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Halachicly, we are enjoined to tie our left shoelace before our right shoelace. (Anyone want to explain the reason and background?) Must we untie our right shoelace first?
Is it not amazing that halacha dictates and micromanages our lives right down to the details of what order to tie our shoelaces? WOW! Baruch Hashem for our Torah HaKedosha!
From what I know it’s: Right shoe on, left shoe on, tie left shoe, tie right shoe. When removing, it’s untie right shoe, untie left shoe, remove left shoe, remove right shoe.
I hope others can expand on my memory, but I understand that putting on/off shoes starting with the right follows the same reasoning as starting all things with the right. Tying the left shoe first has to do with the fact that we put tefillin on the left side. I wonder if a left-handed person who puts tefillin on the right side would also tie the right shoe first.
You untie and take off the left shoe first. The left only gets a Kibbud in regards to tying. For everything else we do the right first and undo the left first. Therefore, we untie and remove our left shoe first (I believe that your question is a Machlokes Haposkim, Nechomah).
Actually, it’s a bit of a Pele that the Shulchan Aruch brings this down. Because of how the Gemara says it, all of the Rishonim (Rif, Rambam, Rosh, and Tur, if I recall correctly) leave out this Halachah. (I think it’s found on Shabbos 60a or 65a; it’s definitely an Amud a in Shabbos around there somewhere). It’s unclear why the Mechaber brought it down when those Rishonim did it. (It’s entirely possible that I’m slightly misremembering and that the Tur brought it down after all the other Rishonim were Doche that Gemara from the Halchah. But it’s still strange that the Shulchan Aruch would bring down a Da’as Yachid in the Rishonim.)
Sam2: For an explanation of the phenomenon of the Mechaber’s kabbalistic entries in the Shulchan Aruch, please read Prof. Y. Ta-Shma’s book “Ha’Nigleh Shebanistar” ( ????? ??????), especially appendix III.
I wear sandals. I don’t tie or untie anything.
According to Tosafos it applies to tying only, therefore on velcro shoes you would close the right one first, or perhaps you would close it before putting on the other one. The Maharal explains it as pertaining to shoes rather than tying per se. According to this it would apply to velcro as well.
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