The ceremony of removing the shoe reaches its dramatic conclusion with a public declaration that permanently alters the social standing and identity of a man who refuses to marry his deceased brother's widow. This final act serves simultaneously as a social penalty, a legal release, and a process of healing.
By refusing to preserve his dead brother's legacy, the man faces a public renaming that acts as a mark of disgrace [ביאור יש״ר]. His own personal name is essentially erased from public record, and his family is forever associated with this shameful event [שד״ל]. The passive nature of the ritual, where the shoe is taken off his foot, indicates a lack of action that excludes him from the ranks of those who revere God [העמק דבר]. This public shaming is intentional; it is designed to embarrass the brother in order to appease and comfort the grieving, offended widow [פענח רזא, בכור שור]. However, the ceremony takes on a different tone in situations where the court actually forbids the marriage and orders the shoe removal instead. In such cases, the public declaration is viewed as praise for his obedience to the law, or as an act of spiritual atonement and repair for the soul of the deceased brother, sparing him from punishment [תורה תמימה, ביאור שטיינזלץ].
During the event, it is a commandment for the gathered crowd to loudly call the brother "the one whose shoe was removed." Interestingly, the crowd does not use the full descriptive phrase referring to the household of the one whose shoe was removed. One explanation is that the broader family carries the title of the household, while the brother himself is directly called "the one whose shoe was removed" by the onlookers [ביאור יש״ר]. Alternatively, the very act of the crowd calling him by this new title automatically causes his household to be known by that name [גור אריה]. The mention of his household also carries a specific legal limitation, dictating that the brother can only build or dismantle a single home. If the deceased brother left behind multiple wives, performing either the marriage or the shoe removal ceremony with one of them legally exempts all the others, and the brother is not permitted to perform either act with an additional widow [מזרחי, תורה תמימה, בכור שור, שפתי חכמים].
The requirement that this event be recognized among the nation of Israel has several layers of meaning. Practically, it ensures the ceremony is a public event witnessed by an Israelite assembly [שפתי חכמים]. Legally, it demands that the court overseeing the process be composed entirely of judges with unbroken Israelite lineage, which prevents converts from serving as judges for this specific ritual [תורה תמימה, בכור שור]. Ultimately, it defines the legal outcome of the ceremony: the widow is now entirely free to marry any man in Israel [תורה תמימה].
The ritual specifically requires the removal of a shoe rather than the issuance of a standard divorce document. A regular divorce document is insufficient because it lacks the necessary element of public disgrace meant for a man who refuses to build his brother's family [תורה תמימה]. From another perspective, the shoe represents a formal act of acquisition. Its removal publicly signals that the widow has reclaimed the rights to her own estate, leaving her completely free to marry and pass her property to anyone she chooses [בכור שור].