Let's consider Leviticus 21:5 from this week's portion, Emor: "They [the male members of the priestly family] shall not shave smooth any part of their heads, or cut the side-growth of their beards, or make gashes in their flesh" (JPS Translation). This verse about priestly differentiation has been understood as part of a constellation of Biblical teachings about the impermissibility of ritual scarification and tattooing within Jewish tradition (cf. especially Lev. 19:28, "...You shall not gash yourselves for the sake of the dead, or incise any marks on your body.") How can we Reform Jews make sense of these teachings today?
As you view this little video, I would also recommend this provocative article from the New York Times of July 17, 2008.
L'Shalom,
Rabbi Jonathan Blake
CORRECTION: Please note in the video that I intended to reference Leviticus Chapter 21, verse 5 and not verse 6 as stated. I apologize for the error.
I'd add, by the way, that we should remember that a person who has been tattooed in a concentration camp, by the Nazis, is of course exempt from any Jewish condemnation of tattooing. This is because the person took on the tattoo against his/her will, under duress, and is therefore not at all culpable within Jewish tradition.
ReplyDeleteIf someone has a tattoo, and then subsequently has it removed, does that still go against Jewish tradition? I am assuming that this would certainly be the case for a Kohanim.
ReplyDeleteDon, I am neither a rabbi nor an expert in tattoos. But, here's my reasoning.
ReplyDeleteA Kohen has a direct prohibition against making cuts in his flesh (Lev.21:5). If you take this literally, this would seem to preclude tattoos. If you interpret the making of cuts in flesh as a prohibited mourning ritual, commonplace in the ancient Near East, then the tattoo would presumably only be problematic if it were made in memory of a deceased.
If we return to Kedoshim (Lev.19:28), we find instructions for all children of Israel--whether priest or peon--to not make cuts in one's flesh for a person (who died) AND to not etch a tattoo onto one's self, presumably regardless of how the tattoo is produced.
So, my read on tattoos is that they are forbidden for all Jews, including Kohanim.
BUT, the process of removing tattoos has advanced since olden times. As I understand it, in the past, people used surgery to remove tattoos. It would seem to me that cutting one's flesh to remove the tattoo created by cutting one's flesh would be tantamount to doubly sinning. However, today, there are colored laser treatments to remove tattoos by zapping and breaking up the ink in the tattoo. It is my understanding that no cutting of the flesh is required with this new technology. If this is true, this removal of a tattoo would not cause further cutting of one's flesh and therefore should be perfectly acceptable.
I have a different question. How do we know that these prohibitions against the cutting of one's flesh and, in particular, the etching of tattoos on oneself (from last week's parasha Lev.19:28), apply to women? Some commandments seem to apply only to men; e.g., the immediately preceding Lev.19:27. Why are we to implicitly assume that the tattoo prohibition applies to women as well? If women are excluded from the negative commandment, I'll bet a sizable percentage of questions of rabbis on this subject are eliminated.
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