One is not supposed to wear shoes on Yom Kippur. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why wading through a river is allowed - because one won’t come to carry his shoes, should they fall off? What about Shabbat - can one cross the river, given that now he has shoes and might potentially carry them? Nehemiah saw Rav Ami and Rav Asi cross a pool of water on Shabbat. The actual incident with someone trustworthy is the best proof, and so this is accepted. What about sandals that slip off easier? - there, it is preferable not to cross the river in them. Here is an actual story about it.
A Jewish ruler (Exilarch) n Babylonia came to the city of Hagronia and lectured there. All the Sages came to his lecture, except Ravina. Since Ravina may have offended the Exilarch, Rafram came to exonerate him and asked him why he missed the lecture. Ravina answered that his foot was hurting. “Then you should have put on a shoe!” - “It was the top of the foot.” “Then you should use a (loose) sandal!” - To this Ravina answered, “There was a pool there, and it is preferable not to cross a pool in a sandal on Shabbat.”
The standard material used for making shoes is leather. When talking about not wearing shoes on Yom Kippur, do we mean only leather shoes or perhaps any kind of shoes? Again, an actual story helps: Rav Yitzchak saw Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi wearing shoes made out of rush (reed) on Yom Kippur. And yet, some say that all kinds of shoes were meant.
Art: Still life, a pair of shoes by Vincent Van Gogh
No comments:
Post a Comment