욥기 34:15의 Musar

In commenting on Ruth 4,7: "Now this was formerly done in Israel in cases of redemption or exchange, to validate any transaction, one man would take off his sandal and hand it to the other," the Zohar on פרשת חוקת enlarges on the theme of נעל. I will content myself with copying a synopsis of his comments. [actually the author copied the entire passage of the Zohar. Ed.] "In Exodus 3,5 at the Burning Bush, G–d tells Moses: אל תקרב הלום, של נעלך מעל רגליך, "Do not come close, remove your shoes from your feet." What was the point in involving Moses' shoes in this revelation? The shoes G–d referred to represent Moses' wife. G–d suggested to Moses that in order to qualify for what He had in mind for him, he should divorce his wife and marry another. This alternate "marriage" was to be to a source of greater light, i.e. the שכינה. The true "wife" for Moses would be found in a higher world. The נעל, shoe, Moses removed from his foot – and which is described in Ruth 4,7 as a time-honored medium (symbol) for effecting transfer of ownership of something between two people – is the medium of effecting transfer from one world to another, i.e. death in this world and transfer to the Hereafter. This is why the sages have a tradition that a dream that one is given something by a person who has died is a good sign, whereas a dream that a dead person takes something away from one such as a shoe, is a bad sign (Berachot 57). The taking of one's shoe symbolizes that one will shortly be transferred to another world, i.e. one will die. We have an allusion to this in Song of Songs 7,2: מה יפו פעמיך בנעלים בת נדיב, "How lovely are your feet in sandals, O daughter of nobles!" (The mystical dimension of this allusion is jealously guarded by the initiated). What we have stated above is true when it is the departed person who takes the shoe. This is a symbol of transferring something to the world of the dead. If a living person takes a shoe in order to confirm an acquisition he does so at the behest of Heaven, i.e. to carry out G–d's decree to transfer a certain possession to another. The shoe used in performing the rite of חליצה has a different significance; all has a common mystical denominator. Consider that the husband in question who has died without having children is not welcomed by the בת נדיב (the emanation מלכות) in her world. The spirit is therefore moving about aimlessly, with no place to rest. G–d has taken pity on this spirit and commanded the brother of the departed person to release him from his misery. He is to do this by enabling the spirit to enter another "dust" i.e. body in accordance with Job 34,15: "and mankind would return to dust." If this redeemer is not willing to "revive" his departed brother [through the vicarious means of the levirate marriage and the siring of a male heir. Ed.] the latter has to receive an alternate נעל. This is the נעל which the widow removes from the foot of her brother-in-law to receive it on behalf of her late husband; her receipt of the shoe indicates that her late husband has returned to the world of the living. What happens in this procedure is the exact opposite of what occurs when a person dreams that a departed person has taken his shoe away from him. In the case of חליצה the living is perceived as taking from the dead. This is why the dead is able to return to be among the living by means of this sandal. The widow is seen as the crown of her late husband. The "wife" is understood as a metaphor for the שכינה which now accepts the spirit of the departed in its domain. This sandal has to be thrown to the ground to demonstrate that the widow wishes this body to be revived. G–d will take pity on this spirit either immediately or after a suitable interval and accept it in His domain. Throwing the sandal down on the earth also symbolizes that this departed person will be reconstituted from another source of dust. In the meantime the departed first returns to the earth he originally came from, thus releasing his widow to remarry anyone else suitable for her. Thus far the quote from the Zohar.