Edna Nahshon on Jews and Shoes

Edna Nahshon on Jews and Shoes
Edna Nahshon SI/file
Edna Nahshon on Jews and Shoes
Edna Nahshon SI/file

Edna Nahshon on Jews and Shoes

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

Although shoes appear in some of the oldest and most important biblical stories, they are generally regarded as lowly accessories. Edna Nahshon urges us to take a fresh look at the makings and meanings of shoes in Jewish experience. Nahshon’s book Jews and Shoes argues that shoes are worthy of serious inquiry in disciplines as diverse as fashion, visual culture, history, anthropology, theology and even performance.

Dr. Edna Nahshon is associate professor at New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary and senior associate of Oxford University’s Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. She writes extensively on Jews, performance and theater, and is currently working with Professor Michael Shapiro on a collection of Jewish responses to The Merchant of Venice.

Recorded Sunday, June 14, 2009 at Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.