Feet in the Rabbinic Imagination and the Prohibition against Wearing Shoes on Yom Kippur

Abstract

A feminist analysis of Bavli Yoma draws our attention to one of the ways the rabbis reflect on their relationship with the priesthood, which is through the lens of the physical body. The Temple procedure detailed in the first seven chapters of the tractate, focused as it is on the priest's body, is entirely different from the bodily self-denial discussed in the eighth chapter, where eating, washing, anointing, sandal wearing, and sexual relations are prohibited. Continuities between the observance of Yom Kippur in the Temple and the prohibitions that define the rabbinic Yom Kippur are surprisingly lacking, given the extent to which the rabbis controlled both the Temple accounts in Yoma and the discussions about Yom Kippur in the eighth chapter of this tractate. Focusing on references to feet, a part of both the Temple rite and the rabbinic observance of Yom Kippur, this article will present one perspective on how the Bavli offers insight into the rabbinic departure from the Temple Yom Kippur.