Tattoos

[Chizuk Emunah]

Well said Reuel.

I wasn't quite sure how to respond to some of those posts, and yet you have managed to make things very clear. Thank you.

But, I understand the situation that many find themselves in as they have already received tattoos before they knew any better. If it was me, I would either have them removed or cover them up. Our best witness is to keep the commandments of G’d.

Agreed.

[messimom]

Yes, Reuel. I agree too. Darn it....I'll have to share this conclusion with my husband..but your points make very good sense and brind clarity. Mark "get a tattoo" off my list of things to do.

Messimom

[messimom]

uhh...that's "bring" not brind....haha

[R' Y'hoshua Moshe]

Baruch HaShem

[The 614th Mitzvot]

I think if tattooing was ever OK we would have heard about some tzaddik getting a tattoo saying "HaShem's Property". Don't forget that Rabbi Shaul states in his letter to Rome that if something offends your brother do not do it. If any of us know a single person who would see it and say "but I thought..." then we have sinned. Because we have caused our holiness to become less in the eyes of others. Should our outward view be the basis of our decisions, yes and no. While we must go to please the world we must always be holy and set apart from the world; a light on a hill.

[BarvazGumy]

A few days ago, I wrote:

barvazgumy said:

Wow, I hesitate to say anything, but I would suggest that "Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1Thes. 5:22) be reread in Greek before using it as a prooftext here. If I may say so, this is a very poor translation of the true meaning.

What I intended was that the KJV gives many the wrong impression of what the Scripture is saying. I suggested reading it in Greek, because "Abstain from all appearance of evil" is (in my opinion) a bad translation of the Scripture, which basically means "avoid evil."

[Mercedes]

I couldn't pass up a response on this topic. The word used in Levitucus 19 for tattoo is: 7085 "Qa aqa," pronounced "Kah ak ah. " The word tattoo itself is from the Polynesian language and the ancient Hawaiians call them "Ka kau" which has it's ancient Hebrew roots from the same word.
The law was given to the Israelites who spent 300 years living with the Egyptians and all their customs and practices. Egyptian mummies with tattoos marking their bodies have been found throughout Egypt. If that is not convincing enough of this ritual practice they have also the tools and needles used for tattooing on display in Museums. They even found Egyptian dolls with the same tattoo marks as found on the mummies.
So when the Lord commanded them not to "tattoo" their bodies they knew exactly what he was referring to.
for they saw the Egyptians keeping this practice.
Shalom,
Mercedes

[Prodigal Girl]

Don't forget about the passage that says that if a servant decides he'd rather bind himself permanently to his master, he is supposed to get a pierced ear. So I will take from that, that my pierced ears are o.k. By the way has anyone heard of any halacha against pierced ears?

[R' Y'hoshua Moshe]

By the way has anyone heard of any halacha against pierced ears?

Besides an admonition not to over due jewerly, I havn't heard any major halachah regarding earrings. But, I would love to learn more if anyone has something to bring to light.

Shalom,

Reuel