Baring all

Editorial

In the same week that we were told that Monica Lewinsky would tell all to Barbara Walters on national television, a new book advocating feminine modesty was widely reviewed in the national press. To bare or not to bare - literally and figuratively - became the question.

As Orthodox feminist Blu Greenberg so keenly observed, the young woman who "flirtatiously" flashed her undies at the president, exposed her own lack of character and moral restraint.

In a televised interview, Greenberg suggested that the Lewinsky mess attests to a sad lack of national maturity.

"We have to grow up," she said. "We've got to learn to build in restraints with freedom," coupling freedom with responsibility.

Enter author Wendy Shalit, a 23-year-old Williams College graduate. In her just-published book, "A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Last Virtue," she makes a case for returning to old-fashioned values, when boys courted girls and physical intimacy before marriage was strictly taboo. Shalit argues persuasively for personal modesty, suggesting that restraint is a sign of self-worth.

Greenberg and Shalit may be on to something. Yes, the sordidness characterizing the salacious Monica and Bill affair and the vicious investigation by the special prosecutor point to the impropriety of national moralizing. And yes, the events point to a disturbing lack of national moral character - reaching from the pinnacle of political power to the young status-seekers Lewinsky exemplifies.

What can we do? We can look to our tradition. It is time for our spiritual leaders to unhesitatingly take on the issues of sexuality and morality, fidelity and adultery. Our sacred texts provide moral guideposts; our rabbis, acting as teachers, can help us recover them.

It's time to be as open to thoughtful discussion of sexual responsibility and of the immoral nature of gossip. Baring our souls, we might even grow up.

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