How Do I Toivel a Keurig?

In this week’s episode, the topics discussed by Rabbi Braun include: **Public birthday parties and *ayin hora*** - Is there a concern of *ayin hora* in making large public gatherings for a seventieth or eightieth birthday? - Since the *Korban Todah* was brought with forty *challos* specifically so that a crowd would be invited, is publicizing Hashem’s kindness in fact the entire point of a *seudas hoda’ah*? - Does such a *seuda* carry its own protection, since the *kiddush shem shamayim* offsets the merits that are otherwise deducted when a miracle is done for a person? - What could we learn from the Rebbe’s conduct in this regard? ***Tevilas keilim* for electric appliances** - Must electric appliances be *toiveled* even when the label warns that immersion will ruin them, and what practical steps make it workable? - If the appliance would be ruined or the water cannot reach inside, is one exempt because a *mitzvah* one cannot perform does not apply, or must one simply not use the utensil? - Having a Jewish professional reassemble it renders it Jewish-made. What about an amateur doing so? - How much weight do the various arguments for leniency carry (*mechubar lekarka*, plugging it in as “finishing” it, *beis hastarim*, not being a *kli seudah*, and merely being the non-Jew’s “store merchandise”), given that *tevilas keilim* is *deoraysa*? ***Tevilah* for a Keurig machine** - Is a Keurig different from other electric appliances, being a pump rather than a *kli*, and one that will certainly be ruined by immersion? - If it’s not merely a matter of damage but genuinely impossible for the water to reach the area requiring immersion, could it be that the *chiyuv* of *tevilah* never applied at all? - May one rely on giving it as a gift to a non-Jew and borrowing it back, even though it will stay in the Jew’s hands indefinitely? - Since the *Taz* required *toiveling* a borrowed *kli* specifically because one is able to, does that imply the requirement falls away where immersion is impossible, as *poskim* held with very large vessels? **A *shiur* in shul on Shabbos afternoon** - Shabbos afternoon commemorates the passing of *Yosef Hatzaddik*, *Moshe Rabbeinu,* and *Dovid Hamelech* (the reason for *Tzidkascha*). If so, may one make a fixed *shiur* in *shul* between *Mincha* and *Maariv*? - Does the *minhag* of *beis hamedrash batel* begin close to dark, or only close to *shkiya* (and not afterward, as the *Ketzos Hashulchan* seems to imply), and not if beginning earlier? - Does the concern apply to *Chassidus*, *Pirkei Avos,* and *agaddah*, or only to formal *nigleh* classes? - May one rely on the *Mishnah Berurah* (quoted by the Rebbe) that nowadays we do not stop such gatherings, since people would otherwise sit in *shul* and waste their time? **Havdalah made without a *kos*** - Someone who mistakenly made Havdalah without wine in the Nine Days, must he make Havdalah again once he has a *kos*? - When the *Mishnah Berurah* rules that one without wine shouldn’t rely on making a wine-less Havdalah, does that only mean *l’chatchila*, implying that *b’dieved* he was *yotzei*? - Did the *Maharam miRotenburg*, who allows Havdalah without a *kos*, mean that one is *yotzei*, or only that there is a second part of the *mitzvah* still to be fulfilled when a *kos* becomes available? - If someone made Havdalah on what turned out to be vinegar, must he repeat it, or would that be a *bracha l’vatalah*? **Solving one person’s *safek* at the *rabbim*’s expense** - Why does *Tosafos* prefer that one person be left with a *safek kares* passively (*b’sheiv v’al ta’aseh*) rather than have the majority bring their *korban* improperly? - How does this principle apply today, when a *heter* meant for *hefsed merubeh*, *sha’as hadchak* or *tzorech mitzvah* is turned into a standard arrangement for everyone?