250630.Chukat ver5Chukat: Verse 5
Rabbi Elazar stood up and spoke: "Now this was the custom in former times in Yisrael concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm..." (Rut 4:7). This scriptural verse must be studied carefully. If the earlier ones have made this consensual agreement, TO BUY EVERYTHING THROUGH A SHOE, according to the law of Torah, and the latter ones came and voided it, WE MUST INQUIRE why it was made void. Is not one who abrogates any matter in the Torah considered as if he destroys the whole world? If it is not a Torah law but merely an agreed consensus, THE QUESTION IS why SPECIFICALLY a shoe was used here, AND NOT ANY OTHER METHOD.
Chukat: Verse 6
HE RESPONDS: It was most certainly according to the law of the Torah, and it was done with a lofty secret. Because the earlier were pious and just, this matter was revealed and known among them. And when the wicked increased in the world, this matter was accomplished in a different manner, in order to cover these matters which are in accordance with a lofty secret.
Chukat: Verse 7
Come and behold: it is written, "and he said, 'Do not come near: put off your shoes from off your feet...'" (Shemot 3:5). HE ASKS: Why is the shoe specifically mentioned here? HE RESPONDS: It is the way we were taught, that He commanded him to separate from his wife and join another woman of the light of the holy up high, which is the Shechinah.
Chukat: Verse 8
That shoe is explained in another place; it is explained THAT WHOEVER TAKES IT passes THE ONE WHO GIVES IT from this world and installs him in another world. Consequently, everything that the dead one grants to a person in his dream is beneficial. However, if he takes any utensil from the house, it is harmful, for example, if he takes his shoe. What is the reason, since THAT INDICATES that he passed his foot, which gives standing support to the person, from this world and gathered him to another world to the place where the dead one dwells. A SHOE ALLUDES TO HIS LEG, WHICH GIVES HIM DURABLE SUPPORT, as it is written: "how beautiful are your feet in the sandals, O prince's daughter" (Shir Hashirim 7:3). The secret of the matter is among the friends.
Chukat: Verse 9
That is so, that when the dead one takes it, IT INDICATES THAT HE PASSES HIM ON TO THE PLACE OF DEATH. However, when the living one draws off his shoe and gives it to another person in order to maintain a transaction, he carries this out by the decree of the above, WHICH MEANS THAT IT WAS DECREED THAT THE POSSESSION SHOULD PASS ON FROM THIS ONE'S PROPERTY TO THAT ONE'S PROPERTY. The removal of the shoe in the ritual of Chalitzah (removal of the sandal in the law of levirate marriage) is another shoe in the likeness of the above, THAT IS, AS HE EXPLAINS FURTHER, all is one secret meaning.
Chukat: Verse 10
Come and behold: when this dead one departs from the world without children, this prince's daughter, WHICH IS MALCHUT, does not gather that person to her. He goes about loitering and wandering in the world, because he cannot find a place. The Holy One, blessed be He, has mercy on him and commands his brother to redeem him, so that he shall return and be restored in other dust, MEANING THAT HE SHALL INCARNATE, as it is written: "and man shall return to dust" (Iyov 34:15). And this has already been explained.
Chukat: Verse 11
If this redeemer does not wish to revive his brother in this world, MEANING TO MARRY HIS WIFE IN ORDER THAT HE MAY INCARNATE THROUGH THE BIRTH OF A SON, it is required to tie a shoe to his foot. That woman will take off the shoe and receive that sandal for herself. And why the sandal? It is only because this shoe is for the dead one, THAT IS, IT IS CONSIDERED AS BELONGING TO THE DEAD ONE, and he places it on the foot of his living brother. The woman, THE WIDOW, accepts that shoe to indicate that this dead one returns among the living through this ritual.
