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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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Today, 1 in 10 Americans has at least one tattoo, including 9 percent of people ages " fertsik" (40) to 64. Nike employees are tattooing their company logo, the swoosh, on various "guf" (body) parts. And Britney Spears has a new Kabbalah-inspired Hebrew tattoo. Unfortunately, the letters are reversed, making it meaningless. Jacob Novak reminds us that "it is hard to find a tattoo artist who graduated from a decent Hebrew School."
Tattoos for Jews? Leviticus 19:28 states, " You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves. I am the Lord."
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz wrote, "Body piercing is not a new phenomena. The Bible makes reference to noserings and earrings...While pierced ears have long been commonplace, a growing number of people now pierce noses, navels, nipples, tongues, and even genitalia."
And Rabbi Barry H. Block (Temple Beth-El, San Antonio, TX) wrote, "Not only boys with earrings, but multiple body piercings on young people of both sexes, have become quite commonplace. Some parents don't like this phenomenon, but most have decided not to objects too strenuously. If a young person is a good student, a careful driver, and one who avoids alcohol and illegal drugs, parents may well be wise to overlook a few unusual holes in a teenager's body... Ear piercing is not exclusively a contemporary phenomenon. It was known even in Biblical and Talmudic times. In the Torah, a pierced ear is the sign of a slave who has earned freedom but chose to remain enslaved. The Talmud tells of various Jewish artisans who wore earrings to indicate the specific nature of their trades. The Rabbis make no negative comment about those ancient examples of widespread piercing."
In his sermon titled,"Body Piercing, Tatoos and the Image of God," Rabbi Block states that "Judaism prohibits body piercing that interfere with personal hygiene, and can therefore threaten our health. We are not permitted to imperil our good health for the benefit of fashion. Piercing of the genitals is also prohibited, both on hygienic grounds and because of the Jewish value of tzniut, modesty."
Back on Nov. 7, 1943, a letter was sent by Morris D. Coppersmith from Tutuila, So. Pacific, to his parents. It said,
Dear Folks: It seems to be an old custom of the island to be tattooed. They begin when they are at the age of twelve years. The tattooing process takes from six to nine months depending on their strength. I understand that they tattoo in almost solid mass, from the waistline to just below the knee. It is supposed to be a very painful process and serves to indicate that the boy has come into manhood and the girl into womanhood. Many bleed to death during the time of the tattooing. Others become infected and are crippled for life. The custom is not as prevalent today as formerly, but is still carried on to quite an extent. The church and hospitals have done much to eliminate the custom and gradually it will be stamped out. (Source: "When Victory Is Ours: Letters Home from the South Pacific 1943 - 1945" by Morris D. Coppersmith, Edited by Galia Berry, 1996)
Looking at the "komish" (funny) side of this topic, let's see what "anderer" (other) people have to say about tattooing:
Woody Allen (The New Yorker, Nov. 21, 2005) [He writes about driving along the road to Amarillo, Texas] "The driver had a tattoo on his right forearm that read, 'PEACE, LOVE, DECENCY.' When he rolled up his left sleeve, another tattoo appeared: 'PRINTING ERROR-- DISREGARD MY RIGHT-FOREARM.'"
Gay Talese "Tattoo artists, a durable breed of craftsmen whose interests in mankind may be only skin deep, but whose impressions usually last a lifetime."
Martha Bolton ("Didn't My Skin Used To Fit?") "Body piercing used to be something you only saw in National Geographic or when you accidentally pierced yourself patting on a new shirt before taking out all the straight pins. Now I don't get it. I had two amniocenteses done while pregnant with my 1st child, and that was all the body piercing I needed for a lifetime."
Gene Sacks (actor, B'way musical director) "Some of us [Jews] shorten our names or our noses or both. Others go further. They get tattooed and buy a pickup truck with a rottweiler in the back and hang out at the nearest 7-Eleven." (Source: "Matzo Balls for Breakfast and Other Memories of Growing up Jewish" by Alan King and Friends")
Greg Crosby (in a column for Jewish World Review titled, "Be Thankful") "If you are a parent of a teenager that doesn't have metal in his face or tattoos on her body, be thankful."
Shoebox Greeting Card, "Tattoo: Things you don't want to hear while getting a tattoo:"
"Eagle? I thought you said Beagle."
"There are 2 O's in Bob, right?"
"Anything else you want to say? You've got plenty of room back there."
"Oops! Oy gevalt. the flag's all done and, you know, the folds of fat make a nice waving effect."
Numerous Jewish comedians: "Do you realize that in about 2045 we'll have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos?"
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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe has informed her three sons to follow the advice of Billy Bob Thornton (actor/writer/musician): "Never get a tattoo with somebody's name on it unless you're ready to get another one put over it." (Source: Esquire, July 2005)
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