[Avodah] What to do with old pots

[Professor L. Levine]

>From today's OU Kosher Halacha Yomis


Q. I found an old set of pots in my parents' basement. They have not been used in many years. No one remembers if they were milchig or fleishig. I would like to use them for milchig. May they be kashered and used for milchig?



A. Rabbi Akiva Eiger (Commentary on Nidah 27a) writes the pots may be designated for meat or dairy without kashering. The pots have not been used in more than 24 hours. After 24 hours any taste that was absorbed in the pot becomes foul, and on a Torah level the pot can be used for meat or dairy without kashering. Nevertheless, there remains a Rabbinic obligation to kasher pots even after 24 hours have elapsed. However, in this case, we may apply the principal of “safek d’rabbanan l’kula” (in cases of doubt that pertain to a Rabbinic prohibition one may be lenient). Additionally, Igros Moshe (Y.D. II:46) writes that if a utensil is not used for more than a year, there is an opinion that holds that it does not need kashering. Although we don’t follow this opinion, it can act as an additional mitigating factor. However, since one can avoid the doubt by kashering the pot, it is proper to do so. Although the Magen Avrohom (OC 509:11) writes that the custom is not to permit kashering a fleishig pot to use it for milchig, in this case kashering is acceptable since it is only a chumra (extra stringency).


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