Entirely Submerged at One Time
10. When toiveling, the entire dish must be in the water; no part of it may be out (חכ"א כלל ע"ג דין ט"ו ). If the dish has a handle, even one made out of a material which does not require tevila (דרכ"ת בשם בעל ד"ק ), the handle must also be toiveled, even if it is long (ש ו"ע סי' ק"כ סי"ב ). It must also be free of any grime.
11. Dish with an interior. When toiveling a dish with an interior, one must make sure water goes inside and touches everywhere inside. Therefore, one must toivel a dish with its opening facing up to ensure the water touches all of it.
Utensil Comprised of Different Parts
12. A utensil comprised of different parts should preferably be toiveled while assembled, as that is the way it is used. The tevila is kosher even if there are places the water cannot touch since those areas are considered “beis hastorim” [hidden areas]. Still, if one toiveled each part separately it is kosher (שו"ת מנח"י ח"ג סי' ע"ז ).
13. A pocketknife whose blade folds into its handle should be toiveled with the blade out (ערוה"ש ).
Holding the Dish in the Water
14. When holding a dish in the water, one must make sure water also gets between his hand and the dish. The poskim differ on how this is accomplished, as follows:
15. Loose grip. Most poskim hold that if one holds a dish more loosely than it is normally held (ט"ז יו"ד סי' קצ"ח סקכ"ז ), we assume water will get between his hand and the dish and he may toivel it in that manner (שו"ע סי' ק"כ ס"ב ). Some say that even if one toiveled a dish holding it loosely, there is a concern that he did not hold it loosely enough and the tevila does not work (רמב"ם ועוד הובאו בש"ך סי' ק"כ סק"ו ). Similarly, some say we are not expert enough to distinguish between what is considered loose versus tight (רמ"א ריש סי' קצ"ח ). Thus, l’chatchila one should employ one of the following methods:
16. Wet hands in water first. One solution is to wet one’s hand considerably [“טופח על מנת להטפיח ”] before toiveling; then he does not need to hold it loosely (שו"ע סי' ק"כ ס"ב ), he just cannot grip it very tightly (מהר"י ברונא הובא בחלקת בנימין אות כ"ו ). Some say this works with tap water (הגר"א ); others say this only works with mikva water. Even with mikva water, some say this only works as long as he did not take his hands out of the mikva; if he did, the water on his hands is like tap water (רמ"א שם ).
17. Therefore, l’chatchila one should put his hand into the mikva; then put the dish into the mikva with his other hand; he should then pass the dish from hand to hand inside the mikva so it ends up in his hand which was wet with mikva water without having been taken out. In this manner, one does need to let go of the dish, which can lead to dropping it and being unable to retrieve it.
Tevila Inside a Basket
18. When toiveling small things, one may place them into a net or basket with lots of holes and toivel them all together, making sure that they all entirely go into the water. He should not fill the net or basket too much to ensure that the water touches all the dishes. Similarly, he should shake the basket or net under the water so that the water reaches all parts of the dishes.
