Dear
Readers,
These columns began on my area of America Online, called: Judaism
Today: Where Do I Fit? People anonymously
sent me E-Mail, and I began to choose one for a public response
in my Jewish E-Mail of the Week column. The column has become
quite popular and is now syndicated internationally in many
Jewish papers and websites. I hope you find they help you
as you think about the Ethics, Spirituality and Peoplehood
components of the Jewish way of Life. I welcome your
comments... see the end of the column.
Gil
PS
Teachers and others, feel free to copy my columns and forward
them or use them as you see fit. Please see the friendly
copyright notice at the end. |
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BODY
PIERCING, TATTOOS AND MORE!
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Dear
Gil:
I
have a facial piercing and my rabbi
believes it should not be allowed. I
need to know some things about the
biblical point of view on piercing.
All the things I have found have to do
with ear piercing and not facial
(because it wasn't an issue) so
doesn't that make the facial piercing
issue depend on how you interpret the
Torah?
L
Dear
L:
You
are asking a very pointed question
(sorry about that pun,) about facial
piercing and the Bible. The answer to
your question would also apply to the
other "bod mod"or body
modifications that have become popular
today.
These
modifications run the gamut from
piercing on every part of the human
body -- and I do mean EVERY part, to
tattoos and procedures that radically
modify the human body -- like branding
skin with hot metal and surgeries that
split people's tongues. Yes, people
are doing this today! Time Magazine
even ran an article recently called
"Ah, the whiff of burning flesh!
What to do when a tattoo seems too
tame!"
If
you are looking strictly at the Bible
for guidance, you will not find a
tremendous amount of information. The
Torah does specifically prohibit
tattoos. Commentaries explain that
this has to do with avoiding pagan
practices. I
once learned, though I can’t
confirm, that partially to spite this
prohibition, the Nazis made a point of
tattooing Jews in the concentration
camps!
The
Bible also mentions, but does not
prohibit earrings and believe it or
not -- nose rings. (Isaac's wife Rivka
is given a gift of a nose ring.) But
you would be hard pressed to find much
about other body piercing and
certainly nothing about branding or
tongue splitting.
As
for those practices, we can draw some
guidance from a statement in the Torah
that prohibits gashing or wounding
oneself. Of course, one might make the
argument that an ear piercing is
wounding oneself and yet ear and nose
piercing appears to be allowed in the
Bible. So what would be wrong with any
other modifications to the body --
cosmetic surgery or anything else a
person desires?
Here
we need to look to our rabbis for
direction. Their guidance seems
contingent on the answer to the
question "what is the purpose of
the modification?" Are you
"defacing" the body or are
you doing something that adds beauty?
Are you doing something that increases
a person's self esteem? Are you doing
something that is part of main stream
culture (i.e. earrings which are
allowed) or for it's "shock"
value to the others who see you? Are
you doing something just to "fit
in?"
As
you might guess, our rabbis seem more
inclined to approve of beauty and
improved self esteem motivations and
frown upon shock value or just trying
to fit in. Though one could argue that
customs of looking beautiful in a
society and trying to fit in are the
same. Obviously making some of these
decisions is not simple. The decisions
are influenced by fundamental
teachings in Judaism:
One
teaching is the importance of modesty.
A second teaching is the Jewish
attitude toward the body. The human
body deserves dignity says our
tradition since it is not our
possession. Our bodies should not be
viewed as objects we own but rather as
creations of God, not to be
desecrated. Finally, there is a strong
emphasis in Judaism that says Jews
should not adopt all the behavior of
our non-Jewish neighbors. (This last
teaching is one of the rationales
given for the dietary laws of keeping
kosher.)
So
where does this leave you? First it
puts you in a position to have a more
intelligent discussion with your rabbi
about why he or she objects to your
facial piercing. Perhaps more
importantly, you now know some of the
questions that Judaism would ask of
you.
Ultimately
the questions are: why do you want to
modify your body? Are you doing
something that will be a credit to you
and that you can feel proud of? How
does your image of God play into your
decisions?
Only
you can decide for sure, but as you
seek answers, I encourage you to ask
your rabbi and others...and I thank
you for asking me.
Gil
A FRIENDLY COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© Copyright Gil Mann
These columns can be found at www.beingjewish.org. Not
only do I give you permissions to copy these Jewish Email
columns...I HOPE YOU WILL and that you share them with others!
All I ask is that you never charge anyone for them and that you
also include this little copyright notice. Thank You!
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