Monika Lewinski doesn't live here anymore

I was shocked to see some erotic photos of young girls who serve in the Israeli

army posing in bikinis in a men's magazine (yes, it is online but i aint telling!) 

"they can put together an uzi within seconds "

it says beneath the cheesecake poses that seem more suitable for Playboy than for 

a campain sponsered by the spokesman for the I.D.F. 

The aim of the campaign is to make a more favorable impression upon the Jewish 

 population of the United States.

 Israel has a negative image in the eyes of many American Jews, you know, the war

 in Lebanon , battles with the Palestinians, so  showing these gorgeous girls clad only 

in a bikini should display a different facette of Israel, claim the genuises who had

thought up the idea.

  One woman Israeli parliment member was quick to protest this  as plain porn ,

others say, what's the fuss? Israel has other aspects that should be displayed like 

these girls that can be seen on the beaches in Israel, inviting the men of our tribe to come 

and have a look, "Gib a kook " , as they say in Yiddish.

My initial shock turned to see other aspects of this campaign , with so many mixed marriages

amongst American Jews , this would be a good way to show the Jewish men out there 

that the Jewish girls are not all Monika Lewinski, some of them look like James Bond girls,

so give the Jewish girls a chance.

One  saying from the Jewish sources is 

" Kvod bat melech pnima", "The honor of the daughter of a king is inside " , speaking of the 

modesty that a  young Jewish woman must hold on to , dressing modestly too.

During the days  i was a soldier in the Israeli army i confess i used to go to the religious beach,

an area where women and men bathers were segregated because i suffered from the

the men  bothering young girls.

I must admit that 20 odd years later and accompanied by young children and a few kilograms

men bothering me on the beach in Tel Aviv is no longer  a problem ..

Here in the heart of Europe women go topless on the beach by the  lake  in the middle of the city and no one thinks twice of it..

As for me, i still keep to a one piece black bathing suit, keep my upper part covered since i

last breastfed  in public some years ago  as my  tall husband kept me hidden from public eyes

I think nudity is something to be saved for an intimate relationship  or it takes out all the mystery ,

not to mention the ideals of honor, respect, being more than a piece of flesh on display..

I long for the time that my father worked on promoting a positive image of Israel in the states

in the 1970's, he had posters of wildflowers growing in the desert, and tomtatoes 

cultivated in the Negev, and photos of archeological findings

"our past is where our future is" read one of the posters showing young children 

on a kibbutz, 

we didn't have to show clivage back then tits and ass, we could show 

advances in agriculture, one of the most advanced in the world,

a thriving scientific community working on solving world health issues ,

 we were still fighting but we did not go with the image of the Uzi and girls,

people were interested in science and archeology , history, and religion when they came to Israel 

not in watching the pretty girls on the beach..

I hope the people working on presenting a positive image of Israel

will aim towards areas above the belt , 

at the same time though i would  like to add with a wink of my eye the hope that young  Jewish men realize that Israeli women

can be hot!