It is a pleasure to deal with an area of halacha that was all but forgotten in the previous generation. Indeed, there is an undisputed requirement to tovel certain utensils obtained from non-Jews, even if they are new.[1] This is based on p’sukim[2] describing the process of preparing the spoils from the battle against Midian for Jewish use. There is significant disagreement whether the derivation indicates that the requirement to tovel is a Torah law or whether it is a rabbinic law.
It is also accepted halacha that at least the owners of the utensils may not use them before the tevilla.[3] However, the majority opinion is that the prohibition to use utensils prior to tevilla is only rabbinic.[4] Thus, there could be additional leeway for leniency regarding the use of utensils before tevilla in cases of doubt. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no recognized halachic opinion or clear logic that distinguishes between using it once and using it many times in this regard.[5]
We must admit that the position you presented is widely known. There are, in general, several plausible explanations for the phenomenon of a familiar, but undocumented, position. It is possible that someone of stature offered an oral or obscurely published opinion. Other times, because of pressing circumstances (or, on the contrary, the tendency toward chumra in a certain time, place, or issue) an obscure minority opinion gained popularity. Or, as is apparently the case here, laymen misunderstood and misapplied a halacha to the extent that the mistake took on a life of its own. Let us trace the mistake.
The Torah lists substances that require tevilla but does not state explicitly the form they need to be in for the obligation to exist. The gemara[6] says that only klei seuda (utensils of the meal) need tevilla. While there is much discussion as to what makes a utensil sufficiently connected to a meal to necessitate tevilla, we should take note of the primary requirement that it be a kli (utensil). The halachot regarding what constitutes a kli are very complicated. Most of the applications are in the laws of purity and impurity, which apply, for the most part, only marginally in a time when there is no Beit HaMikdash. One of the characteristics of a kli, in the context of impurity and other halachot, is that it was produced to be used many times. This is an important fact, in our age of affluence, when disposable utensils are commonplace. There is a consensus among recent poskim that disposable utensils are not kelim, even if one happens to reuse them, and thus do not require tevilla. (The issue of a utensil that is designed to be used only a few times is beyond our present scope.)
It appears that many people mistakenly inferred from this ruling that tevilla becomes necessary only after repeated use. In fact, a utensil made for repeated use is a kli from the time it was made and thus requires tevilla. Although an unused kli sitting in a cupboard (or in a store, awaiting sale) does not have to be toveled, its imminent use triggers the obligation. Thus, one may not trigger the obligation of tevilla by using a utensil without first fulfilling that obligation.[7] Every use, whether one or many, creates an obligation that must be fulfilled by the time of the use, at least under normal circumstances.
While many related interesting and practical questions remain, we hope that we were able to clear up this common misconception in an area of halacha that, baruch HaShem, has been rediscovered.