Originally Posted by levite

Actually, I'd hate to have to break it to the brother who got that eye-catching little piece of body art, but technically, Jewish Law says that we're not supposed to get tattooed. According to Jewish Law, you don't own your body, God does: you're supposed to return in to the earth out of which it was made as close to unmarked by permanent defacement as possible. So that means no tattooing, no deliberate scarring or burning, and not too much piercing for jewelry.

If you ever wondered why you never saw that many rabbis with ink, or couldn't figure out why that Hasid you just passed wasn't running right out to get a Prince Albert...now you know....