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Abrams set out with photographer Justin Dawson to create a documentary film and accompanying book of still photographs that explore attitudes surrounding tattooing and why so many young Jews are getting tattoos despite the widely held belief that they may be denied a final resting place (not to mention the prohibition against scraping one’s flesh in Leviticus 19:28). While Tattoo Jew is still currently in production, what Abrams has found so far surprised him.

“I’ve interviewed a lot of people for whom that mark of pride is an important way and a new way in Judaism of expressing who we are and how we want to be seen.. That’s actually not at all what I expected to find in doing this project.”

Abrams admits that when he began the project he thought he’d find “a bunch of screw-ups,” or at least people with serious attitude problems. Instead he found people who had put a great deal of thought into the images they’ve chosen to permanently etch into their skins, images that are often explicitly Jewish.

“I found people incorporating [tattooing] as a part of not religious so much as spiritual expression. It’s an act of pride and it is really well thought out. Some of these kids have parents and grandparents who were holocaust survivors or have experienced very painful anti-Semitism in their own childhood or adult lives. I don’t have a tattoo, but that’s the kind of story that makes me want to get one.”

The Judaic tattoos range from simple Stars of David and Hebrew characters, to elaborate pieces sometimes incorporating other elements of the person’s cultural identity. One man has a Hindu deity with the Hebrew character Aleph set in a ring behind. Another man, a former member of an anti-racist skinhead group, has a Star of David incorporated into a shield behind which sit two battle axes.

“Young Jewish people are craving a new way to identify with being Jewish that fills the void. We don’t have a lot of easily digestible images in our daily lives about being Jewish.” The more people he interviews, the more convinced Abrams becomes that tattooing helps to fill this void. It is not simply an act of defiance, or thoughtless mutilation, but a new means for young Jews (the ages of those interviewed primarily range from 18 to 35)to express their connection to their cultural identities.

Despite the growing acceptance of tattoos by the young, community members often still have a hard time accepting this new expression of identity. Most participants say that this lack of acceptance stems from an association of tattooing with the Holocaust, and/or not wanting to draw attention to cultural differences.

Abrams is sensitive to the fact that many Jews still associate tattoos, any tattoos, with the coerced tattooing that occurred during the Holocaust. As a child, the first people he met with tattoos were survivors. “We were numbered for death. We were marked to ease in our extermination and to identify us as Jews. In that context it makes perfect sense that tattoos are a polarizing issue.”

At the same time, Abrams found that young Jews often wear their tattoos precisely in order to identify themselves as Jews, an identification that makes some of their elders nervous. Sometimes parents and community members are concerned with safety, such as in the case of a young Bay Area resident with a visible Star of David tattoo. “[She] was told by her mom, ‘I wish you would cover that up now, because in this political climate there’s going to be a big backlash against Jews.’ There’s still a very real fear of looking Jewish.”

Other concerns involve issues of being accepted as a member of the community at large and not drawing attention to cultural differences. Many of those interviewed have heard the refrain: Why’d you have to get something so Jewish? “[In these cases], they’d almost rather that you had a dragon then some beautiful symbol of Jewish faith,” says Abrams.

While orthodox Jews remain fairly rigid on the subject of tattooing (Abrams is quick to point out that this doesn’t mean that orthodox rabbis can’t be “hip” too), there does seem to be some small, growing acceptance of tattoos within the larger Jewish community.

One reform rabbi recently called Abrams and spoke with him about helping a congregation member research a tattoo. The congregation member and her mother were tattooed just before the young woman’s Bat Mitzvah.

Another participant recounted the time he was stopped at the door and told that he could not enter temple on one of the high religious holidays because of his visible tattoos. Catching word of what was happening, the rabbi came to the door and addressed the situation simply: “He’s a Jew. You let him in to pray.”

Through making Tattoo Jew, Abrams says he’s been able to explore Jewish culture and the arbitrary distinctions that are sometimes made regarding who is a good Jew and who is not in ways he didn’t expect. “For me, there are a lot of versions of Judaism. Even though Jewish people having tattoos, especially tattoos with Jewish images, can be something that gets a quick, sometimes visceral, response from other members of the Jewish community, it’s also a new and different way that Jewish people are looking at and expressing their identity.”

While it’s not true that one won’t be buried in a Jewish cemetery if tattooed, there are consequences to be found if one looks hard enough through rabbinical interpretation, according to Abrams. “[For] this type of infraction, you can have up to forty lashes. Now has anybody gotten forty lashes for getting a tattoo? No, obviously not. And if you have a back piece, wouldn’t that be a drag?”

Jew the Movie and accompanying book are still in production. Learn more and keep updated at: www.tattoojewmovie.com