Tattoos-once the forte of motorcyclists and Marines have over the past number of years become common amongst the young an the young at heart, perhaps as a way to separate themselves as a generation.
The older folks variously describes the body art as dirt, inappropriate or other unprintable words. One reason would be that they are permanent and some of the young forget certain body parts don’t look the same after pregnancy, weight gain or simply age.
Other adults have joined the party.
However, one generation of Jewish young people have chosen to honor their grandparents in a special way.
Jerusalem resident and Holocaust survivor Yosef Diamant kissed the new tattoo, 157622, on his granddaughters arm, according to author Jodi Rudoren of the New York Times. That number was tattooed on his arm at the death camp Auschwitz as another way to dehumanize and demoralize an entire race.
The granddaughter, Eli Sagir, got the tattoo to tell the story of the horrific slaughter of nearly an entire race of people. After Sagir got her tattoo, her mother, brother and uncle also had the numbers inked on their forearms.
‘I decided to do it to remind my generation: I want to tell them my grandfather’s story and the Holocaust story,” said Sagir.
Tattooing was done only at Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps.
It is against the Jewish religion to get a tattoo.
Indeed, the Jewish tattoos have genuine meaning.
Karen La Pierre