וְשֶׂ֣רֶט לָנֶ֗פֶשׁ לֹ֤א תִתְּנוּ֙ בִּבְשַׂרְכֶ֔ם וּכְתֹ֣בֶת קַֽעֲקַ֔ע לֹ֥א תִתְּנ֖וּ בָּכֶ֑ם אֲנִ֖י ה'׃
- Both verses from Vayikra and Devarim are concerned with modifying one's body as an expression of grief or idolatry.
- Both verses emphasize our relationship with God - “אֲנִי ה'”and “בָּנִים אַתֶּם לַה’ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם”
קסבר רבי יוסי שריטה וגדידה אחת היא וכתיב התם למת אמר שמואל המשרט בכלי חייב מיתיבי שריטה וגדידה אחת היא אלא ששריטה ביד וגדידה בכלי הוא דאמר כרבי יוסי תני תנא קמיה דרבי יוחנן על מת בין ביד בין בכלי חייב ...
מתני׳ הכותב כתובת קעקע כתב ולא קעקע קעקע ולא כתב אינו חייב עד שיכתוב ויקעקע בידו ובכחול ובכל דבר שהוא רושם ר"ש בן יהודה משום ר' שמעון אומר אינו חייב עד שיכתוב שם את השם שנאמר (ויקרא יט, כח) וכתובת קעקע לא תתנו בכם אני ה':
The Gemara answers: Rabbi Yosei derives that halakha from a different source, as Rabbi Yosei holds that an incision over the dead and a laceration over the dead are one transgression, and it is written there, with regard to laceration: “You shall neither lacerate yourselves, nor place a bald spot between your eyes for the dead” (Deuteronomy 14:1), indicating that one is liable for cutting oneself in mourning only over a dead person.
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MISHNA: One who imprints a tattoo, by inserting a dye into recesses carved in the skin, is also liable to receive lashes. If one imprinted on the skin with a dye but did not carve the skin, or if one carved the skin but did not imprint the tattoo by adding a dye, he is not liable; he is not liable until he imprints and carves the skin, with ink, or with kohl [keḥol], or with any substance that marks. Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Shimon: He is liable only if he writes the name there, as it is stated: “And a tattoo inscription you shall not place upon you, I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:28).
1. Tanna Kamma [anonymous position in the mishan]: a person is chayav for a tattoo that both inscribes and carves the flesh; in other words, pigment is placed on or in the flesh, and the flesh is pierced, presumably so the pigment can reach a lower layer of skin.
2. Rabbi Shimon: the pigment must spell the name of God in order for it count as ketovet ka'aka.
1. Permanence- if the tattoo is not permanent, is it permissible? How much time counts as "permanent"?
2. Must a tattoo look like letters in order to be forbidden?
3. What if a tattoo is meant to conceal scars on skin, i.e. identically match surrounding skin?
4. Can a person who has lost the hair of their eyebrows have eyebrows tattooed on?
5. What is the permissibility of permanent makeup?
(6. Just noting- a Jewish person with tattoos can totally be buried in a Jewish cemetery; the idea that they cannot is a myth..)
Permanence
אמר רב מלכיא אמר רב אדא בר אהבה אסור לו לאדם שיתן אפר מקלה על גבי מכתו מפני שנראית ככתובת קעקע
Rav Malkiyya says that Rav Adda bar Ahava says: It is prohibited for a person to place burnt ashes on his wound to promote healing, because it looks like a tattoo. o receive
- Nimukei Yosef (Makkot 4b) requires a tattoo to last “a long time” in order for a tattoo to violate the biblical prohibition .
- Rabbi Chaim Jachter cites Rav Natan Gestetner, who delineates this as a period of three years. ( see: “Permanent and Semi-Permanent Makeup - Cosmetic Tattooing," in Gray matter: Discourses in Contemporary Halachah)
- Rav Shraga Feiwish Schneebalg (1932-2000) reads Rashi as literally “forever”; a semi-permanent tattoo is then a rabbinic violation. He cites Sefer Hahinukh and the Ritva who agree on this point.
- The bottom line: if a tattoo is not permanent, regarded as a rabbinic, not biblical, prohibition.
- Must a tattoo be letters in order to violate the prohibition of ketovet ka'akah?
- The Meil Tzedaka (Yonah ben Eliyahu Landsofer, 1678-1712) writes a responsa on whether a tattoo must look like letters in order to be prohibited.
- He is of the opinion that a marking that does not take the form of letters is rabbinically prohibited, but not biblically prohibited.
כְּתֹבֶת קַעֲקַע הָאֲמוּרָה בַּתּוֹרָה הוּא שֶׁיִּשְׂרֹט עַל בְּשָׂרוֹ וִימַלֵּא מְקוֹם הַשְּׂרִיטָה כָּחל אוֹ דְּיוֹ אוֹ שְׁאָר צִבְעוֹנִים הָרוֹשְׁמִים. וְזֶה הָיָה מִנְהַג הָעַכּוּ''ם שֶׁרוֹשְׁמִין עַצְמָן לַעֲבוֹדַת כּוֹכָבִים כְּלוֹמַר שֶׁהוּא עֶבֶד מָכוּר לָהּ וּמֻרְשָׁם לַעֲבוֹדָתָהּ
The etched-in writing against which it is spoken of in the Torah is, not to make an incision in one's flesh and fill in the incision with paint, or ink, or any other dyes which enface. This was an idolatrous custom, to make themselves to idolatry, proclamatory that every one of them is a sold slave to it, and indentured in its service.
- In the 1989 Techumin journal, Rav Ezra Basri writes that a majority of Rishonim and Acharonim believe that in order to violate te biblical prohibition of ketovet ka'akah one must write letters, because that is the type of tattoo that was used for idolatrous worship.
- Others understand the medieval halakhic decisors to be of the opinion that a tattoo is prohibited regardless of whether there are letters in its design.
- In the 1998 Techumin journal, Rav Baruch Shraga cites a lenient position from Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl: R' Nebenzahl understands that the medieval rabbis meant to include only a recognizable picture or intentional design in the prohibition. Therefore, a random spot of pigment on the skin does not violate the prohibition. He regards semi-permanent makeup as permissible because it has no letters and eventually fades.
- Does Rabbi Shimon really mean that any tattoo that doesn’t have the name of a foreign god is ok? ( Rif and Rosh think this. Rivan reads Rabbi Shimon to mean that all tattoos are prohibited, but only a tattoo that has a foreign god’s name reaches the threshold of being punishable by lashes.
- The Rambam and the Tur write that the reason tattoos are prohibited is because of idolatry, and Chatam Sofer writes that a non-idolatrous tattoo is prohibited only rabbinically. The Shach seems to agree, because of the line in the passage in the Talmud which says it is ok to put ashes on a wound because people will see the wound and will understand that the motivation was not for the purpose of idolatry.
- Rabbi Gestetner notes that Rambam and Shulhan Arukh are silent on this question- maybe this means that they regard a tattoo as prohibited regardless of the tattooer's motivation.
(ב) אם עושה כן על בשר חבירו אותו שנעשה לו פטור אא"כ סייע בדבר:
(2) If he does this on another's flesh, the one to whom it was done is exempt [from punishment] unless he assisted in it.
Like the seal upon your hand.
For love is fierce as death,
Passion is mighty as Sheol;
Its darts are darts of fire,
A blazing flame.