Body Piercing & Tattoos

A number of students have asked related questions, so I’m just going to respond in one post. First, Penina Cohen asked about whether it is permitted to pierce your ears. Leora Kook expanded the question to nose rings, and also asks about tattoos. Chana Ben-Zecharia asked if it’s true that someone who has a tattoo can not be buried is a Jewish cemetery.

The idea that getting a tattoo would preclude someone from being buried in a Jewish cemetery is a myth. The only people who might be excluded from having a Jewish burial are those who commit suicide. Still, there is a big halachik difference between tattoos and piercings. It is strictly and clearly prohibited to get a tattoo - it’s an explicit pasuk (Vayikra 19:28). While body piercing presents some halachik issues, it is not nearly as clear as that. (When I was researching a paper on this subject in law school, I noticed a responsa from a Conservative Rabbi which also prohibited tattoos and cautioned against some of the more exotic piercings for tznius reasons.)

The biggest issue with piercing (as many of you learned in Bava Kama) is chovel b’atzmo – injuring yourself. Judaism believes that we do not have full ownership over even our own bodies, and prohibits suicide, and to a lesser extent injuring oneself. Now this issur is not absolute. No one would argue that someone in need of surgery or even amputation of a limb may not have it because he is cutting his body. If the injury is for a purpose that is productive, it is permitted. On this basis, many poskim (including Rav Ovadiah Yosef) have allowed even cosmetic surgery, arguing that the benefit of the procedure outweighs the pain and damage done by the surgery. Some poskim disagree – I have been told that Rav Aharon Soloveitchik ruled that cosmetic surgery, allowing a nose job only if the surgery was otherwise needed for medical reasons, like a deviated septum. (He also did not allow his daughters to pierce their ears.) What emerges on the issue is a kind of halachik sliding scale, on which we need to balance the pleasure/benefit of the procedure against the pain/damage. Piercing one’s ears scores pretty low on both ends, and reasonable halachik authorities can come out in both directions.

Rav Aharon Lichtenstein told a story in his eulogy for Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach about when his daughter wanted to pierce her ears, but he thought that it was assur. They agreed to ask Rav Shlomo Zalman, who after engaging the young girl and ignoring her learned father ruled that it is permissible. A similar story happened with Rabbi Willig and Rabbi Schachter.

As you get away from the ears, to other parts of the body – nose, lip, belly button etc. - I think that the benefit of the jewelry diminishes, and I know that the pain and damage are significantly worse. Additionally, there might be some real chukkas hagoyim issues as well, that go beyond the scope of this post.

Yasher koach to all three of you for the questions.