devarim

It seems we have a dishwasher.

Several years ago, Julian heard from a friend who had asked our shul's rabbi about kashering a dishwasher that it was not permitted to do so, even with new racks. We had also heard, from alternate sources, that it was permissible to use a formerly treif dishwasher, but that the kashering process involved getting new racks...a nearly impossible feat for the old-model, under-the-sink machine that came with our apartment. Furthermore, since we want as many people as possible to feel comfortable eating in our home, we decided it would be best to follow the rulings of our community's rabbi (so that we had a single, locally-recognized authority to whom we could point and say, "We do what he says").

Note that we never actually asked him ourselves what to do.

Over lunch this past Shabbat, another couple from the community mentioned how excited they were that they could finally start using their dishwasher. It turns out they had asked our shul's rabbi, who said it was permissible to kasher the machine by the following method: do not use for one year; clean out (checking the trap as well); run once with detergent; run twice without detergent. We decided that it would be worthwhile to at least ask the rabbi ourselves, so I posed the question to him after Shabbat. What do you know--he repeated the same answer to us! (I shouldn't be surprised about that, I guess.) Well, first he asked whether the dishwasher had been used in the past year. When I responded that it hadn't been used in five years, he wanted to know how we knew. Um...we've been living there? I wonder if he thinks we're idiots for not asking about this sooner (I know I think we are).

Anyway, I reiterated that we had only the old racks, and he said it was OK. So, after some scrubbing, trap disassembly and reassembly (with a flashlight game in the middle), and three wash cycles (one with detergent and two without), I loaded my first set of dishes (well, pots) into our dishwasher this morning. This first run was pareve, but from this evening forward the machine will be dairy. Yay.

Disclaimer: Kids, don't try this at home. Community kashrut standards can vary and, as always, you should Consult Your Local Rabbi.