Q&A from the Bais HaVaad Halacha Hotline

Taking Part

February 27, 2025

Q I have an electric cooking device that is used for dairy. One of its parts became treif through contact with beef soup. Do I need to kasher the other parts, some of which are hard to access?

A The Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 451:12) says that chametz vessels must be kashered along with their handles. The Mishnah Brurah (ibid. 68) explains that this is because heat disperses the blios (absorbed tastes) throughout the vessel.

This rule applies primarily to metal utensils, which conduct heat well. Other materials may actually require only partial kashering, but in practice, the entire kli must be kashered in case the nonkosher food contacted other areas. If you are absolutely certain that it didn’t, you may be lenient.

Ideally, when kashering, the entire vessel should be submerged in boiling water (Mishnah Brurah 452:23). But if this isn’t practical, segments may be kashered one at a time (O.C. 451:11). If only part of the kli is treif, you may pour boiling water (irui) over the non-treif part instead of submerging it (Rama ibid.).

If the kosher segment was used after only the treif segment was kashered, the food is permitted bedieved (Rama O.C. 451:12). For vessels without metal, the food is permitted bedieved even if no kashering was done on the treif part (Sefer Hag’alas Keilim 11:2).

If the segments are attached with screws, the Maharsham (3:112) and others say that they are all considered one unit, and the entire vessel needs kashering due to the transfer of blios. But others argue that the segments are treated as separate keilim, and blios do not transfer from one to another (R’ Akiva Eiger on Magein Avraham 451:24). If the other components are difficult to access, you may rely on the latter view.