Do Grill Mats Require Tevilas Keilim?

Question

I was recently at the department store and found something called a grill mat, which is a thin mat made out of woven copper that is placed on top of a grill during barbecues so that the food will not burn. As soon as I saw this new item, I started to think to myself about whether or not this mat requires tevilas keilim.

On one hand, this item is a flexible mat and does not look like a keili at all. Since this mat only prevents the meat from getting burned, maybe it is not called a kli maachal and this is sufficient reason to exempt this mat from requiring tevilah. Alternatively, since the grill mat comes in direct contact with food and is made for multiple uses, perhaps it is like any other utensil used in food preparation and needs to be toiveled. Does the grill mat require tevilas keilim?

M. N.

Passaic, NJ

Rav Auerbach 

The grill mat should be toiveled without a brocha. The fact that it is flexible and one can fold it and even put it in his pocket does not take away from it being a keili. You technically could put many kitchen tools in your pocket if you wanted, and this is not a reason to exempt them from tevilas keilim. However, it is not so clear whether or not a flat mat is called a keili.

We have not found in any of the poskim that only a tool that has a direct positive impact is called a keili. In that case, since it has all the halachic conditions for a kli maachal, which is to be a dovor haba bamayim (i.e., made from metal), in direct contact with food, and for multiple uses, it requires tevilah. However, since it is not clear to me if this mat is at all under the definition of a keili, we apply the principle of safeik brochos lehakel and no brocha should be recited on the tevilah. It would be preferable to toivel the grill mat with other utensils that require a brocha.