Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Jews Choose Tattoos

NEWS ITEM: More Jews are wearing tattoos, according to observers of that scene, including artists who specialize in the area and rabbis who have notices an upsurge of branding in their congregations.


A fad’s erupted ’mongst the Jews:
An impetus toward tattoos.
There’s growing preference, it seems,
For body-art with Jewish themes.

Some rabbis, angered, make a fuss.
They point out that Leviticus
Quite pointedly forbids such art
Adorning any body part.

Proponents argue, nonetheless,
That tattoos hype their Jewishness.
Depicted to a high degree
Are scenes from Jewish history.
Few nudes, or their equivalent
Appear on the integument.

A beauteous vessel is the bod,
A gift that comes direct from God
And should not be despoiled by ink —
That’s what the pious people think.

Is tattooing a forward leap?
Or is it something just skin-deep?

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.