Sefer Devarim
Parshat Ki Tavo: On the Right to Clothes and Shoes
In Parshat Ki Tavo, which means “when you enter,” Moshe speaks to the Israelites, encouraging them to act according to the will of God upon entering the Promised Land. In an effort to impart to them a sense of gratitude to God, he reminds them of the miracles of the Exodus and their victories in battle.
But, right along with events as grand as the parting of the Red Sea, Moshe’s speech mentions some much subtler miracles. Deuteronomy chapter 29 tells us:
I led you through the wilderness forty years; the clothes on your back did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. You had no bread to eat and no wine or other intoxicant to drink—that you might know that I am the Lord your God. 1
This last part is a little bit strange. Why should we be grateful to God that we had no bread or wine in the desert? The medieval scholar Ramban (Nachmanides) explains that the miracle is that we didn’t eat merely normal bread and drink normal wine; we received manna from heaven. In doing so, Ramban says, we learned that the Eternal is our God, who kept us alive miraculously. 2
We learned that just as God’s love can be shown through giant displays of power, it is also expressed in the providing of basic needs. And this is a form of love that we are obligated to pass on to one another.
On the verse “This is my God and I shall glorify him,” 3 The Talmud expounds:
It was taught: “This is my God and I will glorify Him”: Beautify yourself before Him in mitzvot. Make before Him a beautiful sukkah, a beautiful lulav, a beautiful shofar, beautiful tzitzit, a beautiful Torah scroll, and write in it in His name in beautiful ink, with a beautiful quill by an expert scribe, and wrap the scroll in beautiful silk fabric.
Abba Shaul says: Be similar to Him. Just as He is compassionate and merciful, so too should you be compassionate and merciful. 4
The above statement of the sage Abba Shaul is teaching us something profound: We glorify God, we bring honor to God, by emulating God’s ways. If God provides for those in need, then so must we.
The Book of Isaiah, in a passage that is part of the haftarah on Yom Kippur morning, tells us:
No, this is the fast I desire: to unlock fetters of wickedness and untie the cords of the yoke; to let the oppressed go free, to break off every yoke. It is to share your bread with the hungry and to take the wretched poor into your home; when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to ignore your own kin. 5
Just as, in Deuteronomy, the freedom of the Exodus and the simple clothing and sustenance given in the desert are mentioned in virtually the same breath, so too, providing liberation, food, and clothing are things that God desires us to provide others in our time.
The sequence of events that Moses recounts in our parshah—the reminder of the wonders of the Exodus followed by the basic needs in the desert—might feel familiar, as it looks very similar to a verse of “Dayenu,” in the Passover Haggadah:
If God had pushed down our enemies in [the Sea] and had not supplied our needs in the wilderness for forty years, Dayenu (it would have been enough for us). 6
The 20th-century Lithuanian commentary Barukh She’amar asks:
What exactly are “the needs” to which the Haggadah is referring in this statement? One of the blessings in the early morning service is, “Praised are You… who has provided me with all my needs.” We recite this blessing when putting on our shoes… “Providing us with all our needs” [when also mentioned in “Dayenu”] must refer to shoes there as well. Shoes are the most important item of clothing we wear because they protect our health and [allow us] to maintain our self-respect… Shoes can, therefore, be seen as the most essential piece of clothing that one can have… Shoes represent “all our needs.” Since the Israelites’ shoes miraculously did not wear out in the wilderness, we see that God provided the children of Israel with their most essential needs! 7
It is not-so-surprisingly easy for us, millennia after the Exodus, to forget the miracles that God performed on our behalf. That is why we have to retell the story every year. But one merely needs to look down upon their feet to remember the ongoing miracles in our everyday lives.
According to the anti-poverty organization The Borgen Project:
Across the world, around 300 million people cannot afford shoes. Shoes are often part of a school or work uniform, so without shoes, children and adults have a harder time getting an education or contributing to the household income. In addition, going barefoot presents a number of hazards, from burns and injury to catching an illness or fungus. 8
The same group recommends three organizations to help solve this problem: The Shoe Project, Souls4Soles, and The Shoe That Grows, the last of which produces shoes that are size-adjustable so that children can wear them for much longer without growing out of them. 9
We must treat shoes, as God does in the Torah, as a great equalizer of the people. In most societies, the rich have fancy shoes, and the poor have old, torn shoes or no shoes at all. By providing this simple need to those who can’t afford it, we can make a massive difference in the quality of their lives. In giving people footwear, we can help to break down the power dynamics, putting people on a more level playing field and building a compassionate community.
The miracles of the plagues and the Red Sea were most unusual, but they’re not events that we can really replicate. The gift of ensuring that others around us always have shoes on their feet, however, is something we can emulate. We must provide all individuals with access to this most basic need.
Sources
- Deuteronomy 24:5
- Ramban on Deuteronomy 29:5
- Exodus 15:2
- Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 133b
- Isaiah 58:6-7
- Pesach Haggadah, Magid Press, Dayenu
- Barukh She’amar on the Haggadah, Magid Press, Dayenu 10 (as found in Sefaria on Deuteronomy 29:5)
- The Borgen Project: Three Organizations That Help People Without Shoes (2017)
- Ibid.