Oral Law: Jacob

"You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves: I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:28)

Oral Law surrounding this pasuk (building a fence):

1.  When an individual dies, we are meant to honor and remember their lives; inflicting harm upon ourselves in this circumstance is to defile the beauty of life.
2. Marks inflicted on oneself with malicious intent go against the word of God.
3. Marks or piercings used to adorn one's body that are placed with benign intent are acceptable.
4. Love yourself for you were made in the image of God; any self inflicted markings should be a reflection of this love. 

I chose to interpret this verse as an admonishment against self harm. If all people are created in the image of God, b'tzelem elohim, then it is a horrible sin to commit acts of self harm. Theology aside, self harm is a very real problem that exists, and not necessarily for theological reasons. I believe that a person's soul is beautiful and thus, it should be loved, internally and externally, by the person, and by others. When an individual forgets their own beauty they may turn to self harm and having known people who have done this, this reality is horrible. All you want to do is help the people you love by teaching them to love themselves. 

That aside, when marks such as tattoos or piercings are inflicted on the body, willingly that is, I believe it can be an expression of love for oneself and thus a positive thing. It could even make a person's connection to spirituality stronger. I want tattoos for personal reasons that are a reflection of the experiences that I have had, and these tattoos that I have envisioned as beautiful bracelets, are in Hebrew. As a Jew, even a Reform Jew, every time I bring this up, I find myself having to defend it. My parents are against the idea of me having tattoos because in their minds, it's not a very Jewish thing to do. When I told them I wanted them in Hebrew, I could see in their tight lipped responses telling me to think about it, that they thought I was being sacrilegious. My justification for the Hebrew is that Judaism is one of my core values and Jewish events have shaped my entire life. To decorate my body with Hebrew is one of the biggest mitzvot I can do because I love who I am and I love that God, or some higher power, has enabled me to be Jewish.

This is a photo of the Ahavah sculpture at the Israel Museum, where we have visited twice now. אהבה is one of the words that I want tattooed partly because I am basing my tattoos on the principle that they are an expression of love and partly because I want to always be reminded to come from a place of love, meaning that I want to come into every situation open minded and ready to be accepting. The expression of the concept of love, and in Hebrew no less, means an incredible amount to me as a Jew and I would love to wear it as an ornament for myself and for my Judaism.