shabbat 141

taking care of shoes
& the perils of wearing new shoes, broken shoes or ill-fitting shoes on shabbat

(this page discusses various aspects connected with shoes. how to clean shoes on shabbat, and not wearing inappropriate shoes that may break, fall off or just be uncomfortable, and would cause the wearer to take them off and carry them. women's shoes are identified as women are particular in wear correctly fitting shoes. Included on this page is advice about applying oil to new shoes to soften the leather. Having recently purchased a pair of doc martens, I appreciated the advice on websites dedicated to how to break in DM's, apply baby-oil. for english translation of this talmud page, see here)

shabbat 112

the angelic man who understands the purity of shoes.

(this page discusses the prohibition of tying and untying knots and if they apply to shoes. or just the type of knot that a professional shoemaker would use in the actual making of the shoe, that is not designed to be undone by an ordinary person. so, a drawing of a maolo blahnick shoe with a knot as an integral part of the design. When discussing sandals, there is a debate about different types of broken straps on a sandal, if they make it an unusable object, and therefore cannot become ritually impure and is therefore considered pure. Hizkiya is so impressed with his student, R. Yochanan's reasoning that he considers him like an angel, or the ideal man. for english translation of this talmud page, see here)