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A shoe of a halitza

שו”תCategory: philosophyA shoe of a halitza
asked 4 years ago

Hello!
From reading the Torah verses dealing with the situation of taking off one’s shoes, it seems that this is a situation that concerns rebuking the heart of a person who refuses to take off his shoes. It is possible to give other reasons for this situation, but it seems to me that, based on whatever reason there may be, it would be difficult to find a reason to list the details of the laws concerning the shoe that the person must take off in order for his shoes to be taken off (this can be seen in the Shulchan Ahab, 3rd chapter, or at great length in the Anzet, volume 15, section on taking off one’s shoes).
My question is whether when Chazal and those who came after them dealt with this issue and investigated how this shoe should be made (its appearance is strange and peculiar, and I highly doubt whether anyone at one time wore such a shoe. There is a picture in the An-Nah), what was before their eyes was what God wanted, that is, was the assumption that when God told Moses the parshas of Halitza, it was in principle with Him that this status would be fulfilled in this shoe and not in a shoe like ours (which seems to me not so likely), or did the halakha have a life of its own, and have rules for how to ‘handle’ the verses of the Torah and demand them, and the concern has no connection or affiliation with the question of whether it is important to God that his people receive his rebuke (or whatever it may be) in this particular strange shoe?
To be honest, this question is general and concerns many mitzvot. I asked about a chalitza shoe because it particularly stood out to me here.
 
 


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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 4 years ago
I don’t understand the difference between the two options. And what tools do the sages have to know what God’s will is if not through the interpretation of the Torah (or moral rules and reasoning)?! They don’t have direct access to God (and even if they did, it wouldn’t be in that heaven). The connection between the details of the laws and their meaning is problematic, and many have already argued this. Maimonides in the Ha-Hag Ma-Mon claims that the details were determined arbitrarily because an unambiguous halakha needed to be established. This does not convince me at all. Therefore, in my opinion, the whole matter of the meanings of the mitzvot is very dubious and I do not really deal with it.

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שאול replied 4 years ago

The point is that when reading Parshat Halitza, one gets the impression of what G-d's will is. Let's assume that readers of the parshat accept that this is a situation of rebuking their hearts, and taking off the shoe is an act of humiliation.
I find it hard to imagine that G-d would have a specific idea of what kind of shoe it is.
What motive causes the sages to concern themselves with the shape of the shoe?

מיכי Staff replied 4 years ago

The truth, for example? That's also an option. Maybe they understood that this is what emerges from the verses or they received it in tradition? Otherwise, what is the explanation in your opinion? They are just confusing the mind? You assume that every action of the sages is biased, but as mentioned, the truth is also an option.

שאול replied 4 years ago

God forbid!
It never occurred to me that wise people confuse the mind.
I ask because this topic is very difficult for me. That's all.

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