Why Do Jews Traditionally Perform a Ritual Immersion for Kitchen Dishes?

This past Monday, I had a day off work for Veterans Day. What did I do for my day off? I went to the mikveh, a bath used for ritual immersion in Judaism. Normally, the mikveh is used for immersing people, whether for such moments as marriage, Yom Kippur, conversion, or in the case of a woman, having completed a menstrual cycle [also known as a niddah]. The thing is that the mikveh is not only used for immersing people. 

This past Monday, I did not go to immerse myself. I went to immerse my new dishes in a process called tevilat keilim (טבילת כלים; alternatively, toiveling). Although I had some Jewish friends hand down dishes to me, I had not bought new dishes for myself in over a decade. Before and after the immersion, I had been asking myself why Jews ritually immerse dishes. The most basic explanation is that the practice of tevilat keilim is based on Numbers 31:22-23:  

"Whether it be the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, everything that may abide the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall be purified with the water of sprinklings. And whatever is not used in fire, you shall pass through water."

This ritual purification in the Book of Numbers took place after the Israelites defeated the Midianites in battle. This incident took place in the context of having acquired dishes from a particularly idolatrous people. As such, I could argue that such ritual immersion is no longer applicable in our time, much like the Conservative Movement had done in its responsum. There is that part of me that felt that it was too demanding, cumbersome, irrational, or the notion that ritual purity is out of touch with a modern understanding of the world. There is another part of me that took joy in the practice, which is why I would like to explore a few reasons why tevilat keilim can till have spiritual meaning for Jewish practice in the 21st century.

• Spiritual purification. R. Samson Raphel Hirsch brought up a reason why the Torah mandated the immersion specifically for metal utensils. Animals are incapable of producing metal objects. But both animals and men can and do eat. For Hirsch, metal utensils represented the intellectual and spiritual side of man, whereas eating represented the primal, physical side of man. It is not enough to simply use kitchen utensils. Immersing the utensils is supposed to act as a reminder of how we elevate our everyday, mundane activities by using our intellectual and spiritual sides. It is an integration of making the physical a manifestation of holiness. 
• Renewal. Much like when a person goes through immersion in the mikveh, a kitchen utensil goes through a symbolic transformation. It is not that the object was prima facie impure. It needed to be re-contextualized and re-calibrated into a life of holiness. And if we are able to renew and transform something as seemingly mundane as kitchen objects, then we should be able to a fortiori renew ourselves and start anew. 
• Aspirations in Life. Technically speaking, food in a non-toiveled dish is still kosher. Yet we are supposed to immerse the dishes. The metaphor here is that we are meant to aim high and do our best in our spiritual lives. Spirituality is not an automatic, passive process. It is something that is meant to be intentionally cultivated and pursued to the max. 
• Aligning Your Values. The idols that people in the 21st century worship are not statues made of stone or wood or such celestial beings as the moon or sun. Plenty of people worship money, fame, or status. Since the initial tevilat keilim was in response to idolatry, I would content that immersing utensils can be an action-based meditation to help us realign our values and ask ourselves what is important to us. 
• Mindfulness. When we take the time and effort to immerse utensils, we remind ourselves that something as small as utensils can have major spiritual significance. Bringing awareness to cooking and eating signals that any objects we may own and use should be done with awareness of their spiritual potential. It means that all items can be a reflection of Jewish values. 
• Jewish distinction. While I found ritual immersion practices in other religions (e.g., Islam, Hinduism), there was no religion that had a formalized ritual process for dishes like Judaism has. As such, the practice of tevilat keilim maintains a distinction between a Jewish and non-Jewish way of living. It also helps maintain connection and continuity with Jewish heritage, especially in a predominantly non-Jewish environment.