Tattoo Jews Pt.3 Elvis

1) Forbidden Practices?


I started going through the list: don't eat the fruit for three days, don't eat blood, don't cut your prayer curls or your beard?
I began to think...man how relevant is this?

When I reached
19:28
Do not make gashes in your skin for the dead.

Do not make any tattoo marks on your skin. I am God.

I got chills. I had never heard this part before. I know there are different interpretation of the bible, but there is no ambiguity here.


2)Would the tattoo's text could possibly get me in trouble with the big guy?

The image that I currently want is a Basquiat Crown ( more on this in Pt.4) with the word king underneath. King was my dad's nickname. The name appeared throughout his life in several contexts. The "rabbi for hire's" eulogy at my Dad's funeral brillantly tied the King title from his birth to his death. But, KING?...too obvious. Subtlety is more my style. So, I looked to other languages. El rey, Le roi...not quite. The chinese and japanese word for king looked more elegant. I continued to search and then arrived at hebrew.

מלך

I loved it. Shortly thereafter, I began to think that this might be the word for the king of kings. You know G-d. I wanted to use the general term. I better start working on an explanation now so that I am ready on redenption day.So, I asked a friend of mine about it. Would an israeli call King Auto Parts...Melech Auto Parts. He responded with this true story.

A friend of mine walks into this falafel joint in Jerusalem. There are Elvis pictures everywhere. Early Elvis. Late Elvis. Elvis in concert. Elvis on the silver screen. There's hardly an open piece of wall space. So he asks the owner, "Mah im 'Elvis'?" What's with Elvis? Needless to say, the proprietor responds: "Elvis -- hu ha melech." Elvis -- he's the king.

Yes, melech can be all kinds of kings.

I have to think about all this for a while.

clay

Tattoo Jews Pt.2 Leviticus

Forbidden Practices

19:23
When you come to the [promised] land and plant any tree bearing edible [fruit], you must avoid its fruit as a forbidden growth. For three years [the fruit] shall be a forbidden growth, and it may not be eaten.

19:24
Then, in the fourth year, all [the tree's] fruit shall be holy, and it shall be something for which God is praised.

19:25
In the fifth year, you may eat its fruit and thus increase your crops. I am God your Lord.

19:26
Do not eat on blood.

Do not act on the basis of omens.

Do not act on the basis of auspicious times.

19:27
Do not cut off the hair on the sides of your head.

Do not shave off the edges of your beard.

19:28
Do not make gashes in your skin for the dead.

Do not make any tattoo marks on your skin. I am God.

19:29
Do not defile your daughter with premarital sex. You will then not make the land sexually immoral, and the land [will not] be filled with perversion.

19:30
Keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary. I am God.

19:31
Do not turn to mediums, nor seek out oracles, so as to defile yourselves through them. I am God your Lord.

19:32
Stand up before a white head, and give respect to the old. You shall thus fear your God. I am God.

19:33
When a proselyte comes to live in your land, do not hurt his feelings.

Tattoo Jews Pt.1 Gangsta Soprano

When my dad, Mason Kaintock, went to the bone yard, he left me, his only son, a wooden box of memories. I really have not looked at it much, in fact it's in Hill River now. I am pretty sure there is a pistol in there. There is one piece which is with me and I wear it most of the time.
""
It's a thick gold rope chain with a chunky contemporary Chai medallion. Chai which means "life" comes in the form of the
hebrew letter "chet". Not only is it popular with jewish men, but black baptist brothers too. I am not so sure that it isn't mistaken for a horse most of the time. This necklace's girth wouldn't shame a regionally famous gansta rapper.

My grandmother gave it to Dad after his six bypass heart surgery back when in 1982. As my Dad's girlfriend will say, he liked to wear it. I actually have more memories of it sitting on a table after Dad would go to sleep. Every night,there was always a big pile of his stuff...necklace, his father's high school ring, change, a well worn brown leather wallet and an apple core that resembled a holocaust victim.

Whether I am wearing it or not, I am comforted by its presence. On the other hand sometimes the combination of the necklace, the 25 grief pounds sitting at my waist, the Austin Power like chest hair style and my not so concidental fondness for nylon adidas warm-up pants sometimes make me feel like a two bit extra on HBO's Soprano.

I am now looking at a more permanet and personal tribute to my Dad. A tattoo. Most jews put tattoos and suicide at the same level. Jews love to elevate the mundane to the hysterical. In fact, it is commonly believed that one cannot be buried in a jewish cemetary with a tattoo, while concentration survivors get a by for their nazi numeric imprint.

I have a grand plan to get the tattoo on my Dad's first yartzheit. I figure that I will research the topic, get some opinions, sit with the idea for a few months and then make my own decision.

After, I learned that a tattooed one could be buried in a jewish cemetary...I looked for the bible portion which details this sin against G-d's gift. You will find it in Leviticus. There are a bunch of shoulds and should nots listed.

To Be Continued...

kaintock