{"id":2685,"date":"2021-04-11T18:33:25","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T22:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/?p=2685"},"modified":"2021-04-12T08:16:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T12:16:06","slug":"the-ethicist-and-the-tattoo-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/2021\/04\/the-ethicist-and-the-tattoo-question\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ethicist and the Tattoo Question"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his Times of Israel blogpost<\/a>, Douglas Aronin discusses the New York Times Ethicist’s response<\/a> to a Jewish Woman’s questions about getting a tattoo as part of a team-building effort during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Maya from New York asked:<\/p>\n

\n

…\u00a0 I think this is a really fun bonding idea, but …<\/em><\/p>\n

Although I have never been religious, I am very culturally Jewish …\u00a0 I am struggling because it seems like a fun way to connect with people and commemorate this year, but it feels very taboo. Why does eating the occasional piece of bacon feel OK, when this feels so illicit?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The ethicist responded:<\/p>\n

… What it means to be Jewish isn\u2019t up to just you, but your way of being Jewish is very much something you have a say in. …<\/p>\n

… The truth is, our beliefs, values and preferences will never be fully coherent. …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Douglas Aronin responded both by pointing out some ethical points missed by the Ethicist as well as discussing what Mr. Aronin described how the exchange “demonstrates the shortcomings of cultural Jewishness as a foundation for the Jewish future:”<\/p>\n

… It\u2019s worth noting what the ethicist\u2019s answer does not contain.\u00a0 For someone who is culturally Jewish, the traditional proscription of tattoos might be reinforced by the Nazis\u2019 use of them to number concentration camp inmates, … Even more surprising, the supposed ethicist does not suggest that the questioner consider the feelings of the parents who have \u201cdrilled\u00a0 into\u201d her this proscription …<\/p>\n

… The ethicist is right, of course that \u201cour beliefs, values and preferences will never be fully coherent\u201d; people are complex and no one is completely consistent. \u00a0But there is a difference between recognizing the inevitability of inconsistency and making inconsistency an ideal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the full question and answer from the New York Times Ethicist at https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/03\/02\/magazine\/i-dont-trust-police-testimony-can-i-lie-to-get-on-a-jury.html<\/a> and Douglas Aronin’s full response at https:\/\/blogs.timesofisrael.com\/the-ethicist-and-the-tattoo-question\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ethicist is right, of course that \u201cour beliefs, values and preferences will never be fully coherent\u201d; people are complex and no one is completely consistent. \u00a0But there is a difference between recognizing the inevitability of inconsistency and making inconsistency an ideal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":2686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,95,78],"tags":[],"coauthors":[103],"class_list":["post-2685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-halakhah-modern-judaism","category-modern-judaism"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2685"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2691,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685\/revisions\/2691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2685"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utj.org\/viewpoints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}