Kosher for Passover question regarding Glass

Factual Questions
1

When it comes to passover I generally lead a pretty bachelor-like existance, eating off of paper plates or directly from one of my 2 passover pots (one meat, one dairy). But GonzoGal pointed out something I never really considered before: why does my family use glass bowls, plates and cups for both meat and dairy during the year, but packs the glassware away during passover?

Surely if you believe that glass isn’t porous enough to capture milk or meat particles (which I admit is up for debate) then why should chametz particles be different? I tired looking around on the web for answers, and it seems some people do use year-round glassware for pesach if it’s been boiled. But since we’re Jews, of course the various factions disagree, and I can’t always figure out which websites belong to which denominations (both in the Orthodox/Conservative/Reform sense and the Ashkenazic/Sephardic sense.)

So, can anyone give me the scoop on glass? For the record, my family is Conservative and Ashkenazic, 3 or 4 generations descended from Russian and Polish immigrants to the US.

Ooh, and finally an escuse for one of these: ;j

2

I think it would be possible to kasher glassware for Pesach. It would be long and involved, just as kashering other utensils for Pesach is possible.

I think it’s just that most people don’t do it. They like the idea of having a separate set of dishes for Passover, even though they could kasher their hametzdika glassware.

I’ll await an expert.

3

First, there is a distinction between a kli rishon (a glass utensil in which the food is actually cooked) and a kil sheini (a glass container to which already-cooked food is transferred).

A glass utensil used as a kil rishon may not be kashered - that is, once used for meat, it is a meat utensil; used for dairy, it is a dairy utensil.

A glass utensil used as a kil sheini may be switched between dairy and meat after a thorough cleaning.

  • Rick
4

Do the Rabbis recognize any sort of additional outside-the-Law value to the use of a special set of dishes–sort of helping to set aside Passover as a very special time in the minds of the people?