How should a Jew dress? Admittedly, the question seems trivial. But throughout history, Jews have struggled to define and express their identity through clothing. For centuries, the Torah and rabbis dressed Jews to fulfill the Law-while Church and State, seeing Jews as divine outcasts, imposed derisive dress codes. Then, on the eve of modernity, Europe switched suit: Jews were now required to dress like ordinary citizens, not distinctive Jews. Today, Jews remain caught between the warp of assimilation and the waft of ethnicity-between dressing Jewish, and dressing like ordinary citizens. This lively, often fun talk will include many photos that illustrate the history of Jewish clothing, focusing on recent, humorous, and often ribald yarmulkes and especially t-shirts-the clothing your mother warned you about!
Eric Silverman, our speaker for the evening, is a cultural anthropologist and professor at Wheelock College, Boston, who just completed a book on the history of Jewish clothing. He received his B.A. at Brandeis University and his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. Eric divides his research and writings between a modernizing community in Papua New Guinea and contemporary American Judaism. He has published two previous books: From Abraham to America: A History of Jewish Circumcision (2006, Rowman& Littlefield) and Masculinity, Motherhood, and Mockery: Psychoanalyzing Culture and the Iatmul Rite (2001, University of Michigan Press)
