The significance of טבילת כלים, of the mitzvah of טובילינג כלים, of immersing vessels. Now this, the simple meaning of what this is, is that whenever you get a vessel that was in the possession of a goy, that belonged to a non-Jew before, you have to immerse it in a kasher mikveh. A mikveh that is kasher for a person to immerse, you have to immerse this vessel. That's the mitzvah of טבילת כלים. You have to tovel, which means to immerse the כלי, and you are not allowed to use the כלי, you're not allowed to use the vessel before you טובל'ד the כלי in the mikveh. If someone did use it, it doesn't make the food not kasher. In other words, if you put food into a כלי, into a vessel that you didn't tovel, it has no effect on the food, but just there is a din that you are not allowed to use the vessel that originally belonged to a goy before you tovel the כלי. Where do we know this from? This is learned out from a pasuk in Parashat Matot. In Parashat Matot, the Torah tells us about the war that took place between the Jews and Midian. The reason was because Midian sent their daughters to do aveirot with the Jewish people. That was the advice of Bilam in order to get Hashem angry, and Hashem actually did get angry and 24,000 Jews died. So Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu later, \"Now I want the Jews to go and take revenge and have a fight, a war with Midian.\" And after they won the war against Midian, they killed all the people and they took all the other people who were left over as prisoners, they also took all the loot home, which included different vessels. So after that happened, the pasuk says that Elazar HaKohen, who was at that time the high priest because his father Aharon had already passed away, spoke to the Jews and told them the halacha that God gave over through Moshe Rabbeinu. And that is the halacha of כשרינג כלים, the halacha of כשרינג כלים. That means that if a כלי, if a vessel absorbed taste of non-kasher food, that כלי has to be kashered. Kashered means if it's a kli that absorbed through hot water, you have to put it into hot water, if it absorbed through fire, you have to put it in the fire. So we're talking about כשרינג כלים. And the reason is because when the kli, when the vessel absorbed the taste of the non-kosher food, later on when you are going to use that same vessel for kosher food, the taste that's in the walls of the of the of the vessel will come out into your kosher food and you'll be eating non-kosher food. So that's the law of כשרינג כלים, not the law of טובילינג כלים. But in that same parsha, among the pesukim that deals with the halachot of הגעלת כלים, of כשרינג כלים, there is an extra word, וטהר. And from that, the Gemara says we learn out that beside כשרינג כלים that you take from a goy, that if a goy used it, you have to kasher it, there is something else you have to do, and that is you have to immerse it in a mikveh. So we learn it out from that parsha. Now even though the pasuk over there deals with כלים that were used, the din of טובילינג כלים has nothing to do with a kli that was used. Even if it wasn't used, if you get a kli, a vessel that belonged to a goy, even if it was new and it was never used, you have to tovel this kli, you have to immerse this kli in water, in the mikveh. Even though the pasuk deals with כלים that were used, but the Gemara learns out that the din of טבילת כלים applies to all כלים that belonged to a goy, which means not to confuse it with כשרינג כלים. When you kasher a kli, it's only if the kli was used. If you get a kli from a goy that wasn't used, like you buy a new kli in the store, you don't have to kasher it. But to tovel the kli, you have to tovel as long as it belonged to a goy, you have to tovel the kli. But not all keilim do you have to tovel. It's only כלי סעודה, that's number one, keilim that are connected to a meal, keilim that will be used for food for a meal. If you buy other keilim, you don't. Only keilim that's used for a meal. And that we learn out because the parashah that talks about the kashering of the keilim, from where we also learn out טובילינג כלים, talks about keilim that was used for food. So from there we know that it's only keilim that's used for a seudah, it's called כלי סעודה, כלים that's used for food, has to be tovel'd. That's one thing that we learn out from there. Another thing, only כלי מתכות, only keilim made of metal. Because the pasuk that deals with the with the kashering of keilim talks about keilim that was that absorbed, and we learn out from there it's only כלי מתכות, even though כלי חרס earthenware you can't kasher, so the kashering is only כלי מתכות, it's only metal keilim, so toveling you also have to tovel metal keilim. Glass keilim, we don't know, the Torah doesn't talk about it. The Chachamim said that being that glass is similar to metal, just like metal you can heat it up again and melt it and make it into a new kli, if a כלי כלי מתכות, if a metal kli breaks, you could just melt it and make a new kli out of it. Glass is the same. You could melt it down and make a new kli out of it. So glass is very similar to metal. And therefore the Rabbanan said that this also includes glass. So therefore you have to tovel glass keilim also. So the Torah speaks about being you having to טובל כלים that belong to a goy, that are that's metal. כלי סעודה, vessels that are used for a meal, and it's metal, you have to tovel. And the Chachamim said that because glass is similar to metal, we also have to tovel glass. This brings us to the question of plastic. Since plastic was not there in the time of the Gemara, plastic is something that's very new, do you have to tovel a keli that's going to be used for a סעודה that came from a goy if it's plastic? Now there are different opinions in the different rabbanim, in the different poskim. Some say that just like the Gemara says that we have to tovel glass because glass is similar to metal, because metal you can melt down and you could make it into a new keli, so too with glass, the same thing is with plastic. You can melt down the plastic, and when the plastic you could reshape it and make another keli out of it. So it's the same. So therefore you would have to tovel plastic also. On the other hand, some say that you don't have to tovel plastic, because we can't make our own gezerot, we can't make our new laws. The Chachamim said glass, so we can't make our own laws and make up new dinim, say you have to tovel plastic. On the other hand, some say that it's not called a new din. Because when the Chachamim said that glass you have to tovel because it has the same quality, what they really meant was any type of material which is similar to metal, you have to tovel. That time, they were talking about glass because that was the only thing that they had available then. But it's automatic included in that halacha that anything else which has the same quality, the same type of material, you have to do it again. On the other hand, some say no, it's a new thing and it wasn't the Chachamim never told us that we have to do it, so we don't have to do it. Therefore, the real custom is that we try to tovel plastic. We try. That means like this, we cannot use a keli before you tovel it. If you have a keli that belonged to a goy, you bought it or you got it as a present, you cannot use it if you didn't tovel it. Plastic, people are meikil that you would use it even if it wasn't tovel, because many, many rabbanim hold that you don't have to. On the other hand, we try that when we get a chance, we should tovel even plastic too, to be yotzei the other opinion that says that you have to tovel plastic also. So, it's like I said, we try to tovel it, but we don't really you wouldn't hold back from using it if we didn't tovel it. This din that we say that you have to טובל כלים that you bought from got from a goy, there is an argument whether this is a דין מדאורייתא or a דין מדרבנן, whether it's a din that the Torah established, in Chumash, or it's a din that the Rabbanan added like many, many other dinim that the Rabbanan added. And there are differences in halacha whether it's a דין דאורייתא or a דין דרבנן, we're not going into that, but there's a machloket. How could there be a machloket? Didn't we say before that we learn it out from a pasuk? The pasuk has an extra word and the Gemara says that from this pasuk we learn that you have to טובל כלים. So obviously it should be a din of the Torah, because everything that we do which we know is from the Torah doesn't say clearly in the Torah. Hardly ever do we find anything very clear. But when the Chachamim learn things out from the Torah based on the rules that was given to them by Hashem, that is a דין דאורייתא, that is a din from the Torah. So here too, there is an opinion, which is Rashi's opinion, that because we learn it out from a pasuk, it's a דין דאורייתא, it's a din from the Torah. On the other hand, some say, starting with the Ramban, that it's a דין דרבנן. 'How, we learn it out from a pasuk?' We find sometimes the rule the concept which we call an asmachta, when the Rabbanan established their own din, but they find a word in a pasuk which they lean on. The word asmachta comes from the word סמך, they lean on it, they find a hint in the Torah that hints to the din that they made. So sometimes we find that the Gemara says we learn this out this is this pasuk, but it still is not a din from the Torah, it's a דין דרבנן. So the Ramban says that the din of טובלינג כלים is a din the רבנן established. They just connected it to this pasuk, the word וטהר, they relied on this pasuk, they found the hint in the pasuk, but it's a דין דרבנן. In the Rambam, there is an argument what the Rambam's opinion is, because a few words in the Rambam seem to indicate that the Rambam holds that it's a דין מדרבנן, that the רבנן established. On the other hand, there are other expressions that the Rambam says, which seems to indicate it's דאורייתא, so in the Rambam, there is an argument what the Rambam holds. So basically, there are difference of, different opinions whether it's a din from the Torah or a דין דרבנן. To us, really it makes no difference, because even if it's a דין דרבנן, we have to listen. The Torah said that we have to listen to any din that the רבנן said, so we have to טובל כלים. One thing is clear: to be טובל glass, that's certainly a דין מדרבנן. The whole argument is the fact that we have to טובל metal, is that a דין דרבנן or is that a din from the Torah? But glass certainly is דרבנן, because that was something that the רבנן learned out, compared to metal. Just like metal has the quality of being able to be melted down, so does glass. So they compared this to the, to the metal, so they made it. So glass is definitely דרבנן, metal there is a מחלוקת. Plastic is different מנהגים and we try and, like I said before, we use it even if we didn't טובל it, but we should try to טובל it. But we have to remember that a כלי we have to טובל in a כשר מקוה. As do we learn out, in a מקוה that is kosher for a woman, for a niddah. Not like some people who make a mistake, and I know this from a fact, that people make a mistake and they think that you could be tovel it in your backyard, in your pool. I saw, know of a family that, they say, well, people go to the mikveh, the men go to the mikveh and they use a pool, so they took all their dishes and everything, they tovel'd it in the pool. And I told them they had to re-tovel it, they have to go to the real mikveh or to the ocean or a river which is natural river, then you could tovel it, but you can't tovel it in your pool.

What is the reason for the mitzvah of טבילת כלים, of this mitzvah that we have to tovel kelim? It is not because of kashrut, it's not because the כלי is treif, because even if it's a new כלי that was never used, so it's not treif, you buy a כלי in the store by a goy, so the כלי was never used, it's a new כלי, but it belonged to a goy, you have to tovel it. So obviously it has nothing to do with kashrut, it's not because it's a טריפה כלי. It's also not because of tumah. We know that time of the Gemara before, they used to be careful from becoming tamei. Certain things that make a person impure, spiritual impurities: if you touch a dead body, you become tamei, other types of tumah, metzora is a tumah, all kinds of tumot. And the way to get rid of the tumah, the way to cleanse yourself from the tumah is by going to the mikveh, that's the, that's halachah. But this is not to do with tumah, because if it would have to do with tumah there would be a lot of other דינים involved. It's not because it's tamei. So why do we have to tovel a כלי that belonged to a goy? So it says in Yerushalmi because it went out מטומאת גוי ונכנס לרשות ישראל. Because it was, it belonged to a goy, so it was with the tumah of the goy, and now it's entering the רשות, the possession, the ownership of a yid, so it has to go to the mikveh. Which basically means it's like a ger. Just like when a person converts, he's a goy, and when he changes from becoming a goy, he wants to become a yid, you have to go to the mikveh, part of it is go to the mikveh. So too a כלי which belonged to a goy is leaving now, belonged to a goy, belonged to the tumah of a goy, and now it's changing ownership and now it belongs to a yid, so you have to be מגייר the כלי. So you have to convert the כלי. So you convert it by putting it into the mikveh. Now, here the expression in the Yerushalmi is it leaves the tumah of a goy. Now, it doesn't mean the tumah, like I said before, the concept that it's tamei, it's impure. That's not what it means. First of all, in the Yerushalmi there is one גירסא, one way it doesn't say it left טומאת נכרי, טומאת עכו״ם, it said it left רשות גוי. If it left the רשות, the possession of a goy, and now it's going from the possession of a goy to the possession of a yid, you have to take it to the mikveh. But even according to that גירסא that it does say tumah, it doesn't mean tumah as the הלכות of טומאה וטהרה, because a goy is not tamei. I must tell you a truth, a goy is not tamei. A goy cannot become tamei. The halacha is that nothing that's alive could ever become tamei except a Jew. An animal cannot be tamei if it's alive. A goy, if he's alive, is not tamei. A dead body of a goy is tamei, but a live goy cannot be tamei. Only a Yid could be tamei, because tumah represents the way the evil forces connect themselves to you, and they only to a place where there's a lot of kedushah, that's where the tumah comes. So a Yid, who is holy, there you can have tumah. But a goy cannot have tumah. Dead body, because it's dead, death, death is always connected to tumah. But if he's alive, there's no death there and there's not much kedushah there, so therefore he can't be tamei. As a matter of fact, we find by Chanukah, when we say in the in Al Hanisim, we say that Hashem gave over the many in the hands of the few, the strong in the hands of the weak, teme'im beyad tehorim, the those that are tamei in the hands of those that are tahor. So the Rebbe asks the question: First of all, what's the miracle? Why is that considered part of the miracle? And also, how could a goy be tamei? There is no such thing as a goy being tamei. And the Rebbe says that this doesn't go refer to the goyim. This teme'im beyad tehorim, that Hashem gave over the the tameidik people in the hands of the tahor, he means the מתיונים. He means the Jews, the Hellenists, who were Jews who took the side of the יונים, of the Greeks. That was the miracle. And to them, we could call them, we could call teme'im, because they're Jews. But a goy is not tamei. So when it says in the Yerushalmi that it's going away from the tumah of a goy, it doesn't mean tumah. A goy doesn't have tumah. When we say tumah of a goy, we mean a general concept. It's a שם המושאל. I don't think I know the English word for a שם המושאל, it's a borrowed expression that we use tumah, meaning in our language we would call it klipah, we would call it evil, but from the klipah, from the the other side, which is that's where the goy is, so when it leaves the klipah of a goy and comes to a Yid, you have to take it to the mikveh. And that's what we refer to as tumah. By the famous story that the Frierdiker Rebbe when he was in Rostov, and the yeshiva was there, and the bochurim for the yeshiva they have to buy the bread, and there were two bakeries available. One belonged to a goy, I guess they would go in and put on the fire, so it wasn't פת עכו״ם, but it belonged to a goy, and the other one belonged to a Yid. But the Yid that baked it was a Yid that's known he did not wash negel vasser. And it says that if you don't wash negel vasser, there is a ruach hatumah, there is a spirit of tumah on your hands. And then when you touch food, you transfer the spirit of tumah to the food. So they asked the Frierdiker Rebbe which bakery should they buy? Should they buy by the goy? Because a goy doesn't have to wash negel vasser. Or should they buy by the Yid, but the problem is that he doesn't wash negel vasser and it's a ruach hatumah. So the Frierdiker Rebbe said, \"You know, a Yid might have ruach hatumah, but a goy is טומאה אליין.\" This is ruach hatumah, this is the spirit of tumah, and a goy is tumah itself. Now, what does it mean a goy is tumah itself? Not that a goy has a din of tumah. A goy does not have a דין of tumah. There is, like I said, there is no דין of tumah by goyim. What it means is the concept of tumah that we're talking about here means the general idea of גויישקייט. A goy is tumah in the world, it's strictly so in the world. And that's what a goy is. And therefore, when you buy a kli that belonged to a goy, so it was under the control, under the rulership of the tumah of the goy. Because a goy is from, as we learn in Tanya, comes from kelipah. A Yid comes from kedushah. A Yid's body is holy. A Yid's נפש אלקית, godly soul, the נשמה, is a חלק אלוק ממעל ממש, is part of Hashem. Even the נפש הבהמית of a Yid, even the animalistic soul of a Yid, is also from only from קליפת נוגה, which a level of kelipah which has a little bit of kedushah of holiness in it. But the goy, he's שלש קליפות הטמאות לגמרי, it says in Tanya, that's completely kelipah. So, when you buy have a vessel that belonged to a goy, it was under the control, the ownership of tumah, of kelipah. And now you want to transfer it and now it belongs to a Yid, so it has to go through conversion. So, you have to tovel this kli, you have to immerse this kli in a mikvah, which is similar to the concept of conversion. But it has nothing to do with kashrut. It's not because that that the kli was treif. But,

I must say, that the Rebbe learns that the reason we טובל כלים is also because, not because it became treif, because even new כלים you also have to tovel, because it had the potential of absorbing treif. When this vessel belonged to the goy, and goyim eat treif food, so even if it's a new כלי, it had the potential of absorbing treif, and therefore you have to tovel it. And I'll explain where the Rebbe guessed this from. What forced the Rebbe to say this? The Rebbe explains it like this: There's a kashya that many mefarshim ask. The Ramban asked the kashya. In Chumash, when I mentioned before that after they had the war with Midian, and they told him to kasher the כלים, so the Ramban asked, this was not the first war that they had that they took loot, כלים. They had the war with Sichon and Og before Midian. So, why didn't he tell him to kasher the כלים to kasher the כלים when they took it from the war of of Sichon and Og? So, the Ramban answers that Sichon and Og, when they fought Sichon and Og, it was part of conquering Eretz Yisrael. This is a מלחמת מצוה, a mitzvah to conquer Eretz Yisrael. The din is that when you go to war, when the mitzvah to go to war, the soldiers don't have to keep kasher. They could eat treifah food. And therefore the כלים that absorbed the non-kasher foods was not a problem, because those כלים you could use. You could even eat חז... if a person could eat chazir, he could eat treifah food, so you certainly the the taste of the treifah food doesn't matter. So therefore the Ramban says when they were by Sichon and Og, the Torah did not tell them to kasher. But now this war was a different type of war. This was a war of revenge. And therefore here, they had to be careful with kashrut, and therefore here he told them to kasher the כלים. This is the Ramban. So the Rebbe asks: in the פרשה where he told them to kasher the כלים after the war of Midyan, we learn also about טבילת כלים. Why doesn't the Ramban ask about that? He told them to tovel the כלים after the war of Midyan. Why didn't he tell them that the כלים that they got from the war of Sichon and Og they should tovel? And here you can't answer the same teirutz. The teirutz that he answers on the kashering is because it wasn't treifah, because they could eat the food. But tevilah has nothing to do with kashrut. You have to tovel a כלי that belonged to a גוי. So why didn't he tell them the din of toveling the כלים earlier by the war of Sichon and Og? That's one kushya the Rebbe has. Another kushya the Rebbe has is: there are opinions, which is basically the Noda Biyehuda and the Chatam Sofer, that on Pesach, when you make מכירת חמץ, you sell your chametz to the goy, do not include your kelim. Do not include the vessels in the מכירה. And they give us a very simple reason: because if you sell your vessels, after Pesach, when you buy it back, you have to tovel it. Because you sold it, and if it's a real sale, if it wouldn't be a real sale they wouldn't take care of the aveirah of chametz, obviously it's really during Pesach the chametz and everything else that you put into that document belongs to the goy. After Pesach you buy it back, so you buy a keli that belonged to a goy, you have to tovel it. So in order to avoid this problem, they say don't put the kelim into the שטר. So they learn you only sell the chametz on the keli, and not the keli itself. But the Rebbe says that from the Alter Rebbe's שטר, it says clearly that we sell the kelim. So we do sell the kelim. The question is, don't we have to tovel it? And the Alter Rebbe doesn't write you have to tovel it, and no one tovels the kelim afterwards. How come? It's the second question. A third question: one of the reasons why we eat milchigs on Shavuos is to remind us of the milchigs, the dairy products that the Yidden ate when Hashem gave them the Torah. Why did they have to eat dairy products? Because as soon as they got the Torah, all the food that they had before was treifah, because they didn't shecht, and even if they did shecht they didn't have a din of a Jew, so it was like a גוי שחט'ד, so the meat was treifah. So they couldn't use the meat. So they couldn't eat any meat, so what did they eat? They only ate dairy stuff. The question is, what about the kelim? On which kelim did they use it? All their kelim were treifah. The answer is, who says their כלים were treifah? They probably kept בשר בחלב, they probably had different dishes for meat and different dishes for milk, because they knew that this is going to be forbidden later. The fact that they kept shechitah, that they שחט'ד doesn't answer the question, because they didn't have a din of a Jew. But they did separate the milk from the meat. So their מילכיגע כלים were not treifah. So they were able to use מילכיגע כלים and eat milchigs. And because that's what they did, we do the same. The question is, how could they use their כלים when they have to tovel it? Since before that the כלים belonged to them, and they were non-Jews, they didn't have a din of a Jew till Matan Torah. By Matan Torah, that was the conversion. Just like a goy nowadays who owns pots and then he converts, his own pots, he has to tovel them, because they came from a goy and now they belong to a Yid. So they transferred the possession from a goy to a Yid. So the Yidden also at the time of Matan Torah, the כלים that they owned belonged all to goyim, to them who were not, didn't have a הלכה of a Jew. Now when they received the Torah, now they're Jews, so they have to tovel the כלים. So how could they even eat milchigs without a כלי? So therefore the Rebbe comes and says, and he brings a ראיה from a Rashi, not to go into the details, and he says that the reason we have to טובל כלים is because when the כלים were by the goy, potentially it was able to absorb non-kasher food. Even if it didn't, but it was able to absorb non-kasher food, and therefore you have to tovel it. Now this answers all three questions. The same reason the Ramban says that in the war of Sichon and Og they didn't have to kasher the כלי because the food was allowed to be eaten, it wasn't treifah, so too, they didn't have to tovel it. Because all the things that were absorbed in it was not treifah, so there was no potential of becoming treifah, because it was all kosher to them. The reason why we don't tovel the keilim after Pesach, because the custom is that the keilim that we sell stay in our house. The goy doesn't come and take it. It never comes to him bichlal. And the same thing the Yidden there, by Matan Torah. Since before Matan Torah they were allowed to eat the foods, the treifah food, so it never had the potential of becoming treif, so they didn't have to tovel the keli. So the Rebbe comes out with this halachah, the Rebbe's a big chidush, that the reason for tovel'ing keilim from a goy is because it had the potential of absorbing treifah foods. Now obviously it's not only that, because if it would be because of that only, then even if it belonged to a Jew that became treif, which is more than just potential, you certainly have to kosher and tovel. So therefore the peshat is when we have both together: when it belongs to a goy, that's number one, together with it it became treif or had the potential of becoming treif, that's why you have to tovel the keli. Which means, if we come back to what we said before, why do you have to tovel the keilim of a goy? Because it had a connection to the tumah of the goy. Obviously the peshat is that when can we really say that this keli had the connection to the goy, the fact that it belongs to the goy just like that is not enough to say that because of that you have to tovel it. The tumah of the goy does not fall upon the keli just because it belongs to him. But if it also had the potential of the goyishe way of life, the treifah to get into the keli, together with the fact that it belongs to the goy, if you have these two things together, that's when you have to tovel the keli. So it's because it's leaving the possession of the goy, it's leaving the possession of tumah in a form that it was able not only to have the connection to the goy, but the goy could have put treif in it. Then you have to tovel this keli. Because before it had this connection to the goy, now it's becoming the Yid's, so now it entered the level of kedushah, so you have to tovel it, you have to be megayer, basically you have to convert this keli. The question is only, why is it that if it belongs to the goy, which is the main reason why you have to tovel it, why is it that because it belongs to the goy you have to tovel it? Because a goy has tumah and this belongs to the goy. So it belongs to the goy, how does the tumah of the goy transfer to the keli because it belongs to the goy? Then later we say that afterwards, when it goes to the Yid, now it transferred to kedushah. There is no kedushah in it. A Yid is holy, a goy has tumah, but this is only a keli. So it's a keli that belongs to him. So, but the keli itself is only a keli, so why do we say, why does the Yerushalmi say that you have to convert this keli, you have to take it into the mikveh because it goes away from the tumah of the goy and comes to the kedushah of the Yid? But it's only a superficial outside thing of the person. It's not, doesn't have a kedushah or anything else.

The answer is it's not so. All possessions of a person are an extension of the person himself. When a person owns something and it's hashgachah pratit, who made it that it's his? It's Hashem, divine providence that this belongs to him and this is his. So it says that the nechasim, the possessions of a person are an extension of the person. So possessions of a גוי are an extension of the גוי. Possessions of a ייד are an extension of the ייד. And by a ייד it's even more than by the גוי. The fact that it belongs to a ייד shows its connection. And I'll tell you why. Because we know that everything in this world has ניצוצות הקדושה. Everything in the world has godly sparks that our job is to take these godly sparks out, to elevate all these גשמיותדיקע physical things that we have and elevate and bring it closer to Hashem. So everything has ניצוצות הקדושה, which, by the way, is the reason why there is an issur called בל תשחית. You're not allowed to ruin something that's usable. Why? Who cares? Why is there a halachah that you can't take something that you could use and you can't throw in the garbage and ruin it? Why not? If it's somebody else's, I can understand, it's stealing, it's damaging. But it's my own thing, what do I care? I could throw in the garbage. Why does Hashem say not to do it? Because everything has ניצוצות הקדושה. And there is a mission that a person has to elevate these ניצוצות הקדושה. If I throw it out, then these ניצוצות הקדושה will be lost forever, they'll never they will never be elevated. So I'm not allowed to do it. But besides the fact that everything has ניצוצות הקדושה, Hashem ascribed to every person which ניצוצות belong to him that he has to be mevarer. Every object which has a ניצוצות דקדושה and has to be נתברר, has to be elevated, has assigned by Hashem who is the one that's supposed to elevate it. And it works both ways. Hashem assigned to every person which things he has to elevate, and Hashem assigned to the object which person is, which neshamah, which ייד is going to elevate the ניצוצות of that object. Which is the reason why it says Yaakov Avinu when he was left alone and then he had the whole fight with the malach of Esav, it says why was he left alone? He came back because he forgot small little jars. Was it worth for him to risk his life of being alone across the river just because of a few little jars? And it says yes. So, we know it from hashgachah pratit. Whatever hashgachah pratit made that this is mine and it has to do with me, it's my house, so then I know that it has a שייכות to me, connected to me. Since I have nothing to do with Africa, so obviously this shows that the ניצוצות דקדושה that have to be elevated in Africa belongs to somebody else, who happens to have a connection there. But whatever is in my, around me, is connected to me and they're my ניצוצות דקדושה and I have to be mevarer. And if a person doesn't do it and he throws it away, you could imagine what kind of tragedy happens here to these ניצוצות דקדושה. You can imagine how they feel. They're lost basically forever, and it's my fault. And my neshamah, the person's neshamah, will be missing something because he wasn't mevarer these ניצוצות. So the ניצוצות דקדושה of different objects belong to the person. Now, that peshat that it's an extension of the person, the possessions of the person which are his ניצוצות and he has to be מברר, these things are an extension of the person. That's part of what's connected to the person. He has an obligation to be מברר these ניצוצות. Just like we see בגשמיות, there are certain things that belong to a person that basically could almost not live without it, so it's part of the person. Some things, for instance, by a house, it says מי שאין לו בית אינו אדם, someone doesn't have a house, he's not called a person. It's important for a person to be a normal human being, he has to have a house. It's important for a normal human being to live a normal life to have clothes. So these are things that we see how they are connected to the person. There are certain things which are very close connected to a person. And obviously the closer they are, the ניצוצות are connected closer and the job of his elevating is even more. What is it? Food is something that a person must have. You can't live without food. And therefore these כלים that you use for food, the כלי סעודה, the כלים that you use for food, are כלים that are really, really an extension of the person, and the ניצוצות הקדושה, the holy sparks that are found in these כלים specifically more than others, have a very strong connection to the person. And therefore when a person gets a כלי that is כלי סעודה, that is a כלי for a meal, which means it's a כלי that's going to be an extension of him, he has this great obligation of elevating this כלי. And in order to elevate this כלי, what you have to do is take it away from the tumah that's on it because while the tumah is on it, he cannot elevate those ניצוצות דקדושה. So before when it belonged to a goy, there was a connection between this כלי and the goy. Okay, there's no such thing as a goy having an obligation to be מברר the ניצוצות, whatever it is, but it belonged to the goy. Plus, the way the Rebbe says, it belonged to the goy and it had the potential of becoming treif. In other words, it was before in a matzav, in a situation where it was pretty low, spiritually it was pretty low. It had a connection to the tumah of the goy. Now that it's coming over to me, to a Yid, I have now an obligation to elevate these ניצוצות and it's because it's part of me. Just like I have to be מברר myself, I have to be מברר this, and it's important to my neshama that I have to be מברר it. So in order to make this ready that I should be able to be מברר it, I have to get rid, I have to wash off the tumah that was there from before, and I have to elevate it and bring it to a matzav, to a situation that I should be able to be מברר it. And that's why the כלים, even though they're things from the outside, they're not part of the person, but there is a din of giyur, almost like a ger, who when he goes to the mikveh, has to wash off from himself, the the symbol of the mikveh is that he washes off from himself all the tumot, everything that he had before, and now he's a keli to receive the neshamah, because if he wouldn't wash it off he wouldn't be a keli. And just like bagashmiyut water washes off dirt, the mikveh washes off the tumah. We find by the daughter of Paroh, Batyah, the daughter of Paroh, so it says when she met, when she found the basket, Moshe Rabbeinu in the basket, it says where was she going? What was she doing by the river? She went lirchotz, she went to wash. So Rashi says she went to wash herself off from the avodah zarah of her father. It's a play on words. The washing away of the tumah, which mimela leaves you that you're able to receive the kedushah. And the same is with a ger, and when a ger he gets to wash off everything else, and the same is with the kelim. And why the mikveh? Besides the fact that mikveh is water, as like I just said, and water washes, so mimela it shows it washes off the spiritual dirt, like water washes off the physical dirt, a mikveh has another meaning. We all know the famous Rambam, that the Rambam says in the end of Hilchot Hilchot Mikvaot, the Rambam says that even though going to the mikveh is a halachah of the Torah, גזירת הכתוב, Hashem said טמא, טהור, you go to the mikveh you become טהור, רמז יש בדבר, the Rambam says there is some kind of hint. When you go to the mikveh, you immerse yourself completely. This shows that a Yid is supposed to immerse himself completely in the waters which represent the true wisdom. Water always represents wisdom. We know we call the the ים התלמוד we say, the the ocean of learning, ים החכמה. The word yam, water, is connected to wisdom. And the mikveh represents מי הדעת הטהורה the Rambam says, the water of the tahorah the pure knowledge. And when a person goes to the mikveh, he immerses himself, it means he becomes completely immersed in מי הדעת הטהורה, he's completely part of מי הדעת הטהורה, which basically means that the mikveh represents the fact that a Yid is mevatel himself, nullifies himself to what the mikveh represents, which is the true knowledge of Hashem. That's why we know that the word tevilah, which means to immerse, are exactly the same letters as habittul, the bittul, because the mikveh is bittul. This is the spiritual peshat in mikveh. And that's why mikveh doesn't only accomplish that if a person is tamei, by going to the mikveh he becomes tahor, and he becomes clean, pure pure spiritually pure, even a person who's tahor, if he goes to the mikveh, he becomes holier. There is a concept of mikveh for tosefet kedushah, not only for taharah, for purity, but tosefet kedushah to become holier. The proof is from the Kohen Gadol. On Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol went to the mikveh five times. Now, you could say the first time he went to the mikveh because maybe he was tamei, didn't realize it, so to make sure Torah said go to the mikveh. But then he was the whole time in the בית המקדש, didn't go anywhere, so go to the mikveh again? Then a few a while later, so go to the mikveh again? So it's said because each time he went to the mikveh, it was a preparation to the next level of his avodah, of his service in the בית המקדש. So the mikveh represents tosefet kedushah, aliyot, elevation in kedushah itself. Why? Because mikveh represents bittul. That means that it shows that you nullify yourself to Hashem. Because that's the whole idea of a mikveh, that you're covered completely. If one part of the body sticks out, the mikveh is no good. You have to be covered completely. That means you stay who you are. When you go to the mikveh you don't get lost, but you're covered, you're not seen. You're not seen as a separate entity. Things that fall into the water stay the same. The difference is if they're on top of the water on dry land, they're a separate entity. When you're in the water, you can't see that they're there, so they're part of this whole water, they're not a separate entity. That represents that a Yid is battel to Hashem. And that's why a ger, common you're טמא you go to the mikveh, or even women go to the mikveh, even men who על פי הלכה don't have to go also try to go because this represents a very high מדרגה. A ger has to go to the mikveh because the whole idea of a ger is to get rid of the עבודה זרה, which basically means he has to get rid of any being, including himself, from before, and become connected to Hashem. How do you do that? By going to the mikveh. So the kelim, the vessels that belonged to a goy, what has to be done to these vessels in order to enable the Yid now to use these vessels and elevate them, and especially the vessels that are made for a meal, look at that, the meal, the food represents all the needs of the person, all the things of a person, in order to make it ready for what was supposed to be done, that the Yid should be able to fulfill his mission of his נשמה to elevate everything around him which is represented in the kelim of the סעודה, he has to take it to the mikveh. Which means he has to immerse it in the water. By doing that, he shows that the kelim that he has are battel to Hashem. So what he does is by showing that it's battel, part of Hashem, that itself washes away any other טומאה that might be there because it belonged to a goy before, so it was there, and this washes it away and makes it ready that it should be able to be used by the Yid to serve Hashem. But if a Yid will not take the kelim to the mikveh, then it is not ready, it cannot be used. And that is the, you could say, this the the רוחניותדיקע explanation in the of taking a keli to the מקוה, טובל'ינג כלים. And it's be'emet, even though it's רוחניותדיקע spiritual חסידות ענינים, but it's all based on the Yerushalmi. Yerushalmi says this vort, that you take it from the טומאה of a goy and it now enters the קדושה of a Yid, you have to טובל it. But the explanation is, by doing that, it takes away all the קליפה, all the טומאה and it makes it that the Yid should be able to use it and elevate it to Hashem. Yes. What else?

I have a question. Correct me if I'm wrong. I take living in Israel, I can use products, כלים there. So, are you telling me now that if it's made by a גוי in Israel, I have to tovel it? No. It's not if it's made by a גוי. If it was owned by a גוי. If you have גויישע workers in a company, and they make the כלי, but the company is owned by a Yid and therefore the כלי was owned by a Yid, you don't have to tovel it. It's only if it was owned by a גוי. Owned by a גוי in Israel then I have to tovel it. If it's owned by a Yid in America then I Right, you don't have to tovel it. It's one of the reasons that nowadays when we tovel the כלי, in many cases we don't make a ברכה. Like there is there is a דין that when you tovel the כלי, you have to make a ברכה. It's a mitzvah like any other mitzvah. אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו על טבילת כלים, or טבילת כלי. Nowadays, we don't make, many times don't make a ברכה, because if you buy כלים in big department stores, we don't know who the owners are and it's very possible the owners are אידן. And if they're אידן, you don't have to tovel it. And therefore, because there's a safek, we don't make a ברכה. If you happen to know for sure you go to a גויישע store, and you buy it, then you should. And even then, some want to say you never know, maybe the גוי has it on, what's it called, on consignment, that it's not really his. He's selling it for somebody else, or whatever, maybe that person is an Yid, so a lot of the time unless you know for sure, you don't make a ברכה, because it's only if it belonged to a גוי. How about a corporate entity? Well, it depends who has the majority of Now you're talking no. That's why you have safek. So you never make the ברכה. So, almost never, yeah. I I I don't remember the last time I made a ברכה for טבילת כלים. And what what did you say about Napoleon? That he was leading and he went Can you explain what happened with the Alter Rebbe? What did he support orders to go back to to the house and burn the house. And then he They found slippers of the Alter Rebbe and they Right, it's connected to that story. I'll repeat the story, and it fits in exactly to the ענין we're talking about. When the Alter Rebbe ran away from Napoleon, this this story will bring out the point. When the Alter Rebbe ran away from Napoleon, because he was getting very close, and as they were already out of out of the city, the Alter Rebbe sent back somebody to look if there's anything left there that belongs to him. And they found pair of slippers and they took it. And the Alter Rebbe said they should put the house on fire to burn it. As soon as the Alter Rebbe left and the house burned down, very shortly afterwards Napoleon came in. Napoleon with his army. Napoleon The first thing Napoleon did was ask, where is the house of the Alter Rebbe? He walked in, came, and the house was not there anymore. And he asked, is there anything that anybody has that used to belong to the Alter Rebbe? And they didn't have. And the reason was Napoleon was besides a rasha and everything, he was a מכשף. He knew black magic. And had he had an object that belonged to the Alter Rebbe, he would have been able to done to do things that I don't know what, but What does that show? How would he be able to harm the Alter Rebbe by getting something that belongs to him? Because the objects, the vessels, or the object that belonged to the Rebbe, to a person, have a connection, and it's through that object that you could have some kind of some kind of connection and do what you want. So, this brings out that point. Yes. What happens when, you know, a woman has it and you give it away. Sometimes you give it to an organization, you give it to a goy, and they are your things. Well, this whole din doesn't apply by clothing. It's only by It's only by kelim. But the Alter Rebbe spent That's if you're a כישוף, cuz they are able to to take out whatever. Yes. A couple of uh like a halacha questions about it. What's the difference that we don't have to tovel a kli from a one time use? It's not really called your kli. Not not really not It's not called a kli. A kli really means a permanent thing. If it's a one time use, then it's not really a kli. The whole title of a kli's not. Even sheilot people make whether you're allowed to use a plastic cup for kiddush. What's the she'eilah? Because, since you're gonna throw it away, so it's not really a kli. So, many people are mekil and we are mekil, we do use it, but I'm just saying this shows that a kli is something that is going to stay, but if it's not it's only temporary, it's not a kli. Why Why is there at least a sevara or a part of the world that people can use a kli once without בעלי? Well, there is such a sevara, because again it's at that point still that it's still temporary. Being that you're only using it once, that right, it's temporary. The moment you use it a second time, it becomes it becomes not temporary anymore. That's the idea behind this. If you get stuck to actually use something Sometimes you get stuck, you know? If it's not טובל'ד, you can't use it. Wait, you can use it. No, once, but if it's already used once, if it's a new kli that you never used, for the first time, yes, yes, yes. I was under the impression, I'm still under the impression that the way to acquire things from the Torah doesn't really have anything to do with buying with money. Okay. When a goy, for example, would buy a kli, he just he's just giving money to the Jew who owned it previously, because it's now because now his vessel It is, by a goy, kesef is koneh. It's only a ייד. A goy could be koneh through kesef. Yes. How about there is a distinction between utensils that you eat out of and utensils used to prepare food? Well, you're right. It's only כלי סעודה that you will eat out of, but any kli that you might eat out of, let's say you have a pot, sometimes you eat from the pot, especially while the wife is cooking, the mother, and you know, you taste the food to see if it needs some salt and spices, so you could eat out of it. Therefore, you should. If there's a handle, a wooden handle, does the handle also have to be toveled? Wood doesn't have to be toveled. Only Huh? No, but if you have it all together, it has to go into the water, so it has to go into the water. Yes, yes. Can opener? No. No, but that's not used for food direct. It's a kli for a kli. A knife? A knife you use for food, so you have to tovel it. Huh? Yeah, but no, but it doesn't mean that you have to a bite from it, you're using it as part of the meal. You're by the table, you sit and you cut your food, it doesn't mean you have to put it into your mouth from it. Yes. If you borrow used kelim from a פֿרײַ יִיד that might have been treif You have to kosher it. It's not to tovel it, but you don't know where he got it from. And since he didn't tovel it when he got it from the goy, if he got it, so anytime you get you get kelim from a non from a non-frum Jew, you have to kosher it, and you have to tovel it, because kosher it first and then tovel it. Whatever, sometimes you kosher with a torch, whatever the kli is. Kashering depends, through fire, through water. Yes. You said that that a goy alive Can't be tamei, right. מדאורייתא. So in the time of the Beis Hamikdash, if a person touched a goy, couldn't eat תרומה? A dead goy you say? You touched a dead goy is Alive. מדרבנן, מדרבנן. דרבנן made that every goy is טמא טומאת זב. Special טומאה. But that's only דין דרבנן that רבנן made. And the reason was not because they want the טומאה, because they wanted the Jews to stay away from the goyim, so they made them tamei. But that's a different thing, that's not that there's a real דין of טומאה there. Where does Rambam address all the laws of, is it in טהרה? Yeah, it's all in one, in טהרה. מקוואות is in טהרה. Yeah, yeah. משפטים are all of our possessions and called משפטים, and that we somehow have to be careful with what we do with it. Or is our money considered our possession? Oh, you bet! What would you do with cash? Cash is money or Sure! Why is it that when you take a dollar from the Rebbe, we hold it, and we make a whole a whole esek out of it? Because since it belonged to the Rebbe, there is a kedushah in it. And this is all based on the Gemara. The Gemara says, כל הנוטל פרוטה מאיוב נתברך. The Gemara brings a ra'ayah from Iyov, that he was a tzaddik, that when they, anybody who took even a perutah, a coin from Iyov, it would bring a berachah to him. So we take a coin from a tzaddik, and the Gemara says that the by by the tzaddikim, the Gemara says, ממונם חביב עליהם יותר מגופם. They care about their money more than about themselves, tzaddikim. And the reason is, מפני שלא פשטו ידיהם בגזל, because every penny that they have is kasher, and since he served Hashem with it, because it's kasher, so then he didn't steal it, and so then it has a kedushah. So ein hachi nami, so with the money, we have to be very careful what we do with it, yeah. You started off by reciting the pasuk about the war, and that how we have to kasher steel and metal, and then we have to tovel. Now, what is, how about earthenware? Is that the main thing? Earthenware, you don't. Only metal or glass. Earthenware not, wooden, no. Nowadays when you buy dishes, you have to tovel. Why? Because most of them, probably all, are glazed. Yeah, they all have a glass a layer of glass on top of it. So you have to tovel, but if you would buy real clay, excuse me, clay dishes, you wouldn't have to tovel it, because it's cheres. The pasuk refers to metal. And what did, what does it refer to beside metal? It says lead, metal, all these types of metals, that's what the pasuk talks about. The pasuk doesn't talk about glass, the Rabbanan added it, but it talks about metal. China, porcelain? No, but our china now is glazed, so it has glass on top of it. Glass jars that if you want to use them over and over, you don't have to You should tovel it. You should tovel. Glass jars, Should tovel it. Right, that's... right, nuts. Right. You have to tovel jars? Yeah, sure. Yes. Not raw. At home, the sparks. There was a situation in... I think it was Nazareth. One guy, someone that just travelled there, travelled all the way to West Africa, and he bought something, and he didn't... and the person didn't buy it, and he threw it away. Well, that's for sure. Somebody else's captive, that's that's stealing. And how is his? Right, right, right, right. Yes. Can you elaborate on what you said before? I didn't really understand. You said that elevate sparks, what if people don't have a lot of... Everyone owns something. Whatever whatever a person owns, whether it's his clothes, or his house, or his furniture, whatever a person owns belongs to him, and he got it in a kasher way, in a legal way, so it's השגחה פרטית that it's his, that belongs to him. So he, that itself shows that it's his obligation to elevate the sparks of this of these things. Everything physical? Everything physical, everything physical. How about all those sparks of Jews that through the ages have not glorified and have, you know, disallowed or refused uh You know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about what about all the sparks in the world from Jews that also I guess eventually somehow they come back to something else, but it makes a big problem, that's for sure. Eventually they'll they'll get they'll break out, they'll get out, but with a lot of hardships. Yeah. Okay, a very quick question. That was with the Kohen like you did take the screen with three, four, or five, that gives him like a high kedushah. When you go into the mikveh, after you dip the first time and after if you dip a second time, is that an additional like what do you call it? A new level? At the same time? Well, the custom is to tovel more than once. But I don't think it's because each time it's more. If so, you should sit in the mikveh all day, tovel, tovel. No, no, it's all one immersion, you go at the same time. Reason we do a few times is because to make sure that the first time was, and also there are קבלה'דיקע reasons why we should immerse. Some, there are some immerse 310 times. שי טבילות. The Rebbe used to tovel a lot. A lot of time, I don't know, a lot. You couldn't count. No, the Rebbe, oh yeah, 100, 200. I once stood outside by the mikveh, by the חסידישע מקוה, and I was outside because the Rebbe was in there so you wouldn't go in, and I could hear the Rebbe going in the water. Time after time after time, you couldn't count. Before the Rebbe was a Rebbe, there was somebody was standing and wanted to count, because always he used to do it. So, Reb' Berel Baumgarten stood there and was counting. And the Rebbe didn't want anyone to know. So, when the Rebbe finished, he realized that he was standing and counting. So, the Rebbe turns around to him, says: \"How do you know that in the middle I didn't stick out my finger like this?\" Huh? They say the Rebbe told somebody nine times. But three times is is accepted. Now, nine, I giving my own interpretation why nine. I have no idea if this is true or not. The Baal Shem Tov said that anybody who will tovel himself once, he guarantees that he will never get sick from that tevilah, because people are afraid it's cold. Once, as the first time you're tovel, I take on my אחריות, on my responsibility, and nothing is going to happen to you. That's what is known. Came the Maggid, and the Maggid said, \"I take the second time.\" And the Alter Rebbe said, \"I take the third time.\" So, this shows that the tevilot have a connection to the Rebbes. In that case, there are nine Rebbes, so we tovel nine times. I'm just saying it as a thought, I don't know if this is true. In regards to the Alter Rebbe, just to take back a minute, like with the like with the pumice, why can the Alter Rebbe give away all his possessions in order so so that he could the fine could hold of it could could be his anyway? No, but it used to be his. So, probably some connection to it as a former owner. Yes. In our mikveh, how do we know that Clorox... Clorox? Why should we think you're not allowed? Doesn't say anywhere that you're not allowed. Things that change the color, things that change the color, you're not allowed. Or before it has the minimum measurement of water, then you can't add anything. But after it has the 40 סאה, you can add whatever you want, as long as it's liquid, as long as it doesn't change the color. You should try to do it. All the glass, try. You get a chance, but it doesn't mean that before, you shouldn't use it before you tovel it, because we could be meikil. But it's k'dai to be yotzei the other opinion, so we should look for a chance. We should look for a chance to do it, yeah. And all that plastic dishes, you don't need to tovel them? No, disposable, no. Not disposable? Tupperware, stuff like that. Tupperware from Sears? Plastic. But that's disposable, why? No, it's not. Tupperware is plastic. No, why disposable? No, that not. See, that's a one-time thing, that you don't do. How long? As long as you use it. I mean, it's still it's still considered a temporary I do know people who tovel it if they plan to use it more than once. But many people say even if you use it more than once, it's like not a כלי that you've been using a few times. Okay, see you אם ירצה השם next week. Same time, same station.