-Liz Polay-Wettengel
Liz Polay-Wettengel is the manager of Internet initiatives for Combined Jewish Philanthropies in Boston. Liz manages the blog Eat, Drink, and Be Mommy and currently lives in Salem, Massachusetts with her husband and son.
Matthue Roth
I'd never get a tattoo -- partly because I'm Orthodox but mostly because I'm squeamish. I think that the Leviticus quote might refer to something very specific (that is, idol-worshiper cult markings) but it might not... which is where my Orthodoxy kicks in. I don't want to interpret on my own. I've only lived for 31 years and I've only studied Torah not-that-hardcore-ly. I'm one of those people who's all about asking an expert -- and pretty much every expert I've heard from says that they're not evil, but it's better (which I always took to mean, spiritually better for you) not to go getting one if you haven't yet. If you already have, of course, you can theoretically get them removed, but that's one of the things I like about sinning in Judaism --there's no room for regret. Nothing you can do about it but move on.
-Matthue Roth
Matthue Roth is the author of Never Mind the Goldbergs, an Orthodox Jewish punk-rock novel, and the memoir Yom Kippur a Go-Go. He is an associate editor at My Jewish Learning and co-founder of G-dcast.com. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.
Ezra Shanken
When we ask the question, "What does Judaism think about tattoos?" we have to look at it two ways. First, "What does the Torah say?" The Torah is very clear in Leviticus 19:28, "You shall not etch a tattoo on yourselves." This mitzvah is what is called a chukim, which means that we may not fully understand the why behind it however we do it because G-d told us to do it. A chukim is one of the holiest types of mitzvoth.
However, we are living in the modern world so the second way of looking at this is to ask, "What are the majority of Jews doing?" I was in Tel Aviv last summer and while walking down the beach I noticed a huge number of people walking with tattoos in Hebrew no less. So if we judge it by acceptability it looks pretty accepted among members of the Jewish community. Personally I don't care if people get tattoos or not; that is a decision that people can make about their own bodies.
I do care if they don't know why Jews don't get tattoos. The commentary done on this issue talks about the body as a holy vessel lent to us by G-d for use on earth and encourages us to cherish it and understand that it is a tool for doing good in the world. If one understands that and still gets a tattoo anyway that is fine by me. For me, the thought of having the pain of putting on the tattoo on and commitment of having it on your arm for the rest of your life is a little too much for me. I think that must make me a sissy/commitaphobe and I'm okay with that, too.
-Ezra Shanken
Ezra S. Shanken is the Senior Manager of the Young Adult Department and Major Gifts at the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado and a third-generation Jewish Communal worker. He was the 2009 co-chair of the Professional Leaders Project Skill Summit.
Monica Rozenfeld
The Torah law stems back to Leviticus 19:28, which states: "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves: I am the Lord." While this has been interpreted literally to forbid any permanent marking on the body, the larger Judaic concept of b'tzelem Elokim, being created in the image of G-d, serves as a bigger defining question: What are we allowed or not allowed to do with our own body, the body that G-d gifted us with? Piercings, plastic surgery, and other physically permanent alterations on our body are also concerns that fall under this belief in traditional Judaism, though some procedures may balance out differently than others; for example, plastic surgery after an accident is excused.
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