Today I had the great fortune to listen to a Shiur given by Rabbi Yitzchak Gettinger on “Reclaiming our Autonomy.”
To sum a one hour Shiur in a nutshell and share with you some of his wisdom, Rabbi Gettinger brought various sources from the Torah that talk about shoes and he asked: “why is the Torah so fascinated with shoes? He brought Joseph and how he was sold for shoes, spoke about Moses and when he approached the burning bush and took off his shoes, and many more examples.
What is the difference between the animal kingdom and the human kingdom? Our free will, our autonomy to make choices. Animals don’t wear shoes, their feet are always touching the ground, they live by their instinctive nature and the don’t have free will. Even angels don’t wear shoes, they also don’t have free will, but us human beings, we are one step above. The shoes represent our autonomy and the ability to make choices. When we wear a new pair of shoes they are not as comfortable as the old pair. Most of the time we fall into living comfortable and our decisions are made out of habit, we tend to go with what is easier and with the flow, not necessarily what is right. The shoe represents the uncomfortable zone of sometimes going against our nature and animalistic instincts to do what is asked from us by H”S.
So the next time you buy a new pair of shoes have this in mind and the moment they become too comfortable then it’s time to buy a new pair.
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