Blessing for the Immersion of Vessels

David de Refael Meldola

The Year 5536/1776

Peri Eẓ Ḥaim, Vol. 7, simán 209 (pg 427)

Question:

Why must one say a blessing before the tebilah of kelim but not for hagh’alath kelim?

Response:

David Meldola begins his response to the question by citing the Babylonian Talmud:

The Sages taught: One who purchases utensils from the gentiles must prepare them for use in the following manner: With regard to items that the gentile did not use, one immerses them, and they are pure. With regard to items that the gentile used for cold food or drink, such as cups and jugs and flasks, one rinses them and immerses them, and they are pure. With regard to items that the gentile used for hot food or drink, such as large pots, small kettles [hakumkamusun], and samovars, one purges them with boiling water and immerses them, and they are pure. With regard to items that the gentile used with fire, such as spits and grills, one heats them until white-hot and immerses them, and they are pure (b.Abodah Zarah 75b).

Meldola then cites Rashi’s commentary on this sugya. Next, he cites the Tosaphoth who mention that the hagh’alah for the kelim is due to a stringency from the Sages. He then brings the commentaries of the Rif, Rashba, Rosh, ha-Turim, Rabbenu Yeruḥam, who all agree that those kelim which require hagh’alah or libbun, also require tebilah. 

Then, Meldola cites the Rambam:

[The following rules apply when] a person purchases metal or glass dinnerware from a gentile. Utensils that [the gentile] did not use at all should be immersed in the waters of a miqweh. Afterwards, it is permitted to eat and drink with them. Utensils that he used for cold [food and drink], e.g., cups, flasks, and pitchers, he should wash them thoroughly and immerse them. [Afterwards,] they are permitted. Utensils that he used for hot food: large pots, kettles, and pots used to heat food, should be purged through hagh'alah, and immersed in the miqweh Afterwards, they are permitted. Utensils that he used by exposing them to fire, e.g., spits and grills, should be exposed to fire until they become white-hot and their outer surface falls off. They may then be immersed and become permitted for use…The immersion of the dinnerware that is purchased from gentiles to allow it to be used for eating and drinking is not associated with ritual purity and impurity. Instead, it is a Rabbinic decree (Mishneh Torah, Ma’akhaloth Assuroth 17:3-5).

The Rambam states that tebilath kelim is of rabbinic origin. Many others say that it is of Torah origin. Meldola then proceeds to explain the Rambam’s codification of the law through an analysis of the Jerusalem Talmud, which is brought by the Rashba: kelim require tebilah to remove the tum’ah of the goyim and enter the holiness of Israel. 

Meldola then cites the Ran, at the end of tractate Abodah Zarah, which brings the same explanation from the Jerusalem Talmud on the tum’ah of the goyim.

There is a discrepancy between the poseqim on the origin of tebilath kelim. The Rif also held that the tebilath kelim was of rabbinic origin. The Rashba held that  the tebilath kelim was of Torah origin. However, regardless of the origin, there is a consensus from the Sages that one must bless for tebilath kelim, but not for hagh’alah nor libbun. 

Meldola then argues that a reason for the blessing for the tebilath kelim is because of its origin from the Torah as a positive miẓwah.

Whether this miẓwah is of Torah or Rabbinic-origin, there is a legal principle: all positive miẓwoth of rabbinic origin (taqqanoth) are blessed before their fulfillment, such as the lighting of the Shabbath lamp, the reading of the Hallel, etc. 

David Meldola cites the Rambam to state:

Whenever the performance of a religious duty definitely completes the obligation, the blessing is recited at the time it is performed. Whenever the fulfillment of a precept is an antecedent to another precept, the blessing is said at the fulfillment of the latter (The Laws of Blessings11:8). 

This is to say that if a vessel requires hagh’alah and tebilah, the blessing is said upon the immersion of the vessel. 

This responsum implements a hybrid method between Ashkenazi pilpul and Sephardic iyun. Meldola brings a plethora of sources, including Ashkenazi sources, the Rosh, ha-Turim, Rabbenu Yeruḥam. It also cites the Aragonese rabbis: the Rashba and the Ra’abad. However, the halakhah is established in accordance to the Rif and the Rambam.