My Fish Story

My koi, or karp as Mike says,
originally uploaded by marlinex.

One of my weird secrets is the fact that I have tattoos. Now, there are several reasons this is secret.

First of all, there's the whole parental thing. When I was in college, I wanted a tattoo, and my parents said Jewish kids don't get tattoos, it was against our religion. My dad then said that if I got a tattoo, he would light a candle for me and consider me dead. (He's since denied making that statement).  At some point, I will share the story of when I revealed this dark secret to my parents. 

So next, there's the Judaism thing. I have done research on the Union of Reform Judaism web site, and while there are some groups who state that you may not be buried in a Jewish cemetery if you have a tattoo (Holocaust victims excluded), the more liberal view is that this is not true (see here for proof: http://urj.org/ask/tattoos/).

Then, there's judgment. We all worry about what people think of us, to some degree. As a free-wheeling artsy girl, I never cared about it, but as I rise through the ranks in a State Government agency, I have been fairly reserved about showing off my ink. As tattoos become more acceptable, I am definitely more relaxed, but out of respect, I am reserved about showing them most of the time at work. Unless it's really hot!

This is the first time I have written about this subject since I have gotten a more widespread audience, including folks at my temple. I recently attended a Bar Mitzvah on one of those 100+ degree days, and I decided that I was going to wear a dress, and if my tattoo peeked out a little bit, I wasn't going to worry. If people of my faith are judging my decision to express myself and overlook my contributions to our community and my religious devotion, then let that be on them.

There. I outed myself on my blog.