QUESTION: I purchased a set of silverware to give as a gift to relatives. Am I permitted to toivel it before I give it to them?

ANSWER: If the one who purchased the silverware does not plan on using it, he has no mitzvah of tevila. The one who is gifting the silverware is like a storeowner, which was previously discussed. If the storeowner were to toivel his inventory of keilim before selling them, according to many poskim the tevila would be ineffective. Similarly, the one gifting cannot toivel them before giving them away. There are two suggestions to avoid this problem. You can give it to a neighbor and ask him to acquire the gift on behalf of your relative. Once the neighbor lifts it up and makes the acquisition, it will belong to your relative, and you can then toivel it, even before you deliver it to him. Another suggestion is to use the silverware yourself before giving it away. Before you use it, it will require tevila and according to all opinions you can toivel it with a beracha.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.