Page 16 - Ulpan Or E-Tone (27.02.18) Advanced Level

E-Tone™: Ulpan-Or Weekly News Digest

Item #3 (Advanced Level)

What Shoes do (they) Wear in Israel?

A moshav girl from Jezreel Valley, a hi-tech worker from Rehovot, a

south-Hebron settler and a teenaged girl from Herzliya. They all wake up

in the morning and wear Australian work boots. These shoes have become
so identified with Israelis, that it might be the easiest way to identify us

abroad. How did they get here? And how did they become so popular in

Israel? Our story begins with Queen Victoria and her love for comfortable
shoes. In the middle of the nineteenth century boots were the most popular

kind of shoe in rainy England for men and women of all classes of society.

(They) would tighten the boots on the foot with laces or buttons, and this
awkwardness lead London cobbler Joseph Sparks Hall to try and create a

new boot that would be quick and easy to wear. He created a version for

women and for men, and since he knew something about marketing as
well – he immediately gave a pair to the young Queen Victoria, and they

very quickly became a hit throughout the kingdom. All of this grand

Anglo-Saxon history skipped the land of Israel, until the nineties. The shoe
that began as a practical work boot, slowly gained popularity and became

fashionable, mostly in winter. The big leap arrived in two thousand

thirteen. Israel became an Australian work boot super power. After
Australia and Canada, Israel sells the most of these shoes, and in sales per-

capita Israel is well ahead.

Page 16 - Edition 02-27-18
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