Tattoos offend because they are based on an assumption that whatever I am today I will always be
The obvious and correct answer to the above question is that the Torah forbids them: “You shall not make in your flesh a scratch over a soul, and you shall not place a tattoo upon yourselves” (Vayikra 19:28). I would like to believe that my revulsion at the proliferation of tattoos everywhere derives from the Torah prohibition.
But the truth is that most of us have occasion to witness many even more serious transgressions on a regular basis, and eventually we become somewhat inured to them. To avoid that effect, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztz”l would say quietly to himself, “Shabbos,” when cars drove by on the streets of Jerusalem. And after bringing his family from Kelm to London, Rav Eliyahu Lopian ztz”l insisted that they remain at home on Shabbos so that they not become desensitized to chillul Shabbos.
The visceral reaction that tattoos bring out in me, I suspect, owes more to the stupidity involved than the Torah prohibition. I tend to react strongly to public displays of stupidity, such as smoking.
And what is so stupid about tattoos? The permanence. Rashi emphasizes this aspect in discussing the prohibition: A tattoo cannot be erased; the ink enters the skin in depth and remains permanent.
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