Q&A: Wearing Shoes on Tisha B’Av
Wearing Shoes on Tisha B’Av
Question
Hello Rabbi. I once heard the Rabbi speak about this, and I’m not sure there was a conclusion on the matter.
Is there room to make an interpretive argument regarding the prohibition of wearing shoes and say that the Sages did not specifically forbid leather shoes, but rather forbade comfortable shoes because of mourning, and it just happened that in their time the comfortable shoes were leather, whereas today most kinds of shoes are comfortable, so perhaps one would need to go with simple shoes or slippers on Tisha B’Av?
Of course this is a big question, because it is not only about shoes but about the broader principle of whether we follow the plain meaning or the interpretation.
Did the Rabbi reach a conclusion on this? Does it remain open? And how should we conduct ourselves in practice on this issue, and more generally regarding these kinds of interpretations?
Thank you very much, dear Rabbi 3>
Answer
First, this does not necessarily refer to comfort; it may also be about respectable dress. Second, it is certainly plausible that this was the reason, but even if the reason no longer applies, the enactment does not necessarily lapse. If you assume that from the outset what was forbidden was comfortable shoes rather than leather shoes, then you are right. But that itself is not clear. I think that at least on a rabbinic fast there is room to be lenient (although there are opinions that on Yom Kippur as well, the other afflictions are rabbinic).