[Avodah] Toiveling a Tray

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Yitzchok Levine posted:

> OU Kosher Halacha Yomis
>
> Q. This Purim, I am planning to send cookies to my neighbor
> on a metal tray for mishloach manos. Should I tovel the
> tray, or should my neighbor perform the tevilah?
>
> A. Bais Yosef (Yoreh De'ah 120) writes that tevilah is
> only required for utensils used with food. Thus, if a
> Jewish store owner buys utensils from a non-Jew for resale,
> the merchant is not obligated to perform the mitzvah of
> tevilah. Since there is no mitzvah, even if the merchant
> was tovel the utensils, the tevilah would be ineffective;
> the purchaser would be required to perform tevilah in
> spite of the earlier tevilah. ...
> ...
> ...

I do not understand this. Why would the tevilah be ineffective?
Mechaber/Rama YD 120:15 say that the tevilah would be valid even if a
non-Jew immersed it (provided that we know it was done properly).

Why would this case be any different?

One answer that I can imagine might go like this: The critical point is not
that "the merchant is not obligated to perform the mitzvah of tevilah", but
that while the merchant owns it, it is not yet considered a food utensil,
and *that's* why the tevilah is ineffective. But according to that logic,
when a Jewish customer purchases it, that's when it becomes a food utensil,
and if so, it is a Jewishly-made utensil that is *exempt* from tevilah!

Akiva Miller
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