SAN FRANCISCO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL | SFJFF 2010

In our November online short of the month, Jai by Ariel Zylbersztein, a curious young Mexican girl asks her grandmother about her tattoo (the six digit tattoo given to Jews in concentration camps by the Nazis) and the grandmother responds with an interesting, somewhat uplifting tale. These days, an increasing number of Jews are beginning to look more favorably upon body art. Until recently, many Jews took the scripture of Leviticus very much to heart: “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor imprint any marks upon you: I am the LORD.” It was said that Jews who violated this law would not be buried in Jewish cemeteries. However, with an increasing number of Jews finding new ways to express their Jewish identity, it’s no secret that this taboo on body art is beginning to break down.

In a recent CNN piece on ‘the New Jews’ Jessica Ravitz quotes a Rabbi and Talmud scholar on his perception of tattoos in stating “he knows of ‘no Jewish legal source that would prohibit the burial of a Jew who violated that law.’” Unlike their parents or grandparents, Jews of Generation X and Y (whom Ravitz dubs “New Jews”) are much more removed from former pillars of Jewish Identity, such as the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel. Instead, twenty-first century Jews have found faith and shaped their Jewish identities through music, theater, unconventional Torah study and body art. A 2008 New York Times article explored how some Jews are going the extra mile by inking themselves with overtly Jewish symbols, like the Star of David. But the verdict is still out on whether or not tattooing is kosher with contemporary Jews and there are obviously dissenting views amongst rabbis, scholars and everyday folk.

 For example, in the CNN piece, Florence Pressman, executive director of Jewish Funeral Directors of America said, “If such prohibition existed, how would we honor our Holocaust survivors?” The numbers etched into the arms of each person that passed through Nazi concentration camps are definitely tattoos, and their permanence, haunts those lucky enough to have survived. But this new generation of Jews is not haunted in this way, rather they are eager to find some innovative means by which to connect to their heritage, and tattooing seems to be the ultimate form of “wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve.”

Academics and artists alike are continuing to explore this issue, and you can too. For a deeper look at the New Jews phenomenon, browse the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival archive for films like Jericho’s Echo, a documentary surrounding Israeli punk culture, Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School, the courageous story of a high school student who comes out as a lesbian in a strict religious school, and Awake Zion, a film that explores the melding of Rasta and Jewish culture through contemporary music.  For more about Jews with tattoos take a look at the website Tattoo Jew, a doc currently in development.

- Lara Boffey