In the fourth aliyah of Parshat Shemot, Moshe stands at the burning bush, and HaShem commands him to remove his shoes, שַׁל־נְעָלֶ֨יךָ֙ מֵעַ֣ל רַגְלֶ֔יךָ, ‘Take your shoes off of your feet’. We are familiar with the act of removing our shoes for Yom Kippur and shiva. But what exactly does this act communicate-- what does it mean? The Malbim explains that Moshe’s removal of his shoes teaches us how a leader should function. A leader needs to have his or her feet on the ground, feeling what others feel-- the stones, the branches, the dirt. Rabbi Pinchas Peli deepens this idea and translates נעל as ‘lock’ and רגל as ‘that which is regular or routine’. With this translation, Hashem’s command to Moshe to remove his shoes becomes ‘Take the locks off of that which is normal for you’. Remove the covers that you are used to and open yourself to change, to hearing Hashem. We often get comfortable and locked into our routines. But in this small command, God teaches us that sometimes we need to be uncomfortable, we need to stand on the hard ground to remember our mission and to hear Hashem’s voice in our lives. It then makes sense that we remove our shoes at Yom Kippur in order to ritually express our spiritual refocusing and at shiva in order to acknowledge both our deep discomfort and our prayer for God to connect with us in the midst of loss and sorrow. Today let's reflect on ways (i.e. getting up early for Shacharit, going out of our way to do Bikkur Cholim, making time to learn Torah in our busy days) in which we can remove the shoes, the locks around our routines, so that we can better connect with God’s call to each of us. (Inspired by Rabbi Dr. Joseph Ozarowski, BCC)
