Hello,

I have many other issues I'd like to discuss, but precious little time. So I must use it judiciously, and timely. With only two weeks left until Pesach, this qualifies.

Having bored you with all that, here is my question:

We have a dishwasher which is metal on the inside with plastic racks. Our understanding is that the dishwasher can be kashered for Pesach if we have a separate set of racks. We do have a second, unused set, removed directly from a new dishwasher and placed in a large plastic trash bag.

However, the soap dispenser is plastic, as are several other internal parts (I don't know what purpose they all serve), which don't come in direct contact with the dishes (such as what appears to be the drain).

Can this dishwasher, as described, be make kosher for Pesach? Or must we again do all hand-washing?

I have two datapoints to share, and eager to see what guidance the rabbeim here might give.

A dishwasher uses the same water over and over again, so the pump inside the dishwasher has certainly been in contact with chometz and whatever other food concerns have been washed away. And it likely shares this with the hot water which it sprays out onto the dishes in the racks.

If this dishwasher will have been used for chometz so close to Pesach, I am not sure how the pump could be neutralized in time. Did you have in mind to use it for chometz right until the day before Pesach, and return it to chometz use right after?

Since dishwasher soap is a fairly caustic substance and soap can be used to nullify chometz, I wouldn't be surprised if there were leniencies that could be used regarding the soap rack.

But I think the purpose of leniencies on diswashers are not for this type of situation.

Poskim for most major kashrus agencies today say that hard plastics are now kasherable - including for Pesach- and so for sure the connected plastic pieces for the dishwasher I would think would not cause a problem.

quote:

Originally posted by rob:


A dishwasher uses the same water over and over again, so the pump inside the dishwasher has certainly been in contact with chometz and whatever other food concerns have been washed away. And it likely shares this with the hot water which it sprays out onto the dishes in the racks.

If this dishwasher will have been used for chometz so close to Pesach, I am not sure how the pump could be neutralized in time. Did you have in mind to use it for chometz right until the day before Pesach, and return it to chometz use right after?

Since the way you kasher the dishwasher is to run it through a minimum of 3 full cycles, then this eliminates the problem that any chometz may be left in the pump. Since you are running it with caustic detergent you are removing any residue that would have built up. Furthermore, if your theory were true, then there could never be the possibility of kashering a dishwasher in a commercial establishment such as a hotel, nursing home, or shul which every agency out there does. Therefore, unless you are makpid on everything, including no processed foods on Pesach, I see no reason why this type of dishwasher cannot be kashered.

The answer to the question depends on which Rabbi you ask.

For example, in the US and UK the Rabbonim generally do not permit a dishwasher to be used (a) for milk and meat and (b) for Pesach. As to (b) even those who say you can't give advice on how it might be kashered, but it involves, I believe, getting new racks.

In Israel, however, the situation seems to be different and they are more lenient.

It's interesting that the official line of the London Beis Din is that a dishwasher can't be used for Pesach, and yet Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu, the Rosh Beis Din, privately holds that it can if certain steps are taken to kasher it.

You're correct. However, those same Rabonim (at least the majority of them) allow hotels, nursing homes, Shuls, etc to kasher institutional grade dishwashers with a moving plastic line to put the dishes on for Pesach. HaRav Dov Gedalya Schwartz, the Av Bais Din of the CRC in Chicago, as well as many leading poskim now say that you can kasher hard plastics - any plastic that can withstand boiling water. Many of the newer residential dishwashers have a sanitation mode on them; it means that the water will get up to about 200 degrees, so I don't really see why they don't allow the racks to be kashered, andmost of the Poskim I've discussed this with cannor really give an answer.
Just a note - these newer residential dishwashers get a lot hotter than your standard commercial one; I know; I've been doing hashgcha in hotels for more than 25 years, and the hottest I've ever seen one get to is about 175 degrees, and that was just once; most max out at 160

Most Rabbonim here in Israel also do not permit kashering a dishwasher. Besides the issue of kashering plastic, It is impossible to know if any "mamashus", actual particles of food, are trapped in the filter or other nooks and crannies of the equiptment.