* a man plucked off.
   This custom does not refer to the law about refusing to marry
   a brother's widow, but was usual in the transfer of
   inheritances:  for this relative was not a brother, but simply
   a kinsman; and the shoe was not pulled off by Ruth, but by the
   kinsman himself.  The Targumist, instead of his shoe, renders
   "his right hand glove," it probably being the custom, in his
   time, to give that instead of a shoe.  Jarchi says, "When we
   purchase any thing new, it is customary to give, instead of a
   shoe, a handkerchief or veil."

  De 25:7-10