The Torah explicitly forbids tattooing; coloring the skin permanently. Both puncturing the skin and filling the holes with ink and putting ink on the skin and then injecting it are forbidden. However, one may put colored medication on wounds even if it will cause a permanent discoloring, since the wound will anyway leave a scar making it obvious that it's not a tattoo. Source: KSA 169:1
סעיף א - כתיב בתורה וכתובת קעקע לא תתנו בכם, מהו כתובת קעקע, כתב המחוקה ושקוע שאינו נמחק לעולם, זהו השורט על בשרו וממלא מקום השריטה בכחול או בדיו או בשאר צבעונים הרושמים. וכן אם צובע תחלה בצבע ואחר כך שורט במקום הצבע עובר בלאו, ומכל מקום מותר ליתן אפר ושאר דברים על המכה לרפואה, אף על פי שישאר הרושם כי גם ממכתו ישאר רושם, ומוכיח עליו שלא עשה משום כתובת קעקע.
סעיף ב - כתיב ושרט לנפש לא תתנו בבשרכם, וכתיב לא תתגודדו ולא תשימו קרחה בין עיניכם למת, וגדידה ושריטה אחת הן, ואסורין בין בפני המת בין שלא בפני המת, ואפילו להכות בידו על בשרו עד שדם יוצא אסור, ואפילו על צער אחר אסור.
סעיף ג - קרחה הוא שתולש משער ראשו על מת, ואפילו בשערה אחת איכא איסורא, וגם הנשים מוזהרות בבל יקרחו ומכל שכן בבל ישרטו.
Somebody asked:
ReplyDeleteWhat are the halochic laws pertaining to cosmetic surgery ...eg a nose job?
and branding on the skin?
and piercing ....
I responded:
1. cosmetic surgery ...eg a nose job: The Torah doesn't consider your body to be your property (extreme case: you are not allowed to kill yourself) and therefore you may not mutilate it.
However a person may undergo surgery if they are ill (G-d forbid) or if something bothers them.
So, if a person is REALLY bothered by the shape of their nose, and nose surgery is 100% safe, then it could be allowed.
But if a person plans on undergoing nose surgery every time the fashion magazines decide a different nose is in fashion, then it would be frowned upon as needlessly mutilating the body.
Of course if the non-essential surgery is not 100% safe (say, 0.1% of people risk major post-surgery complications) then it would be forbidden.
2. Branding on the skin: That sounds like tattooing which is a Torah prohibition.
3. Piercing: If it's done by a professional with sterile equipment then it's allowed. Ear rings and nose rings are mentioned in the Torah. :-)
Hope this helps,
- Danny
The person replied:
yeah ...thanks danny ...always the answers I don't want ...
I know a Jewish lady, who had eyebrows tatooed on her nonexistant eyebrows ... (from years of plucking ...a girly thing) ....is what she did halochically incorrect? and what happens ... now ....
I responded:
:-)
That's why I didn't become a Rabbi; I hate disappointing people.
Even tattooing eyebrows is forbidden, but it's a one-time offense for which one does Teshuva on Yom Kipour and then one gets on with life and tries to be a better person.
- Danny
Somebody asked:
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the halachos of the day ...whilst I'm not religious ..I love learning about Judaism ... thanks for all the hard work effort and dedication ....
just a question ...
what are the halachic views on tatoos? I would love to get one of my sons Hebrew name (the same as my late fathers) but i know it's frowned upon ...why and is a temporary tatoo also halachicaly incorrect?
I responded:
Thanks for your kind words - it's the feedback that keeps me going.
Regarding tattoos, I wrote in Halocho #45 - Tattoos :
The Torah explicitly forbids tattooing; coloring the skin permanently.
Both puncturing the skin and filling the holes with ink and putting ink on the skin and then injecting it are forbidden.
However, one may put colored medication on wounds even if it will cause a permanent discoloring, since the wound will anyway leave a scar making it obvious that it's not a tattoo.
Source: Kitzur Shulchan Oruch 169:1
Temporary tattoos are not forbidden, if they can be removed easily by a layman.
However there are 2 issues to take into considerations:
1. "Causing other people to sin": Some people may assume that it's permanent, and if Sharni Ilana's cute little kid has one then I want one too - and they may not realize it's a temporary one.
2. Since the holocaust (where inmates were tattooed like branded animals) many Jews are repulsed by the mere thought of a tattoo. People may consider a tattoo to be in bad taste.
Hope this helps,
- Danny
Somebody asked:
ReplyDeleteCan you be buried in a Jewish cemetary if you have a tatoo?
and what if you get a tatoo and become religous how does Jewish law look at his person?
I responded:
Only wicked people are not buried inside the Jewish cemetery; they get buried on the edge away from everybody else.
"Wicked" refers to a person who goes out of his way to go against the Torah and who tries to get others to follow in his bad ways.
Getting a tattoo is a sin no worse than eating a piece of pork, (except that it leaves a visible physical mark besides for the blemish to the soul).
If you get a tattoo and become religious:
- Jewish law considers you a fully fledged religious person. Getting a tattoo is a one-time offense and there's no need to remove it. (Proof: holocaust survivors kept their camp numbers. There's no sin to "carry" a tattoo, the sin is getting it put on.)
- Depending how visible it is, a Rabbi would need to be consulted about getting it removed. (Getting it removed may be a problem in itself.)
Hope this Helps,
- Danny from Jerusalem :-)
He replied:
I guess if you would remove the tatoo it would leave a scare and that in itself would be marking the body? am I on the right track?
Wwhen you say wicked... would you classify a no religous Jew who didn't go out of his way to not obey the torah but did not practise all laws and didn't not always keep the shabbat as wicked?
I responded:
You're right on track - removing a tattoo entails harming your body for no real reason.
The term Wicked is reserved for those who go out of their way to not keep the Mitzvot.
E.g. a person who goes out of his way to eat pork even if there's kosher meat on the table. That's a wicked person.
A person who eats pork to see what it tastes like or becasue he's hungry and there's no other food around will have to explain himself in the Heavenly Court, but he isn't wicked.
In your exemple you're describing a person who is either not-interested and/or a "victim" of his education/friends.
He's not wicked, though in the Heavenly Court after he dies he will need to explain why he didn't upgrade to being full-time religious.
But the religious wil lhave to explain why they were not more religious and why they did not set a better example.
We all have our own battles.