When God speaks to Moses (Exodus 3:5) from the burning bush he says: Don’t come that close, (first) remove your shoes from your feet, because the place you are standing on is holy.
The shoes are an external dressing element that we put on our feet, to protects them from hot weather or warm weather, from stones, or from thorns. when we put shoes on we go out to the world, when the conditions are often very rough, so we use shoes to grant us protection.
But when we return home, from school or from work, from parties, or from sports we take off our shoes, because home is a safe place for us. In this manner, God speaks to Moses and tell him, “Remove your shoes from your feet, because the place you are standing on, which is the space between you (Moses) and me (God) is safe, you don’t need to protect yourself any longer, because this mental space between us is inner, and this is why it’s holy.
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Shoes – נעליים – Na’a’la’yim
To hear how to pronounce the word shoes in Hebrew click here
