Su nimer. pleasures From the YOSEF ABRAMOWITZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS Meth Israeli swimwear manufacturers transform the business and the body. Ethnic prints and bold colors are part of designer Gideon Oberson's swimwear . collection. SI ometimes a bikini is just a bikini, Freud would say. But in the case of Israeli swim fashions, the bikini has become a symbol of something greater, more enduring and surprisingly metaphysical. Some- thing, believe it or not, uniquely Jewish. This greater dimension of Israeli swimwear can be seen not in the provocative curve of a Sports Illustrated model, but in the collective statement that is made by a small, young country making its mark on the world one self- conscious bather at a time. "Israelis understand how a bathing suit should look," says Gideon Oberson, a top designer who this year sold $10 million in beach wear worldwide on the label bear- ing his name. "We understand how it should look not only in the department store, but on the beach and in the water. This is our way of life. We have more beaches than land." Oberson is one of Israel's largest swimwear manufac- turers, second only to the leg- endary Gottex and its $60 million in international sales. "Israel is naturally a coun- try of seaside, sunshine and swimwear," says Yehudit Gottfried of Gottex in Tel Aviv, trying to explain the great success of Israeli swim- — Theodor Herzl 1902 suits. Don't believe it for a sec- ond. If geography was the determining factor in designing swim- suits, then Jamaica, Surinam and Hawaii would be leading the pack. What's caused the international sensation about Israeli swim fashions is the daring styles, the innovative prints, the com- fortable fit. And, most importantly, the hidden theology. Yes, the- ology. It is no surprise that King David first spotted the lovely Bat Sheva when she was working on her tan in Jerusalem. "A good, sound body...is a divine gift," Maimonides wrote in his authorita- tive Guide to the Perplexed. "God created all things in accordance with God's wisdom and what God created cannot possibly be shame- ful or ugly," wrote Nahmanides in Iggeret HaKodesh. "What a marvelous machine it is, the human body" Yosef I. Abramowitz, a journalist, lecturer and consultant, serves as assistant director of The Washington Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values. 26 • SU1VINIER 1995 • STYLE