Beth Shalom - Yom Kippur, Shoes & Joseph

Mark, on the tenth of this seventh month, it is the Day of Atonement;
a proclamation of holiness shall there be for you. You are to afflict your selves,
and you are to bring-near a fire-offering to God.

On Yom Kippur, the day on which there is a mitzva by Torah law to afflict oneself, it is prohibited to engage in eating and in drinking, and in bathing, and in smearing oil on one’s body, and in wearing shoes, and in conjugal relations

(5) And [God] said, “Do not come closer! Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground!”

One should not pray …barefoot - if it is the custom of the people of that place to stand before their most respected people with shoes.

Upon putting on his shoes, one should recite: Blessed…Who has provided me with all I need, as shoes are a basic necessity.

…They sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who brought Joseph to Egypt.

(6) Thus said GOD: for three transgressions of Israel, for four, I will not revoke the decree; because they have sold for silver those whose cause was just, and the needy for a pair of sandals.

(11) (The brethren) sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and each one of them took two pieces of silver (apiece) to purchase shoes for their feet, as it is said, "Thus saith the Lord,… Because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes" (Amos 2:6)

(15) And the sons of Jacob slaughtered a kid, and dipped the coat of Joseph in the blood, and sent it to Jacob their father, on the tenth of the seventh month.

(23) Therefore it is decreed for the children of Israel that they mourn on the tenth of the seventh month--on the day that the news which made him weep for Joseph came to Jacob, his father

(24) --that they should make atonement for themselves thereon with a young goat on the tenth of the seventh month, once a year, for their sins; for they had had caused the affection of their father to grieve for Joseph, his son.

(25) And this day is decreed so that they might mourn on it for their sins, and for all their transgressions and for all their errors, in order to purify themselves on this day, once a year.

Once [the Caesar] was sitting and studying Torah and he found written “If a person kidnaps another person” (Exod 21:16)... He then sent for Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and his friends and said to them: “A person who kidnaps a Jew and goes and sells him, what is his punishment?” They said to him: “He must die.” He said to them: “If so, you are all required to die; accept upon yourself heaven’s judgment.” They said to him: “Why?” He said to them: “Because of Joseph’s brothers who sold Joseph, as it is written (Gen 37:28), ‘And they sold Joseph,’ and it is written (Amos 2:6) ‘for they sold the righteous one for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.’” Therefore, that wicked one plastered the Temple with shoes so that they would recognize in exchange for what they sold Joseph, as it says “for a pair of shoes,” i.e., for the price of a pair of shoes.

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: The ten martyrs were drawn [to their deaths] only by the sin of selling Joseph. Rabbi Avin said: You must say that ten were punished from every generation, and still, that sin persists.