 Back in 2007 the Pew Research Center did a poll Which revealed that among 18 to 25 year olds 36 percent had at least one tattoo and Among 26 to 40 year olds they climbed to 40 percent 40 percent of People between 26 and 40 back in 2007 had at least one tattoo I would suspect that those numbers have been climbing In the past 11 years as tattoos have become even more popular Now we know that in the Torah Tattoos are just simply prohibited The source for this is in the book of Leviticus Vayikra chapter 19 verse 28 Which says you shall not make cuttings in your flesh for the dead You shall not etch a tattoo on yourselves. I am Hashem. I am the Lord Now how do we understand this prohibition? What does it mean that we should not etch a tattoo on ourselves? So according to our sages by definition the prohibition of Tattooing only applies when the skin is first perforated and Then it's filled in with ink Causing the mark to become permanent that is essentially the definition of tattooing Now in order to better understand the parameters of this prohibition What I'd like to do especially in terms of how the prohibition is formulated in the verse itself is Look at a related question Which is the question of permanent makeup, which is sometimes called micro pigmentation in Micro pigmentation what happens is there is a needle that's used to basically inject color under the outer layer of the skin but not as deep as The regular tattoo is injected so it's a little bit more to the surface and And this is basically done in order so that people shouldn't have to apply makeup every day It becomes sort of a permanent makeup Where it just stays on the surface of the skin So is this permissible according to Jewish law or is this forbidden these kind of permanent makeup applications So the first question that we have to think about regarding this issue is that the Torah prohibits and the Hebrew expression is a little bit obscure But the literal translation would be actually the prohibition is writing through piercing or writing through incision Now I translated before as you shall not etch a tattoo on yourselves But basically the tattooing has to be done through piercing through making incisions in the flesh So some of our rabbinic authorities maintain that what is prohibited is a form of writing Again because it says in the verse writing right it's writing that's done with this kind of piercing so many of our authorities maintain that what is prohibited is a Form of writing where there has to be at least one letter one clearly recognizable letter Otherwise, it's not writing if you make a design of the clouds or if you make a design of a sunset That's not writing that's making a design and So some maintain that the biblical prohibition Only applies where you have at least one letter that's written right you write the letter m in mom That would be a problem if you write the whole word. It's even worse Others disagree Others say no you don't actually have to have the writing of letters and that any tattoo is biblically forbidden So this is a disagreement among our rabbis Do you actually have to have letters that come through when you have the application of a tattoo? However, all would agree all would agree that tattoos without letters So example pictures or designs would at least be rabbinically prohibited So even those who would say that it's not a biblical prohibition if you're not writing letters They would agree that it is rabbinically prohibited question number two the biblical piercing and filling in Procedure has to lead to a permanent tattoo mark that again is the definition of a tattoo It has to be permanent Because the pigmentation is injected deep into the skin the prohibited kind of tattoo is one because the piercing Goes deep into the skin the Colors that are injected into those piercings become permanent So the question is what about tattoos that are not as deep Right the permanent makeup is injected into a higher level of the skin closer to the surface of the skin And so the question is what about this micro pigmentation? It's not really permanent usually lasts maybe five years tops So that's a question that the rabbis ask would this kind of permanent makeup be prohibited since it's not permanent and Again, what we find is that some authorities maintain that this is still biblically prohibited even though it's not Permanent for 120 years as long as it's lasting, you know a significant amount of time It would be biblically prohibited While others disagree and they would say no, it's only a rabbinic prohibition if it's not actually permanent and Then is a final question, which is that the verse in Leviticus if you remember it ended with the words I am Hashem a knee Hashem Now many commentaries believe that what is the purpose of this verse ending by saying a knee Hashem and They maintain that the verse is teaching us that the original biblical prohibition was somehow connected with negating pagan idolatrous practices and That the prohibition was connected with negating these practices So today what happens if someone gets a tattoo? For reasons having absolutely nothing to do with idolatry or paganism They just want to look beautiful So they're not doing it for the purpose that the Torah seems to be concerned with So again, we have a dispute among the rabbis some authorities believe that in such a case a Tattoo would only be violating the prohibition on a rabbinic level, but not biblically Right there are those who say that if they're not doing the tattoo, they're not associating it with any kind of idolatrous Practice then it's not biblically prohibited. It's only rabbinically prohibited But others insist that no intent is not significant It's not relevant and that even if it's just for aesthetic purposes all tattoos are biblically forbidden So what does that leave us in terms of these permanent makeup? Applications, how do we view this question of permanent makeup again? We have three issues at hand number one There's no actual writing of letters number two. They're not permanent and number three. There's no idolatrous associations or intent so on account of these factors because of these factors some authorities actually Permit outright the use of permanent makeup. They say because we don't have Any letters? They're not permanent. It's no idolatrous intent Some authorities actually say there's no problem at all and they're permitted however The vast majority of our rabbis insist that it is at least rabbinically prohibited Kind of tattooing it may not be biblically prohibited, but at least it's rabbinically prohibited however in a case where This kind of permanent tattoo is for correcting a blemish or a scar Most rabbis permit this use of micro-pigmentation Since it would only be violating a rabbinic prohibition and the Talmud teaches us that in a case of Preserving human dignity when it's for the purpose of preserving Human dignity we are allowed to violate a rabbinic prohibition by comparing the problem of Micro-pigmentation to actual tattoos we can see that when it comes to actual tattoos Certainly when there are letters Certainly when there are they are permanent. They are clearly biblically prohibited according to all opinions Now what might the reasons be for this prohibition against? Tattooing so we have to appreciate that like almost all biblical prohibitions The Torah does not provide a rationale or a reason Torah doesn't tell us why we shouldn't be eating shellfish Torah doesn't tell us why we cannot wear garments that have a mixture of wool and linen Torah does not tell us why we can't eat cheeseburgers the Torah generally does not give an explanation of its prohibitions So it's clear that in a similar way we have to understand the prohibition against tattooing simply has to be treated as a divine command as a hook if you will and That's it, and we may not ever be able to understand what its purpose is The upshot is that the fulfillment of the command is not based upon us understanding the command Now one of the most popular rationales that has been offered really comes from Rabbi Shemshin Refuel Hirsh writing the 19th century and he suggests that the source of this prohibition Stems from the idea that every human being was created in the image of God and that our bodies are an expression of The ultimate divine will the human body is special our bodies are an expression of the ultimate human the ultimate divine will and therefore of Hirsh says that it is improper for us to mutilate God's handiwork in any way and That might be why the beginning of this verse speaks about not gashing our flesh as A sign of mourning for the dead any kind of mutilation of the human form is simply considered to be Treating our bodies with disrespect and therefore dishonoring the God who created us There are other Approaches to this prohibition, but I found that the Rabbi Hirsh is the most compelling So what happens if someone already had a tattoo? So the truth is that there's no real need to have a tattoo removed once a person had it If they wish to do so They certainly may and in a case where the tattoo was either obscene or idolatrous It may actually be a good thing to do The question is how to remove a tattoo So plastic surgery is a problematic Procedure because according to Jewish law we're not allowed to in any way wound ourselves to go through even any kind of elective Surgery unless it's for a medically necessary reason or to preserve our dignity And self-respect now that might be the motivation here For a person to preserve their dignity. They would like to have the tattoo removed But there are obviously there are better ways less problem problematic ways of removing a tattoo Some people will cover up an objectionable tattoo by injecting new dye and covering up Or changing the appearance of an old tattoo, but that's also obviously a problem because it's getting tattooed again so probably the least problematic way of Removing an old tattoo is by laser removal and actually some approaches today even use other kinds of light that are effective in removing tattoos and There are even some creams that are applied to fade a tattoo although that's not necessarily a full Solution because the tattoo still remains now finally one last issue which is the Commonly held belief which is actually widespread But a misconception that a person with a tattoo cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery The truth is there's no basis for this in Judaism whatsoever and just as those who violate other Jewish laws Like violating the Sabbath or not keeping kosher those people can be buried in a Jewish cemetery So too someone who violated the biblical law of getting tattooed can also be buried in a Jewish cemetery