • So they tovel without a bracha then? or not at all?
    – SAH
    Jun 23, 2016 at 22:30
  • @mroll "Access [to the keilim]" seems to me, in principle, a theoretical concept. No?
    – SAH
    Feb 13, 2017 at 5:47
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Qiẓur Shulḥan 'Arukh - Yalqut Yosef (Yoreh De'ah 120:24) states (my translation):

כלים של חמץ שנכללו בשטר המכירה של מכירת החמץ, ראוי להחמיר הטבילם בלי ברכה

For Ḥameẓ utensils included in one's Sale of Ḥameẓ contract, it is proper to be stringent and to immerse them [once they return to one's possession] without a blessing.

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