A name on the wrist, a date on the shoulder, a design chosen at twenty: in just a few decades, getting a tattoo has become an ordinary thing to do. Many people then discover, sometimes in passing during a conversation, that Judaism forbids it. And a rumor has been going around for a long time: a Jew with a tattoo supposedly cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery. Where does this prohibition come from, what exactly does it say, and is the rumor true? Here are the sources, the reasons and the practice, explained step by step.
The prohibition of tattooing comes from an explicit verse of the Torah: “You shall not make any cut in your flesh for the dead, nor make any tattooed writing (ketovet ka’aka) on yourselves: I am Hashem” (Vayikra [Leviticus] 19:28). The Mishna and the Talmud define it precisely: it means pricking or cutting the skin and putting ink or a dye into it that leaves a lasting mark (Makkot 21a). The Sages explain that this was a practice of idolatrous cults, in which people marked their bodies with the sign of the deity they belonged to; the Torah asks a Jew not to bear on his flesh any allegiance other than his allegiance to G-d. Today the prohibition applies to every permanent tattoo, whatever the intention behind it. On the other hand, it is not true that a Jew with a tattoo cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery: no Jewish law says so, and a tattoo takes nothing away from the Jewish identity of the person who has it.
What the Torah says: a verse from the parasha of Kedoshim
The prohibition is found in chapter 19 of the book of Vayikra (Leviticus), at the heart of the parasha of Kedoshim, the “section of holiness”. The chapter opens with a call addressed to the whole people: “You shall be holy, for I, Hashem your G-d, am holy” (Vayikra 19:2). It then brings together commandments of every kind: honoring one’s parents, leaving the corner of the field for the poor, paying a hired worker on the same day, not hating one’s brother in one’s heart, and the famous “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Vayikra 19:18).
Towards the end of the chapter come several prohibitions that concern the body and the practices of the neighboring peoples. One does not practice divination or sorcery (19:26); one does not shave off the corners of the head or of the beard (19:27); and then comes our verse: “You shall not make any cut in your flesh for the dead, nor make any tattooed writing on yourselves: I am Hashem” (19:28).
The verse brings together two prohibitions. The first, seritah, the cut, targets a mourning rite: slashing one’s skin as a sign of grief for someone who has died. The second, ketovet ka’aka, is tattooing. The word ketovet means “writing” or “inscription”. The word ka’aka appears nowhere else in the entire Bible. Rashi, the great eleventh-century commentator, explains it this way: it is a writing “sunk in and engraved, which is never erased”, pricked in with a needle and remaining black forever (Rashi on Vayikra 19:28).
The Torah returns to the idea of cutting in the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), with a deeply moving formulation: “You are children of Hashem your G-d: you shall not cut yourselves” (Devarim 14:1). One does not mutilate the body of a child of G-d, even in grief. The book of Kings, for its part, shows the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, who “cut themselves with swords and lances, according to their custom, until the blood flowed over them” (Melakhim I [1 Kings] 18:28). Cutting and marking the body were part of the religious language of the peoples of antiquity; the Torah takes Israel out of it.
Finally, the verse ends with three words that are not mere decoration: “I am Hashem” (ani Hashem). As we shall see, the Sages read in them the key to the prohibition.
What is a tattoo according to the Mishna and the Talmud?
The Written Torah gives the commandment; the Oral Torah, handed down and then put into writing in the Mishna and later the Talmud, spells out its exact boundaries. The Mishna, in tractate Makkot (“lashes”, which lists the transgressions punishable by that penalty before a court), defines the prohibition in very concrete terms (Mishna Makkot 3:6):
- Someone who only wrote on his skin, without cutting it, has not transgressed the Torah prohibition.
- Someone who only cut, without putting anything in, has not transgressed it either.
- Both are needed: pricking or cutting the skin, and putting in ink, kohl or any substance that leaves a mark.
This is exactly the definition of a modern tattoo: a needle that deposits pigment under the skin in a lasting way.
The same Mishna records a minority opinion, that of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda in the name of Rabbi Shimon: one would be liable only for tattooing a divine name. The Talmud (Makkot 21a) discusses it. Bar Kappara explains that the verse refers to tattooing the name of an idol, since the verse concludes “I am Hashem”, meaning: Me, and no other. In other words, the tattoo was originally a mark of belonging to a foreign god.
The Talmud also deals with a practical case that shows how seriously the Sages took this verse: may one put ashes on a wound to treat it, when the ashes might leave a dark mark under the skin? Rav Malkia forbade it, out of concern that the mark would look like a tattoo; but Rav Ashi answers that “wherever there is a wound, the wound itself proves it”: it is obvious that this is treatment and not a tattoo. The law follows the view that it is permitted (Makkot 21a; Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 180:3).
Halakha (Jewish law) does not follow Rabbi Shimon’s minority opinion. The Rambam (Maimonides) and the Shulchan Aruch adopt the general definition: every tattoo, whatever the design, is forbidden by the Torah (Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Avoda Zara 12:11; Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 180:1). The Sefer Ha-Chinukh, which lists and explains the 613 commandments, counts it as a mitzvah in its own right (mitzvah no. 253).
Why this prohibition? The reasons given by the Sages
Judaism does not require a person to understand a commandment in order to keep it: one observes it first and foremost because it comes from G-d. But the Sages never stopped searching for the reasons behind the mitzvot, the ta’amei hamitzvot. In the case of tattooing, several levels of explanation complement one another.
Not bearing the mark of another allegiance
The oldest explanation is historical. The Rambam states it plainly when he defines the prohibition: “This was the custom of the idolaters, who marked themselves for idolatry, that is, to show that they were like a slave sold to it and marked for its service” (Hilkhot Avoda Zara 12:11). That is why the Rambam places this prohibition in the Laws of Idolatry, together with shaving the corners of the head and cutting oneself in mourning. The Sefer Ha-Chinukh (mitzvah 253) likewise explains that the Torah wants to keep Israel far from anything resembling the practices of idolatrous cults.
In the Guide for the Perplexed, the Rambam develops a general idea: a large share of the Torah’s prohibitions aim to cut the people of Israel off from the idolatrous rites of their time, even when those rites seem harmless (Moreh Nevukhim III, 37). A tattoo was not a neutral decoration: it declared to whom one belonged.
The verse says as much, implicitly, through its conclusion: “I am Hashem”. A Jew already has an allegiance. He has no need to engrave on his flesh the name or the sign of another.
The body is entrusted, not owned
A second reason, very common among modern Jewish writers, rests on a broader principle of Jewish law: the human body is not the absolute property of the person who lives in it. The Torah says that man was created “in the image of G-d” (Bereshit [Genesis] 1:27). The Mishna and the Talmud teach that it is forbidden to injure oneself (Mishna Bava Kama 8:6; Bava Kama 91b), and the Rambam codifies it: “It is forbidden for a person to injure, whether himself or his fellow” (Hilkhot Chovel uMazik 5:1).
In this view, the body is something held in trust. We receive it for a time, we must care for it, feed it and protect it, and one day we will give it back. Marking it indelibly means acting as an owner where one is only a trustee. It is the same logic that leads Judaism to require that the whole body be buried and to reject cremation: a person’s body, even in death, keeps its dignity.
A mark that cannot be erased
A third reading dwells on Rashi’s phrase: a writing “which is never erased”. Judaism is a religion of change: teshuva, “return”, affirms that a person can always become someone other than who he has been. An inscription engraved forever in the skin freezes one moment of life, a passion, a name, a conviction, as if it were meant to define the person forever. The Torah would rather we inscribe our commitments in our deeds, which are renewed every day.
Some contemporary writers add an observation: the only permanent mark that Jewish tradition places on a man’s body is that of the covenant, the brit milah, circumcision, which the Torah calls “My covenant in your flesh” (Bereshit 17:13). The Jewish body bears only one signature, and it is that of the covenant with G-d.
Mourning without self-mutilation
Finally, it is no coincidence that the two prohibitions sit side by side in the same verse. Cutting oneself for the dead and tattooing are two ways of inscribing an emotion or an allegiance in the flesh. In the ancient world, people slashed and marked themselves to mourn the dead or to bind themselves to a deity. The Torah does not deny grief: it gives mourning a structure, with the tearing of a garment (keriah), the seven days of shiva, and the recitation of Kaddish. But it asks us to tear our clothes, not our skin. “You are children of Hashem” (Devarim 14:1): a child of G-d does not mutilate himself, even when he loses someone dear.
Tattooing in the ancient world
Archaeology and ancient texts confirm that tattooing was a very old practice, and often a religious one. The oldest known tattoos are on the body of Ötzi, the iceman found in the Alps, who lived more than five thousand years ago. In Egypt, mummies of women from the Middle Kingdom period, including a priestess linked to the cult of the goddess Hathor, bear tattoos of dots and lines.
Greek writers describe tattooing as a mark of belonging to a god. The historian Herodotus reports that in Egypt, a runaway slave who took refuge in a temple and received “sacred marks” became the property of the god, and no one could take him back (Herodotus, Histories II, 113). Lucian of Samosata, in his treatise On the Syrian Goddess, describes worshippers who had themselves tattooed on the wrist or neck as a sign of devotion. Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish thinker of the first century, condemns those who brand themselves with iron or ink with the sign of idols (De specialibus legibus, Book I).
In the Greco-Roman world, tattoos were also used to mark slaves, prisoners and convicts. This helps us understand the Sages’ intuition: a tattoo said “I belong to…”. The Torah, which begins the history of Israel with a release from slavery, does not want the liberated people to engrave a master’s mark on themselves.
What Jewish law says today
Forbidden even without idolatrous intent
People often say: “But I’m not getting a tattoo for an idol!” It is a fair question, since the historical reason for the prohibition is idolatry. Yet Jewish law is clear: the prohibition applies to every tattoo, even a purely decorative one, even one with a Jewish symbol, even one with a verse from the Torah. The definition given by the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch makes no distinction based on the design (Hilkhot Avoda Zara 12:11; Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 180:1). The Talmud also teaches, in another context, that someone who has the Divine Name written on his skin may neither bathe nor enter an unclean place without covering it (Shabbat 120b): a religious tattoo creates more problems than it solves.
This is not an exception. The Torah often gives a reason for a commandment, but the commandment does not disappear when the reason no longer seems to apply. The Sages were cautious here: if everyone could decide that the reason did not concern them, there would be no common law left.
Who is at fault?
The Rambam specifies that the person who makes the tattoo is at fault, and that the person on whom it is made is liable to the Torah’s penalty only if he took part in the act (Hilkhot Avoda Zara 12:11; Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 180:2). Now, someone who goes to a tattoo artist, chooses a design and holds out his arm is obviously taking part in the act. On the other hand, someone who was tattooed by force, without consent or participation, has committed no transgression at all.
Special cases
Contemporary practice raises many questions, which halakhic authorities have studied in detail. Here are the broad outlines, kept general:
- Medical tattoos. For some treatments, such as radiotherapy, small reference dots are sometimes made on the skin. Many contemporary halakhic authorities permit this when there is no alternative, since it is a form of treatment and not an inscription. Consult a rabbi, in coordination with the medical team.
- Permanent make-up. Eyebrows, lip liner: technically, this is pigment introduced under the skin. The question is debated among halakhic authorities, depending on how long it lasts and on the technique; consult a rabbi before any procedure.
- Temporary tattoos and henna. Transfers, felt-tip drawings and henna do not penetrate the skin: they do not match the Mishna’s definition, which requires both a cut and ink. Some nevertheless advise against them, so as not to look like a tattoo.
- Treating a wound. Putting a powder or other substance on a wound to treat it is permitted, even if a mark may remain (Yoreh De’ah 180:3).
What if you already have a tattoo?
Many people ask this question after drawing closer to Jewish practice. The Sages’ answer is reassuring. A tattoo made in the past is a past transgression: one can do teshuva for it, regret it and resolve not to do it again. The law does not require removing an existing tattoo, which can be painful, expensive and sometimes risky. Some choose to have it removed, others to cover it out of modesty in places of prayer. Each person should consult a rabbi about his or her own situation.
Can you be buried in a Jewish cemetery with a tattoo?
This is probably the most frequently asked question, and the answer is clear: yes. No source in the Torah, the Talmud, the Rambam or the Shulchan Aruch forbids burying a Jew with a tattoo in a Jewish cemetery. Jewish burial societies, the Chevra Kadisha, perform the ritual washing, the tahara, and the burial for him just as for anyone else who has died.
So where does this rumor come from? No one knows for certain. It probably spread in the twentieth century, perhaps as a way for parents or grandparents to discourage young people from getting tattoos. It may also have arisen from confusion with other rules that really do exist, for example those concerning cremation or certain special situations. But for tattoos, there is nothing of the kind.
Jewish reasoning actually points in the opposite direction. Judaism teaches that a Jew, even one who has sinned, remains a Jew (Sanhedrin 44a: “Israel, even though he has sinned, is Israel”). A transgression does not erase an identity. And the honor due to the dead, kevod hamet, is one of the most important duties in the tradition. Refusing someone a Jewish burial because of a tattoo would go against both the spirit and the letter of the law.
This rumor has done real harm: some tattooed Jews have believed they were cut off from their people, and others have not dared to come back to Jewish practice, convinced that they were “marked” forever. It needs to be said clearly: a tattoo is a transgression one can do teshuva for, not an excommunication.
The Auschwitz numbers: a mark imposed by force
One cannot speak about tattoos in Jewish history without mentioning the Holocaust (the Shoah). Auschwitz was the only Nazi concentration camp where prisoners were tattooed. The first to be tattooed were Soviet prisoners of war, from the autumn of 1941; in the spring of 1942, the SS began systematically tattooing the Jewish deportees who were not sent straight to the gas chambers. The number on the forearm replaced the name: it was a denial of the person.
These tattoos obviously have nothing to do with the Torah prohibition: they were imposed by violence, and those who bore them committed no transgression. More than that: for many, the number became a testimony to what they had endured and to their survival. Survivors prayed, put on tefillin, married and raised families with that number on their arm, and they were buried in Jewish cemeteries with full honors.
There is, moreover, a troubling lesson here about the deeper meaning of the prohibition. The Nazis tattooed human beings to reduce them to a number, to merchandise. Throughout history, tattoos have often been used to mark the slave, the prisoner, forced belonging. The Torah, which wants a free people, asks it never to inflict that mark on itself.
In recent years, some descendants of survivors have had their grandparent’s number tattooed on themselves, out of loyalty to their memory. The gesture is moving, but it does not change Jewish law: the tradition offers other ways of remembering, such as study, tzedakah (charitable giving) and the Kaddish recited in memory of those who are gone.
Common misconceptions about tattoos and Judaism
- “A Jew with a tattoo is no longer Jewish.” False. One is Jewish by being born to a Jewish mother or through a conversion carried out according to Jewish law; no transgression takes that status away.
- “A Jew with a tattoo cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery.” False, as we have seen: no source says so.
- “A Jew with a tattoo cannot go to synagogue, be called up to the Torah or have a bar mitzvah.” False. He takes part in Jewish life like any other Jew.
- “The prohibition only covers foreign religious symbols.” False. The law forbids every permanent tattoo, even a decorative or Jewish one.
- “Tattoos are forbidden because they hurt.” That is not the main reason. The reasons given by the Sages are keeping away from idolatrous practices and respect for the body entrusted to us by G-d.
- “Piercings and tattoos are the same thing.” Not exactly. Piercing does not fall under the verse about tattooing, since no ink is involved; it raises other questions, such as the prohibition of injuring oneself and the rules of modesty, and a rabbi should be consulted.
Frequently asked questions about tattoos in Judaism
Why don’t Jews get tattoos?
Because the Torah explicitly forbids it: “You shall not make any tattooed writing on yourselves: I am Hashem” (Vayikra 19:28). The Sages explain that the tattoo was a mark of belonging to idolatrous cults, and that the human body, created in the image of G-d, is held in trust and is not to be marked indelibly.
Is getting a tattoo a serious sin?
It is a Torah prohibition, which the Talmud counts among the transgressions punishable by lashes at the time when rabbinical courts applied that penalty (Makkot 21a). But like any transgression, it can be repaired through teshuva. It does not make the person who did it a “bad Jew” or an outcast.
Can you be buried in a Jewish cemetery with a tattoo?
Yes. It is a widespread rumor, but it has no basis whatsoever in Jewish law. A Jew with a tattoo receives the tahara and a Jewish burial like anyone else who has died.
Do you have to remove your tattoo to return to Jewish practice?
No, Jewish law does not require it. The tattoo is a past transgression; what counts is the decision not to do it again. Those who wish to have it removed, or to cover it, should consult a rabbi about their situation.
Is a temporary or henna tattoo allowed?
A drawing that stays on the surface of the skin, with no cut and no ink introduced under the skin, does not match the definition of the tattoo forbidden by the Torah. Some nevertheless advise against it so as not to look like a real tattoo. Follow your rabbi’s guidance.
Are medical tattoos allowed?
The small reference dots used in radiotherapy are permitted by many halakhic authorities when they are necessary for treatment. Health comes first. Consult a rabbi, in coordination with your doctor.
Did Auschwitz survivors transgress the prohibition?
No, absolutely not. A tattoo imposed by force is not a transgression. For many of them, the number they bore became a sign of their survival and of their testimony.
Further reading
A verse of just a few words, an ink that cannot be erased, and behind it a whole vision of the human being: a body that is not merchandise, an identity engraved not on the skin but in one’s deeds, and a door of return that is always open.
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Sources and references
- Vayikra (Leviticus) 19:2; 19:18; 19:26-28 (parasha of Kedoshim)
- Devarim (Deuteronomy) 14:1
- Bereshit (Genesis) 1:27; Bereshit 17:13
- Melakhim I (1 Kings) 18:28 (the prophets of Baal)
- Rashi on Vayikra 19:28
- Mishna Makkot 3:6
- Babylonian Talmud, Makkot 21a
- Mishna Bava Kama 8:6; Babylonian Talmud, Bava Kama 91b
- Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 120b
- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 44a
- Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Avoda Zara 12:11
- Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Chovel uMazik 5:1
- Rambam, Moreh Nevukhim (Guide for the Perplexed) III, 37
- Sefer Ha-Chinukh, mitzvah no. 253
- Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 180:1-3
- Herodotus, Histories II, 113
- Lucian of Samosata, On the Syrian Goddess
- Philo of Alexandria, De specialibus legibus, Book I
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Tattoos and Numbers: The System of Identifying Prisoners at Auschwitz” (encyclopedia.ushmm.org)
Article by the Pensées Juives editorial team.