MEANING IN MITZVOT by Rabbi Asher Meir Each week we discuss one familiar halakhic practice and try to show its beauty and meaning. The columns are based on the commentary “Meaning in Mitzvot” on Kitzur Shulchan Arukh, which is serialized on Yeshivat Har Etzion’s Virtual Beit Midrash, www.vbm-torah.org. REMOVING SHOES Our parsha contains the very first revelation experienced by Moshe Rabbeinu, the greatest of all prophets: “Don’t approach here; remove your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground”. (Shemot 3:5.) Removing the shoes seems to be a powerful testimony to spiritual elevation and holiness. As the Ramban points out, we find that Yehoshua also was bidden to remove his shoes when he approached holy ground (Yehoshua 5:15), and the Kohanim in the Temple are likewise forbidden to wear anything on their feet. The Midrash tells us that wearing shoes is forbidden anyplace the Shekhina dwells. (Shemot Rabba.) Another example is that on Yom Kippur, when we are likened to holy angels, we go without shoes. (Yoma 77a.) Yet sometimes removing the shoes seems to have the opposite symbolism, one of degradation. The brother who declines yibbum with his brother’s widow is subjected to the seeming humiliation of having his shoe removed as she spits in his face (Devarim 25:9). We learn from Yechezkel that a mourner is obligated to remove his shoes as an expression of his sorrow. (Yechezkel 24:17). Wearing shoes is so important that a special blessing is said on wearing them, acknowledging that HaShem provides all of our needs (sheasa li kol tzarkhi), and our Sages urge us to sell even the beams of our homes in order to buy a pair of shoes. (Shabbat 129a.) Several commentators explain this dichotomy by pointing out that shoes are a kind of insulation from the ground. Normally, the ground is a symbol of lowliness; wearing shoes emphasizes that while we are supported by the earth, we nonetheless stand above it and are distinguished from it. But wherever the Divine Presence dwells, then on the contrary we don’t seek to be separated from the ground but rather connected to it. We may add that when we personally are on a low spiritual level we require this protection, but when we experience a spiritual elevation we rise above our material natures and are no longer threatened by the proximity of the earth. The teachings of Rav Nachman of Breslav connect this further to the curse of the earth. Originally the entire world was the abode of the shekhina. But the sin of Adam and Chava, compounding the earlier sin of the earth, led to the earth being cursed. (Bereshit 3:17-19.) This is when HaShem prepared for Adam and Chava garments of leather (Bereshit 3:21) – which this approach identifies with shoes, the garment most connected with leather throughout the ages and especially in the halakha, where a shoe not made out of leather is usually not considered a shoe at all. But in a place where HaShem succeeds in infusing with His presence, or at a time when we are able to partially overcome the sin of Adam and gain repentance, then we are no longer in need of these garments of ‘or (leather). Rather, we merit the garments of or (light) mentioned in the Midrash (Bereshit Rabba); the Zohar (Bereshit, I:36b) tells us that these were the original garments prepared for mankind. (Based on Likutei Halakhot, Yibbum 3:8-9. This idea complements last week’s shiur on the significance of earth in burial.) UP AND DOWN, LEFT AND RIGHT Remarkably, this religious distinction between the two kinds of shoe removal has a practical halakhic consequence. Since shoes are normally a symbol of dignity, therefore we generally remove the left shoe first, to leave the more important right shoe on longest. (SA OC 2:5.) But when the Kohen ascends the duchan for Birkhat Kohanim, removing his shoes is a symbol of elevation, since it prepares him for the blessing and also since this reminds us of the Kohanim who removed their shoes before serving in the Temple. The same is true of Yom Kippur, when removing the shoes reminds us that we are likened to the angels. In these instances, the right shoe is removed first, since taking off the shoe is a mark of honor. (Rav Kook, Orakh Mishpat Nesiat Kapayim 25, cited in Luach Eretz Yisrael, Moadei Rayah, and Ishei Yisrael.) Rabbi Meir is in the process of writing a monumental companion to Kitzur Shulchan Aruch which beautifully presents the meanings in our mitzvot and halacha. He is also directing the Jewish Business Response Forum at the Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility, Jerusalem College of Technology - Machon Lev. The forum aims to help business people run their firms according to Torah, by obtaining prompt, relevant responses to their questions. [The Sh'mot Homepage]
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