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You [men] shall not round off the side-growth on your head, or destroy the side-growth of your beard. You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves: I am יהוה.
Leviticus 19:27-28
One who imprints a tattoo,
by inserting a dye into recesses carved in the skin, is also liable to receive lashes. If
one imprinted
on the skin with a dye
but did not carve
the skin, or if
one carved
the skin
but did not imprint
the tattoo by adding a dye,
he is not liable;
he is not liable
until he imprints and carves
the skin,
with ink, or with kohl [
keḥol
], or with any substance that marks. Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Shimon: He is liable only if he writes the name there…
Mishnah Makkot 3:6
MISHNA:
One who imprints a tattoo,
by inserting a dye into recesses carved in the skin, is also liable to receive lashes. If
one imprinted
on the skin with a dye
but did not carve
the skin, or if
one carved
the skin
but did not imprint
the tattoo by adding a dye,
he is not liable;
he is not liable
until he imprints and carves
the skin,
with ink, or with kohl [
keḥol
], or with any substance that marks. Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Shimon: He is liable only if he writes the name there…
Makkot 21a:10-12
The tattooing which the Torah forbids involves making a cut in one's flesh and filling the slit with eye-color, ink, or with any other dye that leaves an imprint. This was the custom of the idolaters, who would make marks on their bodies for the sake of their idols, as if to say that they are like servants sold to the idol and designated for its service.
When a person makes a mark with one of the substances that leave an imprint after making a slit in any place on his body, he is [liable for] lashes. [This prohibition is binding on] both men and women…
Mishneh Torah, Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations 12:11
10) "and writing that is engraved": I might think that if he wrote, but did not engrave (into the skin), he would be liable; it is, therefore, written "engraved." If "engraved," I would think that if he engraved but did not write, he would be liable; it is, therefore, written "and writing." How so? (He is liable) only when he writes and engraves: with ink, bluing, or anything else that leaves an impression. R. Shimon says: He is not liable until he writes the name (of an idolatry), as it is written "… you shall not make upon yourselves — I am the L–rd."
Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 6 10
וכתבת קעקע [NOR SHALL YE IMPRESS] ANY WRITING BY ETCHING [UPON YOU] — i. e. a writing engraved (more lit., dug into) and sunk into the flesh and which can never be erased because it is pricked in with a needle and remains black forever. קעקע (root יקע) is an expression connected in sense with והוקע in (Numbers 25:4) “and hang them (והוקע אותם)" and with (II Samuel 21:6) "and we will hang them (הוקענום)". They drove poles into the ground and hanged them upon these — consequently they themselves, as the poles, were, so to speak, dug in and inserted in the ground; pourpoint in O. F.
Rashi on Leviticus 19:28:2-3
IMPRINT ANY MARKS. Some say that this is connected to
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh
, for there are people who, employing fire, mark their bodies with a recognizable form for the dead. Even today there are those who, while young, mark their faces so that they [may] be recognized. The word
ka’aka
(marks) is doubled. Compare,
He that spread forth
the
earth and that which cometh out of it
(ve-tze’etza’ehah) (Is. 42:5).
Ka’aka
is related to the word
ve-hoka
(and hang) in
and hang them up
(Num. 25:4)…
Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 19:28:3
That we not imprint an imprinted tattoo into our flesh:
To not imprint an imprinted tattoo into our flesh, as it is stated (Leviticus 19:28), “and an imprinted tattoo you shall not put into your flesh.” And the content is like that which the Yishmaelites do today, as they imprint an imprint that is inscribed and stuck into their flesh, such that it is never erased. And the liability is only with an imprint that is inscribed and impressed with ink or blue dye or with other colors that make an impression…
Sefer HaChinukh 253:1-3
Seeing that it is part of revering the Lord and honouring Him not to desecrate our own bodies which He sanctified to enable us to serve Him, the Torah begins with a list of prohibitions designed to emphasise this point. לא תקיפו, we must not desecrate our heads by removing its hair as is the custom of gentile clergy or fools and drunkards. Neither are we to shave off the beard which represents man’s dignity, הדרת פנים שלו, “Shabbat 152. Neither are we to make incisions on our skin, something that is customary amongst pagans as an expression of their grief for family members who have died…
Sforno on Leviticus 19:27:1
And a corrupting incision for the soul of the dead thou shalt not make in thy flesh, neither set upon yourselves an inscription by the incutting of any figurated sign: I am the Lord.
Targum Jonathan on Leviticus 19:28
Rava said: And let
Rami bar Ḥama
derive
an answer to his question from a different reason,
that
writing on a person’s body
is writing that can be forged,
as it is easily erased and replaced with other writing, and a bill of divorce that is written in a manner susceptible to forgery is invalid. The Gemara clarifies:
But according to Rava,
who raised this challenge,
the mishna
is
difficult,
as it taught that a bill of divorce may be written
on a slave’s hand.
…
Gittin 20b:12-14
If he does this on his friend's flesh, the one to whom it was done is exempt unless he aided in the matter.
Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 180:2
Is as a sign on every man’s hand,
That all men may know His doings.
Job 37:7
You are children of your God יהוה. You shall not gash yourselves or shave the front of your heads because of the dead.
Deuteronomy 14:1
One shall say, “I am
G
OD
’s,”
Another shall use the name of “Jacob,”
Another shall mark his arm “of
G
OD
”
And adopt the name of “Israel.”
Isaiah 44:5
See, I have engraved you
On the palms of My hands,
Your walls are ever before Me.
Isaiah 49:16
Related
ראו גם
Cutting for the Dead
Writing
Idolatry
Laws of Dissociation from Idolatry and its Worshippers
Body
Halakhah
Gentile Practices of the Body and Clothing
Image of God
Sheets
דפי מקורות
Related Sheets
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