Adath Jeshurun

Kash­er­ing Guide­lines from the Rab­bini­cal Assem­bly Pesach Guide

KASHERING OF UTENSILS

The process of kash­er­ing uten­sils depends on how the uten­sils are used. Accord­ing to halakhah, leaven can be purged from a uten­sil by the same process in which it was absorbed in the uten­sil. There­fore, uten­sils used in cook­ing are kash­ered by boil­ing, those used in broil­ing are kash­ered by fire and heat, and those used only for cold food are kash­ered by rins­ing.
EARTHENWARE (china, pot­tery, etc.) may not be kash­ered. How­ever, fine translu­cent chi­naware which has not been used for over a year may be used if scoured and cleaned in hot water.

B. METAL UTENSILS USED IN FIRE (spit, broiler) must first be thor­oughly scrubbed and cleansed and then made as hot as pos­si­ble. Those used for cook­ing or eat­ing (sil­ver­ware, pots) must be thor­oughly scrubbed and cleaned and com­pletely immersed in boil­ing water. Pots should not be used for a period of
at least 24 hours between the clean­ing and the immer­sion in boil­ing water. Metal bak­ing uten­sils can­not be kashered.

C. OVENS AND RANGES: Every part that comes in con­tact with food must be thor­oughly scrubbed and cleaned. Then, oven and range should be heated as hot as pos­si­ble for a half hour. If there is a broil set­ting, use it. Self-cleaning ovens should be scrubbed and cleaned and then put through the self­clean­ing cycle. Con­tin­u­ous clean­ing ovens must be kash­ered in the same man­ner as reg­u­lar ovens.

D. MICROWAVE OVENS, which do not cook the food by means of heat, should be cleaned, and then a cup of water should be placed inside. Then the oven should be turned on until the water dis­ap­pears. A microwave oven that has a brown­ing ele­ment can­not be kash­ered for Pesach.

E. GLASSWARE: Author­i­ties dis­agree as to the method for kash­er­ing drink­ing uten­sils. One opin­ion requires soak­ing in water for three days, chang­ing the water every 24 hours. The other opin­ion requires only a thor­ough scrub­bing before Pesach, or putting them through a dish­washer. Glass Cook­ware: There is a dif­fer­ence of opin­ion as to whether it is to be kash­ered. One opin­ion is that it must be kash­ered. After a thor­ough cleans­ing, there should be water boiled in it which will over­flow the rim. The other opin­ion is that only a thor­ough cleans­ing is required. Glass bake­ware, like metal bake­ware, may not be kashered.

F. DISHWASHER: After not using the machine for a period of 24 hours, a full cycle with deter­gent should
be run.

G. ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES: If the parts that come into con­tact with hametz are remov­able, they can be kash­ered in the appro­pri­ate way (if metal, fol­low the rules for metal uten­sils). If the parts are not remov­able, the appli­ance can­not be kash­ered. (All exposed parts should be thor­oughly cleaned.)

H. TABLES, CLOSETS AND COUNTERS: If used with hametz, they should be thor­oughly cleaned and
cov­ered, and then they may be used.

I. KITCHEN SINK: A metal sink can be kash­ered by thor­oughly clean­ing and then pour­ing boil­ing water over it. A porce­lain sink should be cleaned and a sink rack used. If, how­ever, dishes are to be soaked in a porce­lain sink, a dish basin must be used.

J. HAMETZ AND NON-PASSOVER UTENSILS: Non-Passover dishes, pots
own­er­ship has been trans­ferred, should be sep­a­rated, locked up or cov­ered, and marked in order to pre­vent acci­den­tal use.