By Rabbi Joshua (presidentially known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
Moshe, upon learning that Pharaoh is after him because he killed an Egyptian taskmaster who was attacking a Jew, flees to the wilderness and saves Yisro's daughters from a group of shepherds who had been attacking them. He then meets Yisro, marries his daughter Tzipporah, and becomes a shepherd himself, tending the flocks of his father-law. Decades later, when Moshe is already eighty years old, he has his first prophetic vision. An angel of God appears to him from within a burning thorn bush, which, although aflame, is not consumed. When God sees that Moshe turned aside to look closer at this vision, he tells him not to proceed, but, first, to take off his shoes, because he is treading on holy ground. What was the purpose of removing his shoes in a holy place? Many explanations have been given, as we shall see, but I would first like to mention a seemingly very strange one, given by Rabbi Ya'akov Moshe Helin, a 17th century rabbinic scholar, in his commentary on the Midrash Rabbah, Yedei Moshe.
When God first speaks to Moshe, He says, " I am the God of your father the God of Avrohom, the God of Yitzchok, and the God of Ya'akov " (Shemos 16:6). The Midrash Rabbah (Shemos 3:1) says that when God told Moshe that he was the God of his father, he was referring to Moshe's father, Amram. Since Moshe was a novice to prophecy, God did not want to frighten him, and so He spoke to Moshe in the voice of his father. Moshe at first thought that his father was speaking to him, but God explained that He was communicating with him using his voice, and that when He referred to himself as 'the God of your father, he meant 'the God of Amram.' Rabbi Helin writes that since there is a principle that God does not mention His name in connection with a tzaddik who is still alive, Moshe understood that his father had died, and that is why he took his shoes off ! When I first saw this comment many years ago, I felt that it could scarcely be taken seriously. Even if we assume that Moshe kept all of the laws of the Torah before they were given, including the rabbinic laws, as the midrash tells us regarding our forefather Avrohom, it seems difficult to explain that God told him to take his shoes off because his father had died. After all, God Himself told Moshe to take his shoes off because he was on holy ground! However, I believe that there is a way of understanding this explanation in a plausible manner, within the context of Moshe's development as the man who would lead his people out of slavery and into redemption.
When God asked Moshe to lead the people out of Egypt, Moshe declined, and presented repeated arguments for not being the person to go on this mission. God answered all of his arguments, until, finally, Moshe said, "send by the hand of whomever you will send" (Shemos 4:13). Rabbi Avraham, son of the Rambam, points out that Moshe, here, does not present any reason for his reluctance to go. Rabbi Avraham suggests, based on a later incident in Moshe's life, that Moshe preferred staying in the wilderness and perfecting himself, enjoying his closeness to God. Rabbi Moshe Lichtenstein, in his book Tzir Vetzohn, writes, in a more expanded way, that although Moshe, earlier in life, had taken an active interest in the well- being of his fellow Israelites, and placed himself into mortal danger by saving one of them from an Egyptian tormenter, he had now been staying with Yisro for many years, working as a shepherd and developing his spirituality and connection with God, just as Yisro had been doing after renouncing his idolatrous beliefs and moving to the wilderness. Seen in this context, we can now examine some of the other explanations given for the need for removing one's shoes while standing on holy ground, and, specifically, why God told Moshe to do so at that time.
Ralbag explains that the reason that God told Moshe to remove his shoes was simply to show reverence to a holy place, and not treat it in the same manner as one treats an ordinary place. Thus, the Talmud, in Berachos (54a), tells us that one should not enter the Temple Mount while wearing shoes. Chizkuni, similarly, says that in the course of walking, a person may step on some filthy object, and it is not fitting to be in a holy place while having such substances attached to his shoes. On a more essential level, my teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveichik, explained that shoes represent adaptability. By wearing shoes, one is able to protect himself from any harmful substances that he may step on, and thus walk securely on any terrain. On a wider level, then, shoes represent man's ability to adapt to any circumstances that may confront him, protecting himself from any situations that he may find uncomfortable. When one is standing on holy ground, or, on a wider level, when he is dealing with matters of holiness, he dare not adapt himself to circumstances and, out of convenience, protect himself from performing his duties.
Rabbi Levi Meier, in his book, Moses: The Prince, the Prophet, writes, gives a somewhat different perspective to the need for Moshe to remove his shoes. He writes, "Shoes protect us from the harshness of the ground, and Moshe was being told to divest himself of anything that might be a barrier between him and the ground upon which he walks. He was to feel the earth beneath him, the pebbles and grains of sand under his feet. This sensitivity would be necessary for him to lead. Since a leader's sensitivity must be fine-tuned to the feelings of the people." With the comments of Rabbi Avraham and Rabbi Lichtenstein in mind, perhaps we can add that Moshe simply needed to feel the pain of his people. The rabbis tell us that the message of the burning bush was that God, represented by the flame, is with His people in their pain. By telling Moshe to remove his shoes, he was telling him, that, he, too, must feel that pain. The cryptic reference to his father's death was a way of moving him to feel a sense of personal loss, and through it, transfer the resultant feeling of pain onto the wider plane of the suffering of his nation. Thus, Moshe's feelings of grief for his father were to serve as a catalyst for him to feel the suffering of his people, and accept the task of leading them put of slavery.
We still need to understand, however, what Moshe's removal of his shoes had to do with the fact that he was stepping on holy ground. Following, again, Rabbi Avraham's explanation of Moshe's reluctance to accept his mission, perhaps we can say that God was telling Moshe not to think that holiness comes through withdrawing into oneself and meditating. Holiness, rather, comes through being involved with the problems of others, and bringing God's presence into their lives. Rabbi Menachem Kasher, in his Torah Shleimah, cites midrashim that point out the connection between the word for bush - 'sneh' - and the word Sinai. Moshe's prophetic vision, they say, took place on Mt. Choreiv, another name for Mt. Sinai, where the Torah would be given to the nation, and where they would be charged to be a ' kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' Rav Kook wrote that the point of forming a holy nation was to demonstrate that a life of holiness is not restricted to people living alone on a mountain, but is something that has relevance to a nation involved in all the various aspects of life. The kohanim in the Temple blessed the people each day with love, following the lead of Aharon, the first high priest, who demonstrated his love for all Jews by acting as the peace maker whenever a dispute would arise. By telling Moshe to remove his shoes in order to feel the nation's pain and thereby be activated to lead them out of Egypt and toward Mt. Sinai, God was offering him a path to holiness more effective than the path of secluded meditation that he wished to continue on.
