Donning Shoes - Women and Children

Q. What is the proper procedure for women and children (who do not wear tefillin) to put on shoes?

A. While all agree that the right shoe should be put on first by both men and women, there is a disagreement among Poskim whether a woman should tie her left shoe first like men or her right shoe. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l (Halichos Shlomo 2:20) writes that women should tie their right shoes before their left. Men tie their left shoe first because of the connection between tying shoes and tying tefillin; since tefillin is tied on the left arm, men show honor to the left side by tying their left shoes first. Since women do not wear tefillin (Rama OC 38:3), the left shoe does not have special significance for women. Thus, the halacha reverts back to the basic rule that we favor the right side over the left. Rav Shamai Gross (Shevet HaKehasi 1:6) disagrees. He writes that since the Torah favors the left for tefillin, we consider the left more primary for all matters relating to tying, even for women who do not personally wear tefillin.

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