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Introduction to Toveling: Utensils
Tevila is the Hebrew word for immersion.  You must tovel (immerse in a mikva or other halachically purifying water) new utensils made of metal or other materials that require tevila unless you know that they were:
  • Made by a Jew,
  • Sold by a Jew, and
  • Not owned by a non-Jew in between.
Toveling: Utensils: How To Tovel
To tovel a utensil, you may go to any kosher natural mikva (see section on natural mikvas) or to a mikvat keilim (a small mikva for utensils, often attached to the outside of a regular mikva building). To tovel several items, some of which require a blessing and some on which there is doubt whether a blessing is necessary, say the blessing over the item that requires the blessing and have in mind that the blessing will cover all the rest of your items.
Remember to remove all stickers, rust, etc., before you begin. Nail polish remover may help with stubborn stickers. Say the blessing al tevilat keilim and then let the item free fall through the water. Unlike with hagala, during which the item may be immersed in sections, when you tovel a utensil, the entire item must be in contact with the water at the same time, even if only for an instant.

Toveling: Utensils: What Gets Toveled?
Note The main halacha applies to metal utensils that will be used repeatedly.
Say the blessing al tevilat keilim on metal or glass items--including Pyrex, Duralex, and Corelle-- that come in contact with food. Items that require toveling include:
  • Bowls
  • Cups
  • Forks
  • Knives
  • Pans
  • Plates
  • Pots
  • Spoons
  • Storage containers (only if they are brought to the table).
The below chart is copied with permission from the Star-K (www.star-k.org):
 
 
Utensil Tevila Guideline   Utensil Tevila Guideline
Aluminum Pans, Disposable
if intended to be used more than once		 Tevila with Brocha Meat Tenderizer Hammer,
Metal		 No Tevila
Aluminum Pans, Disposable
to be used only once		 Tevila w/o Brocha Melamine No Tevila
Blech No Tevila Metal Cutlery Tevila with Brocha
Blender with metal blade on bottom Tevila with Brocha Metal Flour and Sugar
Storage Canisters		 Tevila w/o Brocha
Bone No Tevila Metal Pots Coated with
Teflon, Enamel or Plastic		 Tevila w/o Brocha
Brush, Pastry No Tevila Metal Spoon Specifically for Medicine Tevila w/o Brocha
Brush for Grill, Metal No Tevila Microwave Turntable, Glass Tevila w/o Brocha
Can Opener No Tevila Mixer Beaters Tevila w/o Brocha
Cans, Reusable Empty
if opened by a Yehudi		 No Tevila Paper No Tevila
China, Bone Tevila w/o Brocha Peeler, Vegetable Tevila with Brocha
China, Glazed Tevila w/o Brocha Plastic No Tevila
Colander, Metal Tevila with Brocha Porcelain Enamel Tevila w/o Brocha
Cookie Cutters, Metal No Tevila Racks, Cooling Tevila w/o Brocha
Cookie Sheets, Metal Tevila with Brocha Racks, Oven No Tevila
Cork Screw No Tevila Rolling Pins
Metal or Wood		 No Tevila
Corningware Tevila w/o Brocha Sandwich Maker Tevila with Brocha
Crockpot Ceramic Insert Tevila w/o Brocha Silicone No Tevila 
Crockpot Glass Lid Tevila w/o Brocha Sink Racks, Stainless Steel No Tevila
Crockpot Outside Metal Shell No Tevila Spatula, Metal Tevila with Brocha
Dish Rack, Metal No Tevila Stoneware Tevila w/o Brocha
Dishes, Ceramic Tevila w/o Brocha Stoneware, Non-Glazed No Tevila
Earthenware, Non-Glazed
Dull Finish, e.g. Flower Pot		 No Tevila Storage Utensils, Glass
not brought to the table		 No Tevila
George Foreman Grill Tevila w/o Brocha Styrofoam No Tevila
Glass
(including Pyrex, Duralex & Corelle)		 Tevila with Brocha Tea Kettle, Corelle Tevila with Brocha
Grater, Metal
used for foods that are ready to eat, eg, apples, onions		 Tevila with Brocha Toaster
which will not break		 Tevila w/o Brocha
Grater, Metal
used only for foods that need further cooking,eg potatos		 Tevila w/o Brocha Toaster Oven
rack & tray only		 Tevila with Brocha
Hamburger Maker Tevila with Brocha Trivet, Metal No Tevila
Hot Air Popcorn Maker, Metal Tevila with Brocha Waffle Iron Tevila with Brocha
Hot Water Urn, Metal Tevila with Brocha Warming Tray No Tevila
Knife, Arts & Crafts No Tevila Wood No Tevila
Knife Sharpener No Tevila Wooden Cask with
Metal Straps		 Tevila w/o Brocha
Meat Thermometer No Tevila    
Kashrut: Dairy/Meat: Tiny Pot Spatters: Outside of Utensil, Above Normal Food Line
Situation
  • The outside of a hot, empty pot of one gender gets a spatter of opposite-gender food ABOVE the normal food line. 
  • The spatter is less than 1/3600 of the normally used volume of the pot (instead of the normal criterion of 1/60th of the volume--this being 1/60th of 1/60th).
Status The pot is kosher after 24 hours without kashering.
What To Do You must wash the pot off with cold water and soap.
Note This applies even if the pot had been used at 120° F (49° C) or more within 24 hours.
Kashrut: Dairy/Meat: Hot Dairy Food Spatters INTO Meat Pot, or Vice Versa
Situation
  • Hot dairy food spatters INTO a pot of meat food, or vice versa.
  • Spatter is less than 1/60th of the volume of the food into which it spattered.
Status The spattered food is nullified (batel ba'shishim).
What To Do As there is nothing to wash off, the food may be eaten, but you should remove the spattered food, if possible. The pot is kosher.

Opening Metal Bottle Caps on Shabbat
You may not open metal bottle caps on Shabbat if doing so will leave behind a metal ring. You may break the ring or open the bottle (and close it again, if desired) before Shabbat.
Note If you need the contents for Shabbat (such as if it is a bottle of wine), you may ask a non-Jew to open it for you.  But if the wine is not cooked/mevushal, the wine will become non-kosher once opened and handled by a non-Jew.
Checking Jewish Lineage
If there may be any question about the Jewish lineage of a bride-to-be or bridegroom, his or her female antecedents should be confirmed as having been Jewish (born of a Jewess OR halachically converted) back to when a shomeret Shabbat woman has been positively identified (or back as far as possible). As a practical matter, three or four generations may be as far back as most Jews can be traced.
 
Also, make sure that if there was any divorce, that the divorce was kosher, with a get.
How To Check If a Microwave Oven Will Get Hot during Cooking
To determine if the walls of a microwave oven will get hot during cooking:
  • Boil water for as long as food would typically be cooked in that microwave oven, and
  • Touch the inside walls, floor, door, and ceiling
    • If the walls are too hot to touch, the walls may acquire the gender of any food cooked in the oven. (If the walls are already the opposite gender when cooking a food, the oven may become non-kosher.)
    • If the walls are not too hot to touch, then no change of status occurs.
Baking Non-Liquid Neutral/Pareve and Non-Liquid Dairy (or Meat) at Same Time
Situation You bake non-liquid dairy food and non-liquid neutral/pareve food in one oven at the same time.
Status
  • You may not eat the pareve food with meat food (and certainly not dairy food with the meat!), but
  • The utensil (pan) of the pareve food does not become dairy.
Note The same applies if you cook non-liquid meat with non-liquid pareve food.
Note If one or both of the foods were liquid, the utensil might be non-kosher. Consult a rabbi.

Appearing To Not Uphold the Torah (Mar'it Ayin)
You may not do any action that may cause religious Jews to do something wrong or cause people to think that an observant Jew is doing something forbidden (mar'it ayin). Mar'it ayin is doing something that might lead people to:
  • Violate a Torah law by thinking that an observed action that is permissible under special circumstances may be applied to other cases, or
  • Think that the person doing the action is violating Torah law (since the observer might not know that the action is actually permissible).
Example When a Jew wears a yarmulke and eats raw, kosher vegetables in a non-kosher restaurant, someone who did not know that only kosher food was being eaten might think that:
  • All of the food in that restaurant is kosher, or
  • The Jew was doing something forbidden (and think badly of the Jew).
If no one can see you, you may do activities that might look like violations of rabbinic laws. If the action is forbidden by the Torah (d'oraita), you may not even do it in private (but you may not actually violate either type of law!).
Jewish Festivals: Opening Metal Bottle Caps
You may not open metal bottle caps on Jewish festivals if a metal ring will be left after doing so. You may break that ring or simply open the bottle before the Jewish festival (or simply open the bottle and reclose it such that when you open in again, no metal will be broken).  
Note If you need the contents for a Jewish festival (such as if it is a bottle of wine), you may ask a non-Jew to open the bottle for you.  But if it is wine that is not cooked/mevushal, the wine will become non-kosher once opened and handled by the non-Jew.
Taste (Ta'am) Transfer: Spicy/Charif: Pressure: Food Absorbing Taste of Utensils
When a spicy/charif food takes on the gender of the cutting/squeezing utensil:
  • You may not cook or eat that food with food of the opposite gender.
  • However, you MAY eat the opposite-gender food immediately after eating the gendered spicy food without waiting.
Situation An onion is cut with a meat knife, on a meat cutting board:
  • The onion acquires meat status.
  • You MAY NOT later cut this onion with a dairy knife or on a dairy cutting board. (If you do, the onion, the dairy knife, and the dairy cutting board will all become non-kosher.) 
Exception If the knife and cutting board had not been used (even for cold items) for at least 24 hours, consult a rabbi.
Exception If you can sand off the surface to below the level of any knife cuts, the board might be kosher. Consult a rabbi. 
  • You MAY NOT cook this onion in a dairy utensil.
  • You MAY NOT eat this onion with dairy food.
  • You MAY eat dairy immediately after eating this onion (as long as there is no actual meat mixed into the onion).
  • You MAY cook this onion with fish (even though you may not cook meat and fish together) but the fish may not be eaten with dairy food.
Situation You cut an onion with a meat knife and fry it in a neutral/pareve pan.
StatusThe pan becomes meat, but consult a rabbi for possible leniencies.

Situation You cut an onion with a meat knife and fry it in a dairy pan.
StatusThe pan becomes non-kosher.  If you cook a neutral/pareve food in that pan after 24 hours have passed since the onion was cooked in it, and you ate the pareve food with milk, it is OK b'di'avad but you may not do that l'chatchila.
Tzitzit: For What To Check
Torn
In checking tzitzit, determine:
  • Are any loops torn?
  • Are 8 strings visible on each corner?
If you cannot see 7 strings due to one or more having been torn off, consult a rabbi.

Tangled
There is no problem if tzitzit are tangled. However, to untangle them:
  • Is a superior way to fulfill the mitzva, and 
  • Allows you to easily check them to see if there are 8 tzitziyot.
Frizzy
If any tzitziyot are so frizzy that the individual tzitziyot cannot be distinguished, they are invalid (pasul).
Note To prevent frizziness during laundering, wrap the tzitziyot tightly in a rubber band before drying them in a dryer, or hang them to dry.
Note
  • If the hanging end of a tzitzit string breaks below the lowest knot, the string is kosher.
  • If more than one string breaks, or if one string breaks above the lowest knot, consult a rabbi since the tzitzit may not be kosher.
Sukka: Schach: Materials

Non-Kli
You may not use a kli for sukka schach.

A kli is any item created with the intention of being used as a tool or utensil to make an activity easier.

Examples

  • Bamboo if it had been used for any other purpose.

  • Wooden ladder.

  • Walking stick.

Non-Edible
A sukka's covering (schach) must consist of non-edible branches, leaves, or other materials of plant origin such as boards. You may use wooden boards (such as 2” x 4”s) to hold up schach, even though lumber is intended to be used for construction.
Size
Boards or tree trunks—whether used as schach or used to hold up schach--must be not more than 15 inches (38 cm) wide. A board--whether used as schach or used to hold up schach--more than 15 inches wide invalidates the area below it and you would have to sit under kosher schach in order to fulfill the mitzva. In the case of a board more than 15 inches wide: If the sukka has only three walls, the board may invalidate the sukka. Consult a rabbi.
Fresh
You may not use branches whose leaves will dry up in less than 8 days, intending to replace the branches with fresh ones during chol ha'moed; the custom is to use evergreen leaves only if you want to use leaves as schach.
Fasteners
Schach on the sukka must stay by itself without fasteners or connectors, even in a place with normally high wind. Any man-made fasteners--such as plastic, metal, or even hemp cord or rope--will invalidate the schach. If the schach will stay without them, then you may use fasteners or connectors as reinforcements.

Year-Round Structures
You may use a pergola, gazebo, or other type of awning frame or roof structure that exists year-round for a sukka as long as the other conditions (size, slope, materials, timing, etc.) are kosher. You must first remove any permanent roof coverings before putting on the schach.

Note The slope of the sukka roof must be less than 45 degrees from horizontal.

Introduction to Shavuot
Shavuot (Yom HaBikurim in the Torah) celebrates and commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai.
Beginning with the second night of Passover, the Israelites who left Egypt underwent 49 days of spiritual improvement and purification until they were ready to receive the Torah from God (Shavuot ends this 49-day “omer” period).  We can undergo a similar process of spiritual development each year during these 49 days (how to do that is beyond the scope of this website). According to our tradition, the Israelites in Egypt had sunk to the 49th level of spiritual impurity (tum'a). The Israelites had to raise themselves in 49 daily stages to be worthy of receiving the Torah.  Several books and siddurs portray the 49 days of the omer as corresponding to the Seven Sefirot embedded in the seven weeks.  This awareness can help us work on and maximize the power inherent in each day of the omer to fix that particular sefira in ourselves. We thus relive this transition from slavery to freedom and the service of God each year as we try to perfect our midot (personal characteristics) to again be worthy of receiving the Torah on Shavuot.

 
Symbolism of the Shavuot Offering
In the Temple in Jerusalem, the only communal sacrifice of leavened bread was on Shavuot. Leavening in dough is compared to arrogance in humans (people puff themselves up to look more important than they actually are). During Passover we destroy, and refrain from eating, leaven--just as we try to destroy/remove arrogance from our personalities. After Passover, we continue to work on our personal traits (midot) until we reach Shavuot, when we celebrate receiving the Torah.  At Shavuot, we Jews have a right to feel important, since we are spiritually elevated by virtue of having been given the Torah.
 
Shavuot: Universal Customs
The universal custom is to eat at least one dairy food during Shavuot.
Possible reason  At the time the Israelites received the Torah, they did not have any kosher meat (they had not been required to eat kosher until then) and so the only food they were permitted to eat was dairy food.
Another universal custom is to stay awake all night (if possible) studying Torah.
 
Shavuot: Symbols
Unlike other Jewish festivals, Shavuot has no concrete symbols and no specific unique commandments/mitzvot, other than sacrifices that were brought in the Temple in Jerusalem.
Introduction to Passover
Introduction to Passover: Passover Names

Passover celebrates the seven or eight days starting with the 14th of Nisan, when God took the Israelites out of Egypt about 3300 years ago. The holiday has several names:
  • Chag HaPesach--Holiday of "Skipping Over" (reflecting that God passed over the Jewish homes and did not kill the first-born sons, unlike those of the Egyptians);
  • Chag HaAviv--Festival of Spring (the Jewish calendar is based on the moon and is adjusted to the solar cycle so that Passover always comes in the spring);
  • Chag HaMatzot--Holiday of Unleavened Bread; and
  • Zman Cheiruteinu--Time of our Freedom.

Introduction to Passover: Passover Observance

Passover observance includes removal of chametz, the Passover sacrifice and its reminders, and the Passover seder:

Chametz

Chametz Gamur and Ta'arovet Chametz

The Five Grains, once fermented into items such as bread or beer, are genuine chametz (chametz gamur) and are forbidden on Passover by the Torah (d'oraita).  Ta'arovet chametz (a mixture containing chametz) includes foods such as breakfast cereal and are also forbidden on Passover.

Rules for Chametz

  • You may not own or see (your own) chametz during the entire period of Passover.
  • You may not benefit in any way from chametz during Passover, whether it belongs to a Jew or to a non-Jew. If the chametz was owned by a Jew during Passover, you may not benefit from that chametz even after the holiday has ended.

What To Do with Chametz

Ideally, any chametz should be used up before Passover, given to a non-Jew, or destroyed. But if the chametz has significant value, the custom is to sell that chametz to a non-Jew. You do not need to sell kitniyot, but you must sell any genuine chametz and any mixtures of chametz (ta'arovet chametz).

Passover and Nullification by 1/60th

During the year, 1/60th or less of an undesired substance is considered to be inconsequential and nullified by the other substances. But on Passover, any amount of leaven mixed in food is forbidden.
However, the chametz in food acquired before Passover can be nullified before Passover, but ONLY if:
  • It is 1/60th or less of the total volume of food,
  • The food is liquid mixed in other liquid, or solid in other solid, AND 
  • The chametz/non-chametz elements cannot be easily separated from each other.

Four Steps To Eliminating Chametz

There are four means of eliminating chametz:
  • Bedika: Searching
    You try to find any chametz.
  • Bitul:  Verbal and Intentional Nullification
    Since you may have overlooked some chametz during bedika, declare that any chametz in your possession is not important to you and has no value.
  • Bi'ur: Burning
    By burning and therefore destroying the chametz, we fulfill the Torah
    commandment of “tashbitu” (making it cease to exist).
  • Mechira: Selling
    By changing the ownership, we no longer own chametz on Passover and we create the opportunity to re-acquire the chametz after Passover has ended if the non-Jewish buyer agrees.

Chametz Symbolism

Fermented grains represent (among other things) arrogance and pride:  the puffing up of fermented grains is symbolic of people puffing up themselves. In Judaism, one way to get rid of a bad personal trait is to utterly destroy it and so we symbolically remove and destroy any fermented grain foods from our houses and ownership.

Destroying chametz is not a violation of “do not destroy” (bal tashchit) since it is done to perform a commandment.

What Are Kitniyot

Kitniyot are foods that look similar to the five chametz grains or that could be ground into a flour that could look like flour from those grains, such as beans, peanuts, rice, corn, mustard seeds, and other food plants that are grown near the Five Grains.

What To Do with Kitniyot

Kitniyot may not be used on Passover but do not need to be sold or removed from one's ownership. Kitniyot should be stored away from kosher for Passover food.

Passover Sacrifice

In Temple times, the Passover sacrifice was to be eaten with one's family and possibly with neighbors, depending on the number of people present. The only two instances of kareit (being cut off spiritually) for not doing a positive commandment are for not doing a brit mila and not bringing a Passover offering (in Temple times).

Seder

The Passover seder (order) was prescribed in ancient times as a means for helping all Jews, of all ages and both genders, to re-experience the transition from having been slaves to becoming free and from having ascended from idol worshippers to being monotheistic.

Asher Yatzar Underwater
After urinating while scuba diving, say asher yatzar. The water is sufficient as a head covering or, better, you may cover your head with your wetsuit sleeve.