So much in life is a product of unanticipated events and experiences. A chance encounter with an idea that opens the mind to shades of meaning where previously there had been only black and white. For me, that was certainly true for body art – tattoos. Which makes what follows a surprising turn.
I spent a good part of Monday afternoon at an event in central Tel Aviv at which dozens of people were getting tattooed by some of the most renowned figures in the world of body art. Artists who had gathered from the US, Europe and the Middle East – participants in the latest visit to Israel by way of a unique initiative in support of its people.
I have to back up a bit to set the stage. I was raised to believe that Jews don’t get tattoos. That defacing the human body, which is created in the image of G-d, is simply prohibited. A child of the generation that endured the Holocaust – in which numbers were tattooed on the arms of Jewish victims at Auschwitz as a means of their dehumanization by the Nazis, I understood tattoos to be something offensive and those who chose to get them were likely people with whom I would find little to nothing in common.
This, of course, preceded the explosive popularity of tattoos across the West, including in the US and Israel, as well as among growing numbers of less observant Jews. Like other trends that take on lives of their own, it became something to which I simply needed to accommodate myself. Whether I liked it or not, it was there. And, frankly, I didn’t.
Then, a few years back I met Rick, a prominent Jewish lay leader, a vocal advocate for Israel and the Jewish community and a fellow traveler on a group visit to Greece and Israel. You see, Rick is covered in tattoos - not exactly prototypical in the ranks of Jewish leadership. And he proudly talked about the art, and the inspiration for each tattoo. Then he shared a bit about his work in a particular corner of the body art universe – an organization called Healing Ink.
Begun in 2016 by Craig Dershowitz, a former director of special projects at Morgan Stanley, Healing Ink is part of Artists 4 Israel, which began as an effort to bring prominent muralists to decorate bomb shelters and safe spaces where Israelis took refuge amidst rocket and missile barrages launched by terrorists across the Lebanon and Gaza borders. It was a short leap from the beautification of spaces to the possibility of providing opportunities to bring an element of beauty to human bodies ravaged by war and other traumas.
It evolved into a channel through which Israelis who’d been scarred or disfigured in combat or acts of terror, could alter the way they are seen – and in so doing take back a measure of control over who they are and how people look at them. To see the art and not the scars. Sometimes the scars aren’t visible. Many are emotional scars borne by those who survived.
Each year since 2016, Healing Ink has brought a delegation of leading tattoo artists – most of whom aren’t Jewish and have never been to Israel. In the days surrounding those on which they are working, they explore the country’s sites, its history and its people. Their weeklong journey is entirely without cost and they, in turn, donate their extraordinary talents. Such artists often have huge followings in the body art world – and across an array of social media channels. Throughout their time in Israel, they post – photos and reflections. After seeing the sites and spending time with the people – including, of course, lengthy interactions with those whose bodies became their canvas’, they become kindred - potent new friends and allies whose own communities will come to know Israel through their eyes and art.
Healing Ink was scheduled to be in Israel last October but following the horrific attacks on October 7 the trip was postponed – till just now. Flooded with requests from Israelis whose lives were inextricably altered by the horrors of 10/7 or its aftermath, it became the largest delegation of artists in the program’s history – to which were added dozens of prominent Israeli tattoo artists, in a still not entirely successful effort to accommodate all who wished to take part.
On Monday, I went to see it for myself. To meet the artists. To see the work – and the tattoos. To talk to the people who were getting them. I went – not knowing how I’d react, and I came back inspired.
There are too many stories to tell, but one has stayed with me. I met a guy who had been at the Nova Festival. He told me about the panic, the stampede, the bodies falling all around him. He described the fields through which they ran in terror. The screams. The unimaginable things he saw and the seemingly chance way he escaped and survived. On his arm was a large new tattoo. A fierce eagle in flight, with a human skull in its talons. He said he’d come with a concept – a strong animal, which carried death with it wherever it went.
He’s the eagle. Strong and powerful. In control of the way in which he’ll carry the horrors with him throughout his life.
Not long ago, my wife Janet and I visited the site of what will become a new comprehensive trauma facility for Israelis suffering PTSD in the aftermath of October 7. A local guy came to unlock the building that will house it and we couldn’t help but notice the prominent tattoo of a young man’s face on his arm. It was his son, who’d fallen in the fight against Hamas when a booby-trapped building collapsed on a platoon of soldiers in Southern Gaza in January. His son - an always present companion.
Something I never imagined has come to pass. I am inspired by the work of Healing Ink. By the passionate commitment of the artists who, through their efforts here, come to know Israel. By the people who are asserting renewed control over their lives through the art which now adorns their bodies. Inspired. And I’ll never look at tattoos in quite the same way again.
עם ישראל חי
Well done. Thoughtful authentic and inspiring