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EIN YAAKOV

Shabbos 60a

Why You Can't Wear Spiked Sandals on Shabbos

Part of Ein Yaakov · 10:24

Covers the halacha against wearing nail-studded sandals on Shabbos (tied to a story of mistaken panic in a cave), and the Rebbe's custom of buttoning right over left.

Audio Transcript
The Prohibition of the Spike‑Sandal on Shabbat

Let me know, is my speaker on, yeah? Wait, yeah, it's 5:48. Yeah, סנדל המסומר. We're holding here. סנדל המסומר, it says in the Mishnah that you're not allowed to wear on Shabbos a סנדל המסומר. You're not allowed to go out with a סנדל המסומר. A סנדל המסומר is that used to be a kind of sandal or a kind of shoe that had spikes, they're called spikes. Yeah, that's what it's called, spikes. In other words, with nails, so you can't go out with it on Shabbos. מאי טעמא? What's the reason? What's wrong with it? It's a shoe that you wear. אמר שמואל, so Shmuel said like this: שלפי הגזירה היו, there were people who were who were running away from the גזירה that the government made, והיו נחבאין במערות, and they would hide in caves. The government made against Yiddishkeit, and they would, against Yidden, and they were hiding in the caves. ואמרו, and they said, הנכנס יכנס, whoever wants to come in is able to come in, והיוצא אל יצא, whoever wants to go out can't go out. And the reason was very pashut: they were afraid they would be caught by the, whoever it was, Romans or whoever the goyim were. So, when you come in, you could check to see there's nobody around and nobody's watching you, and you could khap arein, you could come in. Going out, you don't know who's around. So, they said no one is allowed to go out. If you want to come, anybody wants to come in has the right to be able to come in if you make sure. Huh? I guess they had special times when you can go out, but normally you can't. What happened? נהפך סנדלו של אחד מהם. You could put on the sandal up, not upside, backwards. So, the guy put it on backwards. When you put it on back and they looked at the footprints, it looked like somebody was going out. That someone's going out. Going in, no, someone was going in, but it looked like someone went out. They saw footsteps, and it looked with the shoes it was going that way, as if he's going out, and they didn't want anyone to go out. So, when they heard, when they real-, they thought that somebody went out, they got very scared, because if they went out, somebody may have caught them. כסבורים הם, so they thought, אחד מהם יצא, that one guy, person, went out, וראוהו אויבים, and obviously if they went out, the, the enemy saw them, ועכשיו באים עליהם, so now if the enemy saw them, they're going to come and and and kill them all. So, they started panicking. דחקו זה בזה, so they started squetching each other, והרגו זה את זה, they killed each other יתר ממה שהרגו בהם אויבים, more than the goyim killed them, with these spikes. These are very dangerous, but if normally you don't hurt anybody, but if you're starting to squetch, starting to push, so they killed each other. Yidden. Yidden who are running away from the government and hiding, and they made these rules. And here they were afraid that they were caught, and they started pushing, u'meila they killed. So, meila Chachamim said don't wear it. The Chachamim. No, the guy made a mistake, but

Alternate Versions: Caves, Study Hall, and Panic

ר' אלעאי בר אלעזר אומר, a different little a different version, the same story, במערה היו יושבין, they were sitting in the cave, the same idea, ושמעו קול מעל גבי המערה, they heard up as noises on top of the cave, כסבורים היו, so they thought, שבאו עליהם אויבים, that enemies are there, so they started דחקו זה בזה, they started squetching and pushing each other, והרגו זה את זה, and they killed each other יתר ממה שהרגו בהם אויבים, more than the enemies killed. That's another version of the story. רב אחא בר יעקב אמר, a different story, בבית המדרש היו יושבין, it wasn't in a cave, they were all sitting in the בית מדרש, ושמעו קול מאחורי בית המדרש, and they heard if there's noises outside the בית מדרש, כסבורים היו שבאו עליהם אויבים, they thought also that גוים, enemies are coming to attack them, דחקו זה בזה, they pushed each other, והרגו זה את זה, and they killed each other יתר ממה שהרגו בהם אויבים, more than the enemies. Huh? Try, try to get out, going in a corner, trying to push, they're trying, I guess try to hide, so you won't, you know, they start pan-, the bottom line is they're panicking, they don't know what they're doing. Panicking and they started pushing. באותה שעה אמרו, so then they said, אל יצא אדם בסנדל המסומר, that you couldn't walk out with this shoe. The question is, ביום החול נמי ניסר? If the only reason is because of this, what's it got to with Shabbos? It has nothing to do with carrying, nothing to do with Shabbos. The answer is, מעשה כי הוה בשבת הוה, it happened on Shabbos. So, this was an indication מן השמים that they should make such an issur. Doesn't say, I don't know, they were so nervous. Yeah, the goyim made gezirot, no? The Romans, I don't know. Yeah, by mistake, yeah. No, but this is not that. That, some people, rachmana litzlan, they did it b'chavana. This is not b'chavana, this is by, you know, by pushing. There, people they knew what they were doing. They wanted to to save, to protect all the other Yidden, so they did this, but here they didn't do b'chavana. No, that's if it has to do it, but if it doesn't have to, אינו מתכוין. It's not a pesik reisha. תנו רבנן, the Rabbanan have learned: כשהוא נועל, wait, but so did so did the סנדל המסומר was on top it made a noise on top of the cave and it made a noise behind it behind the base? No, it didn't make any noise. The מנעל המסומר סנדל המסומר didn't make any noise. What did the סנדל המסומר do? It made Killed people. And the סנדל המסומר trapped them, right, and they started pushing, and they had these spikes there, so they started stinging, and that killed them. It's where it killed them. תנו רבנן, the Rabbanan have learned: כשהוא נועל, when you tie your shoe, when you put them on, you tie it, נועל, so it means you tie first you put on the first I mean, you put on, not to tie, when you put on, you put on your, we're talking about shoes now, you put on your right one first, ואחר כך נועל של שמאל, then you put on the left one. כשהוא חולץ, when you take off, חולץ של שמאל ואחר כך חולץ של ימין. You take off the first the left and then the right. So, everything right goes first. See, he doesn't mention about tying, tying, not Huh? You take off the left? Take off, cuz that's taking off. No, every good thing you put on the right. ומילא to take off, we leave the right on as long as possible. So, take off the left first. כשהוא רוחץ, when you wash yourself, רוחץ של ימין, first you wash the right side, ואחר כך של שמאל and the left side. כשהוא סך, when you smear yourself, סך של ימין ואחר כך של שמאל, then you do first right and then left. הרי שבא לסוך כל גופו, if someone in fact wanted to do it all body, סך ראשו תחלה, first you do your head, מפני שהוא מלך על כל אברים, that's the king of all the parts of the body. There's a they say that Shabtai Tzvi, the the first feeling that they had something was wrong was when he put on his shoes and put it the wrong way right away. That's when people started to say, \"What's going on here?\" What do you mean the wrong way? He put on the left first? Yeah. How's that possible? He didn't know the basic He was a big gaon, so obviously he did it b'kavanah. He claimed that if he He ate chalavim, I mean he made he made a berachah. ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם מתיר אסורים. Matir issurim. Why why what's the why would he And he said the Shem Havayah, the complete Shem Havayah, cuz he said he's Mashiach, no, so he said you know these crazy things. Matir issurim. They say someone came matir issurim? But yeah, matir issurim. Someone once came to the Satmar Rebbe, they say. He said, \"His son has a choice: or to go to college and become a doctor, or go to YU and become a rabbi.\" He said, \"Better better be a chalav eater than a matir issurim.\" Satmar Rebbe, better. Yeah. Yeah, so everything is the right first, that's why we button right on left, cuz it's יתגבר חסד על גבורה, יתגבר ימין על שמאל. And even those people that have only Yes. No, those people have only one, not not double-breasted. Or a shirt. A shirt, no, it's talking the outer garment. So the so what you should do is, I remember, my brother when he was, I think, under bar mitzvah yet, he went in with my father to yechidut. He came from Cleveland, went in. And he he was not even bar mitzvah, he had a jacket and he buttoned regular way. So, when he went in yechidut, the the Rebbe turned around and he says, \"וואס פארשפילסטו נישט אזוי ווי דיין טאטע? Why don't you button it like your father, the right on left?\" He says to him, \"קומען אהיים, He was a kid, \"זאלסט זאגן דער מאמען, זאל זי צונייען א קנעפל אויף יענעם זייט. Tell her that she make a button on the other side, so mimela you'll be able to this way.\" And then I remember, by dollars once, a ma'aseh, there was a man from Boro Park, a Lubavitcher. He had a problem, parnasah he didn't have, so he went to dollars to get a berachah. So, as he went He went to who? to the Rebbe by dollars. He picked up dollars to get a berachah. So, when he went by, I saw the video. I saw it, the one. So, he went by, he the Rebbe gave him, like always, he gave him berachah v'hatzlachah. He didn't even get a chance to say anything. The Rebbe says to him, \"Buttoning right on left, it's a סגולה פאר פרנסה.\" Cuz he is uh he's Lubavitcher, get a jacket. Something that was Yeah, Jewish. The Rebbe was very much makpid on this. Avadeh. The

Buttoning Right‑to‑Left: The Rebbe’s Custom and Its Meaning

Rebbe was very much makpid to button right on left, not left on right. The women button that way normally. In the world, the women button that way, not men. Not carrying not carrying on the, crossing the broad No, let them take it off and let them change. But just on your outer jacket. Just on, or your coat. Or your coat. Your coat or your jacket, not the shirt. The Satmar have on the shirts also. Satmar have a חסידישע, they call it a חסידישע shirt. חסידישע גאטקעס חסידישע shirt, so they have, so then they button the other way, even the shirts. But it doesn't it says, \"the outer בגד.\" So, this is a outer בגד, coat, and you always hang the right on left. Also says to turn to the right, anything you have to turn, turn to the right. Turn to the right. That's why I had a question by hagbahah. That's, that's called to the right. The way we do it, it's called, that's we, because we go to the left. Because you go to the right. Because you go, but you go to the left. You go to the right the long way. Turn to the right the long way. Huh? Only בשעת דאווענען? Because when you're buttoning it over... No, no, no, no. Button, button it, yeah, you have to have... So you walk around... Walk, if it's open, it's open, it's nothing. Like when you button it, whenever you button it, you should button...

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