Shot in a studio with the help of skimpy bikinis, the photos refer playfully to their subjects' religious and cultural background.
By NATHAN BURSTEINheeb bikini(photo credit: Courtesy)
Rosh Hashana is still several months away, but that hasn't stopped a Jewish-American magazine from publishing what it calls the "first-ever Jewish swimsuit calendar."
With the help of five Israeli models and one of their Jewish-American counterparts, self-consciously quirky Heeb magazine has released a calendar for the Jewish year 5769 - in a pull-out photo spread tastefully titled "The Ladies of '69."
Shot in a studio with the help of skimpy bikinis and lots of sand, the photos refer playfully to their subjects' religious and cultural background. The issue's eye-catching cover photo features Israeli Victoria's Secret model Bar Rafaeli looking scandalized in a two-piece amid a decidedly unkosher swarm of lobsters, while the months of Shvat and Adar are accompanied by an image of American model Donna Feldman surrounded by surfboards and a pile of novels written by Philip Roth.
Other models participating in the shoot included Israelis Moran Attias, Adi Neumann and Esti Ginzburg, a four-time covergirl for French Elle who was snapped in a red bikini while holding a fishing rod on which she's snagged - you guessed it - a bagel-ready piece of lox.
The Beersheba-born Neumann, the magazine notes, grew up on a kibbutz and remains, between photo shoots for Gap and Calvin Klein, an "active member" of her synagogue.
The "Ladies of '69" calendar, which also features "eighth-generation Israeli" Neta Bell-Silber, hit American newsstands with the assistance of guest editor Brett Ratner, the director behind the Rush Hour films and the third X-Men movie. "[A]ll this Jewish stuff is really important to me," the filmmaker explains in his opening letter. "Maybe that's why I forced [comedian] Chris Tucker to order gefilte fish in Rush Hour 2."
