Why don’t most people Toivel aluminum pans?

We find that this is not the common custom. What is the halachic justification for not immersing them? * Selected halachos from the “One Minute Halacha” project

HaRav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D’asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights

NEGEL VASSER AND MIDNIGHT FEEDINGS

A nursing mother with a young baby may wake up multiple times during the night for to feed her baby. Must she wash negel vasser (the alternating right/left-hand ritual washing upon waking) each time she awakens?

To require washing, sleep must exceed the timeframe of shishim neshimos (lit., sixty breaths, according to mainstream opinion, a half hour; see Halacha #623 for all the parameters). In addition, the following two halakhos might come into play with a night time nursing mother (or bottle-feeding, with prepared bottles):

Upon waking, a person may not walk four amos (arm lengths, i.e., a total distance of a little less than a meter) before washing negel vasser—even in the middle of the night when they plan to go back to sleep. But if the woman is feeding a baby in bed or very close by, she is exempt from washing.

A person may not touch facial or body openings or food before washing. If she wishes to avoid washing negel vasser, she should not touch the infant’s mouth (or her own orifices) or the milk; if it is necessary for her to poke around in order to properly feed her baby, she may do so with a burp cloth or some other means so as not to touch either orifices or the food directly.

Why don’t most people Toivel aluminum pans?

The laws regulating tevilas keilim (immersion of vessels and utensils in a mikva) are based on the parameters of a vessel or utensil’s use—food preparation—and on its materials and construction. An exception to this rule would be a kli (vessel) that is disposed of after use—therefore, single-use containers or cutlery do not require immersion.

“Disposable” aluminum pans, although they are arguably meant to be single-use, are often reused several times. Strictly speaking, disposable pans that one plans to reuse would require t’villa before being used even once. Yet, we find that this is not the common custom. What is the halachic justification for not immersing them?

Original Design: The intention of the manufacturer is to produce a single-use pan, unrelated to how the consumer decides to (mis)use it. An item that is considered disposable at the time of its formation is not mekabel tuma (receptive to impurity). Some authorities extend this rule to obviate the need for t’villa of disposable items, although mainstream halachic standards generally differ for tuma and t’villa.

Objective Impermanence: Even if a disposable pan is used more than once, it can be argued that since it has a limited lifespan it should not be considered a kli altogether.

Rabbinic Say-so: Aluminum, being a fairly recent invention, is not one of the six metals that are mentioned in the Torah requiring t’villa. As such, some maintain that the immersion of aluminum utensils is mi’d’rabbaban (by rabbinic decree), allowing more room for leniency.

End-User Device: An aluminum pan is intended to be disposable—it is the consumer who may decide to use it multiple times. Therefore, the end-user, a Jew, can be considered to be the one who made it into a bona-fide kli. A kli created by a Jew does not require t’villa.

Decisions, Decisions: The nature of an aluminum pan’s construction demands that it be examined for viability every time it is reused. There is no overall or official decision to create a permanent kli, only a case-by-case decision, before or after, on its usability.

Redressed: Often, before an aluminum pan is used, it is lined with baking paper for health reasons, optimal baking or convenience. Since the food does not come into contact with the pan, this may exempt the user from immersing it.

Although none of these reasons on their own may suffice to exempt one from tevilas keilim of aluminum pans, the combination of all—or many—of the above are sufficient justification for allowing re-use without t’villa.

MAY I USE MY SON’S GIFTS TO PAY FOR HIS BAR MITZVAH CELEBRATION?

Guests at a Bar Mitzvah celebration often leave a present: a monetary gift of cash or check, a seifer (holy book) or other gifts. Sometimes the gift is clearly demarcated; others, even unlabeled, have a de facto owner by the theory of umdena (logical assessment)—for example, a seifer would likely be intended for the Bar Mitzvah boy himself. But to whom do the gifts, even the inscribed ones, really belong, the Bar Mitzvah boy or his parents? Perhaps they own all his possessions?

Halacha discusses an adult child—a Bar Mitzvah, is after all, an adult—who is samuch al shulchan aviv (lit., reclines on his father’s table, i.e. is fully supported by his parents). If this “child” comes by a possession, for example, he finds a metzia (an ownerless object), most poskim agree that it belongs to the child. Rabbeinu Tam disagrees, and claims that in this case, the adult child’s metzia belongs to his parents. It is not definitive whether Rabbeinu Tam would include a matana (gift) in the same category as a metzia, or whether it might, in his opinion, belong to the adult child. The consensus among poskim is that ownership is definitely conferred once the adult child is a muchzak (lit., established, i.e., has established ownership by having the item in his possession); by accepting the gift from the giver, the item is his free and clear.

If the gift is in the parent’s possession, there might be place in halacha for them to keep it on the principle of “Kim li!” (lit., “this is my opinion!” i.e. someone who is a muchzak can often rely on a minority halachic decision in his favor).

(It should be noted that parents who rely on Bar Mitzvah gifts to pay for the affair or the child’s T’fillin should discuss this with the child in advance; the Bar Mitzvah boy’s whole-hearted agreement to “share the costs” would cover all possible halachic issues.)

*“One Minute Halacha” is a succinct daily presentation on practical Halacha in video, audio, and text formats, by HaRav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D’asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights. The daily One Minute Halacha can be accessed by phone at 718.989.9599, by email, halacha2go@gmail.com, or by WhatsApp 347.456.5665. More halacha discussion, with notes and sources, can be found at http://halacha2go.com