Shabbat 60: Spiked Sandals and Other Footwear Stories

The rabbis end their conversation regarding rings with and without seals and women's needles without perforations, used to part and then hold their hair.  We learn that rings are considered to be vessels, and that we look to the fundamental purpose of an object to define its status.  We also learn that women are not permitted to comb our hair on Shabbat, nor are garters, used to hold up our pantyhose, subject to ritual impurity.  These 

A new Mishna teaches that a man may not go out on Shabbat with a spiked sandal nor a single sandal unless there is a wound on his foot. He cannot go out with phylacteries, nor with an amulet made by a hobbyist, not with a shiryon, nor with a kasda, nor with maggafayim.  If he does any of these things, he is not liable to bring a sin-offering.

The Gemara first focuses on the spiked sandal.  Shmuel tells the story of one who ran from enemies and were hiding in a cave.  Those hiding said that no-one could leave because they might bring attention to the others.  Once a person was wearing a reversed sandal and they believed that a person had left the cave. Believing that enemies were coming in to attack them they pushed each other and killed each other more than their enemies would have killed.  The law against going out into the public domain on Shabbat is a commemoration of this event.

Rami bar Yechezkel says that the decree was based on a group of people who heard a spiked sandal from behind the synagogue where they sat.  They thought these were enemies and pushed each other so violently that the killed each other in greater numbers than their enemies had done.

Why would the spiked sandal only be prohibited on Shabbat?  Perhaps this incident happened on Shabbat, it is suggested.  What about a Festival?  Didn't we learn on in the same Mishna that one may not send a spiked sandal nor an unsewn shoe on a Festival because using them on a Festival is prohibited?  Thus wearing a spiked sandal on Shabbat is also prohibited.  Perhaps the decree regards times when people will assemble.

Rabbi Chanina ben Akiva notes that decrees applying to specific circumstances are not generalized.  Once, the ashes of the red heifer were coming across the Jordan river.  Ritual impurity was found in the bottom of the boat.  The Sages then tried to prohibit the transport of the ashes of the red heifer over any body of water, bridges, rivers... Instead, the decree was that transport of the ashes of a red heifer in the Jordan River and in a boat was prohibited.  It is noted that Festivals and Shabbat are similar to each other - the Mishna taught that food is the only difference between a Festival and Shabbat.

The remainder of amud (b) is devoted to the construction of sandals.  Which sandal is our Mishna referring to?  Does it have to have a certain number of nails, or have lost a certain number of nails?  We learn that the soles, the design, and the number of nails in sandals differ in different cities.  We learn about the making of spiked sandals, where nails are hammered into the the bottom of the shoe to increase the shoe's durability.

A side note - Steinsaltz shares that one of the reasons behind the prohibition of spiked shoes might have to do with the gentle sensibilities of pregnant women, who might miscarry because of the frightening sight or sound of these shoes.  Miscarriage could be caused by her memories of war aroused by the use of these shoes.  Now those are loud shoes... or incredibly sensitive women!