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Your Favorite Sandals Are Named After a Hebrew Word

JL;DR SUMMARY Lior Zaltzman's article explores the origins of Teva sandals and their unexpected connection to Hebrew. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Hebrew LanguageNatureIsraeli ProductsPronunciationTeva SandalsTeva NaotMark ThatcherKibbutz Naot MordechaiFootwear HistorySandal Brands

Places mentioned

Israel
"Having grown up in Israel, my parents were enthusiasts of the (unfortunately named for the international market) Nimrod, a brand started by a Galician Jew all the way back in 1920s."
Colorado, United States
"Back in the 1980s, Mark Thatcher was a Colorado river rafting guide who just didnt want to lose his flip-flops to the current."
Kibbutz Naot Mordechai, Northern District, Israel
"It was started in Kibbutz Naot Mordechai in 1942, though the sandals were modernized in the late 1980s to help the company and the kibbutz survive financially."

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Cairo Item ID 85028
Cairo Source ID 33
Retrieved 2026-06-17 05:30:56 UTC
Curated 2026-06-17 08:30:33 UTC