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We are told that people should put on their clothes from the right - shoes, sleeves, trouser
legs. Does this also apply to left-handed people?
Answer:
The practice that you refer to of “putting on clothing from the right” is from various
sources. First of all, let us look at the source material.
The Talmud presents various views as to the order of putting on ones shoes (Shabbos 61a),
whether the left or the right one should be put on first. The Halachah is codified in
Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 2:4), that one puts the right shoe first and then the left, but
one ties the left shoe up first. One of the major commentators on Shulchan Aruch, the Mogen
Avrohom quotes from the “writings” that one also dresses to the right with the idea in mind
that “everything is included in the right, and from the right come to the left”. The Taz,
another major commentator gives another reason, because we see from the Torah that the right
hand and leg is given precedence in biblical rituals that involved sprinkling. Hence we give
precedence to the right. So why with shoes do we tie up the left first? Without entering into
the complexities of how one understands the previously quoted Gemoro (Shabbos 61a), let’s
just say that it is linked to the view of R’ Yochanon quoted there, who associated the
putting on of shoes with Teffillen, which are “tied” on the left arm, therefore for tying the
shoes up one ties the left one first.
So if one is left-handed does the above order still apply?
The answer is to be found in another major commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, the Shaare
Teshuvah (note 2),who quotes that if one is left-footed or left-handed one then one puts the
right shoe on first and ties up the right shoe first as well. The Mishnah Berurah quotes the
Shaare Teshuvah but only mentions the left-hander, omitting the left-footer, perhaps with
good reason (as tying is linked to Teffillen it is debatable if being a left-footer should
make a difference). So it is only with the order of tying up the shoelaces that being a
left-hander would make any difference, but for general dressing one would continue to give
precedence to the “right”.
Further reading and notes:
See the Talmudical passage and the relevant Tosphos. Tosphos also states there that shoes
without laces, one would definitely put the right one on first because it is only the tying
that is linked to tefillen in accordance with the view of R’ Yochanon.
See also the wording of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Chapter 3.
See the Hagohos of R’ Akiva Eiger on the above passage in Shulchan Aruch where he quotes the
Kabbalistic work, Emek Hamelech of R’ Naphtali Bacharach (pub.Amsterdam 1648, earliest work
on the teachings of R’ Isaac Luria),in which he gives an ingenious reason for linking the
binding of the Tefillen with the tying of the shoelaces, because when Abraham refused to
accept anything from the King of Sodom after he had defeated the other kings in battle, he
said: “I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet” (Gen.14:23), so based on the Gemoro
Chullin 89, Abraham’s descendants were rewarded with two Mitzvos,the thread of the
“techeles” and the “straps of the Teffillen, hence the link between Tefillen and shoes!
The significance as to why the Shaare Teshuvah mentions being left-footed requires further
investigation.
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