What question are we really trying to answer?
- Can Jews get tattoos? Sure. Jews can (and often do) everything everyone else does. So that's the wrong question
- Does having a tattoo put one outside the boundary of Jewish identity? Example: burial in a Jewish cemetery? No, because then every Holocaust survivor would be cut off from community and we don't do that. I cannot express this enough: you cannot be prevented from Jewish burial for having a tattoo.
- Does having a tattoo violate Jewish law? OK, now we're close, but not close enough. Tattoo removal was not possible until recently, so having-or-not-having a tattoo was never a real question. If you had a tattoo, the "deed was done" and that would be the end of the sinning. And again, we go back to the Holocaust: does having a tattoo forced upon oneself differ than getting one for one's own desire?
- Does the act of having one tattoo you or you tattooing another person violate Jewish law? BINGO! We've found two questions we can legitimately answer
(ה) זֶ֤ה יֹאמַר֙ לַֽה' אָ֔נִי וְזֶ֖ה יִקְרָ֣א בְשֵֽׁם־יַעֲקֹ֑ב וְזֶ֗ה יִכְתֹּ֤ב יָדוֹ֙ לַֽה' וּבְשֵׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל יְכַנֶּֽה׃
(5) One shall say: ‘I am the L-RD’S’; And another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; And another shall mark his arm "of the L-rd's" and adopt the name of Israel.
(טז) הֵ֥ן עַל־כַּפַּ֖יִם חַקֹּתִ֑יךְ חוֹמֹתַ֥יִךְ נֶגְדִּ֖י תָּמִֽיד׃
(16) Behold, I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
Leviticus 19 and 1 Kings talks of "cutting" flesh, Isaiah 44 uses the word "writing".
Isaiah 49 uses "to inscribe" but more properly "to decree or command" such as "may you be inscribed in the Book of Life". Another example "cutting someone a check" no longer involves "cutting".
So while the Hebrew words for cutting and writing are fairly straight forward, "chaqaq" in Isaiah 49 is a primitive root word that is hard to take literally.
(כח) וַֽיִּקְרְאוּ֙ בְּק֣וֹל גָּד֔וֹל וַיִּתְגֹּֽדְדוּ֙ כְּמִשְׁפָּטָ֔ם בַּחֲרָב֖וֹת וּבָֽרְמָחִ֑ים עַד־שְׁפָךְ־דָּ֖ם עֲלֵיהֶֽם׃
(28) So they shouted louder, and gashed themselves with knives and spears, according to their practice, until the blood streamed over them.
The word "practice" is the word "mishpatam" or "law" in the same way that we use mishpatim to refer to God's law. In Israel today the word "da'at" might be used meaning "knowledge" but more specifically "religion". Regardless, we see that there was a historically recorded practice of cutting oneself for worship.
(ו) הכותב כתבת קעקע, כתב ולא קעקע, קעקע ולא כתב, אינו חיב עד שיכתוב ויקעקע בדיו ובכחול ובכל דבר שהוא רושם. רבי שמעון בן יהודה משום רבי שמעון אומר: אינו חיב עד שיכתוב שם השם, שנאמר (ויקרא יט) וכתבת קעקע לא תתנו בכם אני ה'.
(6) With regard to one who tattoos his skin, [if] he made a mark [an incision in his skin] but did not tattoo in it [that is, did not fill it in with ink, or] tattooed in it [that is, made ink marks on the surface of his skin] but did not make a mar [so that the process of tattooing was not completed] -- he is not liable. He is liable [only] when he marks and tattoos with ink or eye paint or anything that leaves a [permanent] mark. Rabbi Simon ben Judah says in the name of Rabbi Simon, 'He is liable only when he writes the name of G-d,' as it is written in the Torah Leviticus 19: Do not incise any marks on yourselves: I am the L-RD."
גמ׳ אמר ליה רב אחא בריה דרבא לרב אשי עד דיכתוב אני ה' ממש אמר ליה לא כדתני בר קפרא אינו חייב עד שיכתוב שם עבודת כוכבים שנאמר וכתובת קעקע לא תתנו בכם אני ה' אני ה' ולא אחר: אמר רב מלכיא אמר רב אדא בר אהבה אסור לו לאדם שיתן אפר מקלה על גבי מכתו מפני שנראית ככתובת קעקע אמר רב נחמן בריה דרב איקא שפוד שפחות וגומות רב מלכיו בלורית אפר מקלה וגבינה רב מלכיא רב פפא אמר מתניתין ומתניתא רב מלכיא שמעתתא רב מלכיו וסימניך מתניתא מלכתא מאי בינייהו איכא בינייהו שפחות רב ביבי בר אביי קפיד אפי' אריבדא דכוסילתא רב אשי אמר כל מקום שיש שם מכה מכתו מוכיח עליו
Rav Aḥa, son of Rava, said to Rav Ashi: Is Rabbi Shimon saying that one is liable only if he actually inscribes the words “I am the Lord” in his skin? Rav Ashi said to him: No, he is saying as bar Kappara teaches: One is liable only if he inscribes a name of an object of idol worship, as it is stated: “And a tattoo inscription you shall not place upon you, I am the Lord,” which means: Do not place an idolatrous name on your skin, as I am the Lord, and no one else.
Rav Malkiyya says that Rav Adda bar Ahava says: It is prohibited for a person to place burnt ashes on his wound to promote healing, because it looks like a tattoo. The Gemara addresses the matter of placing burnt ashes on a wound. The Gemara relates: Rav Beivai bar Abaye was fastidious and did not place ashes even on the wound of bloodletting [arivda dekhusilta], as that too appears like a tattoo. Rav Ashi says: Any place where there is a wound, his wound proves about itself that the person’s intent when he covers it with ashes is to promote healing, and it is not a tattoo.
Two concepts here. One related to the former question of tattooing and idolatry which we already covered.
Secondly, is receiving a medical tattoo an issue? No, because the markings on the person's body show intent. The intent was to heal, not to get a tattoo. This is important given the use of tattooing in cancer treatment, but it more broadly shows how a person's intent is meaningful in the question of tattooing.
(1) ושרט לנפש [YE SHALL NOT MAKE] ANY CUTTINGS [IN YOUR FLESH] FOR THE DEAD — This was the practice of the Amorites (a general term for heathens) to make cuttings in their flesh when someone belonging to them died.
(כח) וכתבת קעקע. כְּתָב מְחֻקֶּה וְשָׁקוּעַ שֶׁאֵינוֹ נִמְחָק לְעוֹלָם שֶׁמְּקַעְקְעוֹ בְּמַחַט וְהוּא מַשְׁחִיר לְעוֹלָם:
(28) וכתבת קעקע [NOR SHALL YE IMPRESS] ANY WRITING BY ETCHING [UPON YOU] — i. e. a writing engraved (more lit., dug into) and sunk into the flesh and which can never be erased because it is pricked in with a needle and remains black forever.
[יא] "כְּתֹבֶת קַעֲקַע" (ויקרא יט,כח) הָאֲמוּרָה בַּתּוֹרָה, הוּא שֶׁיִּשְׂרֹט עַל בְּשָׂרוֹ וִימַלֵּא מְקוֹם הַשְּׂרִיטָה כֹּחַל אוֹ דְּיוֹ אוֹ שְׁאָר צִבְעוֹנִין הָרוֹשְׁמִין; וְזֶה הָיָה מִנְהַג הַגּוֹיִים שֶׁרוֹשְׁמִין עַצְמָן לַעֲבוֹדָה זָרָה שֶׁלָּהֶן, כְּלוֹמַר שְׁהוּא עֶבֶד מָכוּר לָהּ וּמֻרְשָׁם לַעֲבוֹדָתָהּ.
וּמֵעֵת שֶׁיִּרְשֹׁם בְּאֶחָד מִדְּבָרִים הָרוֹשְׁמִים אַחַר שֶׁיִּשְׂרֹט, בְּאֵי זֶה מָקוֹם מִן הַגּוּף, בֵּין אִישׁ בֵּין אִשָּׁה--לוֹקֶה.
כָּתַב וְלֹא רָשַׁם בִּצְבָע, אוֹ שֶׁרָשַׁם בִּצְבָע וְלֹא כָתַב בִּשְׂרִיטָה--פָּטוּר: עַד שֶׁיִּכְתֹּב וִיקַעְקַע, שֶׁנֶּאֱמָר "וּכְתֹבֶת קַעֲקַע" (ויקרא יט,כח).
בַּמֶּה דְּבָרִים אֲמוּרִים, בְּכוֹתֵב. אֲבָל זֶה שֶׁכָּתְבוּ בִּבְשָׂרוֹ וְקִעְקְעוּ בּוֹ--אֵינוּ חַיָּב אֵלָא אִם סִיַּע, כְּדֵי שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂה מַעֲשֶׂה; אֲבָל אִם לֹא עָשָׂה כְּלוּם, אֵינוּ לוֹקֶה.
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah: Laws of Idolatry 12:11
"Incising a mark." The prohibition of tattooing that is biblically derived is making an incision in one's flesh and filling the incision with eye paint, ink, or any dye that leaves an imprint. This was the practice of idolaters who [permanently] marked their bodies for the sake of their idol worship. Basically, [they understood this to be] that they are likened to servants sold to the idol and designated to serve it.
When one makes an imprint with one of the substances [listed above], the punishment of lashes is carried out, whether it is a man or a woman.
If one wrote but did not dye, or dyed but did not write [by incising in the flesh] -- this person is not liable, as it is written (Lev. 19:28), "or incise any marks."
To whom does this [prohibition] apply? To the one who is performing the tattooing, but the one who is tattooed by others is not liable unless he helped the tattooer [so that it is] as if he tattooed too. However, if the one being tattooed did not perform the action, [the punishment] of lashes is not applied.
Rambam is putting a conservative argument here. Even if the laws of tattooing have to be in context of idolatry, why would any person concerned with halacha even raise the issue, since clearly tattooing is a practice of idolators? Whereas the Talmud seeks to clarify and as a result narrowly restrict what is considered wrong about tattooing, Rambam makes the argument that many a Jewish parent will later make: we're Jews and Jews don't do that sort of thing. This is also the same argument that Jews would make about hunting, gambling, eating veal and many other activities what "Jews just shouldn't do".
Rabbi Alan Lucas, Jewish Committee on Laws and Standards (Rabbinical Assembly of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism)
In our day, the prohibition against all forms of tattooing regardless of their intent, should be maintained. In addition to the fact that Judaism has a long history of distaste for tattoos, tattooing becomes even more distasteful in a contemporary secular society that is constantly challenging the Jewish concept that we are created b’tzelem Elokim (in the image of G-d) and that our bodies are to be viewed as a precious gift on loan from G-d, to be entrusted into our care and [are] not our personal property to do with as we choose. Voluntary tattooing even if not done for idolatrous purposes expresses a negation of this fundamental Jewish perspective.
Rabbi Lucas is drawing from a Rambam style of thinking: Jews just don't tattoo! Who cares why?! But he adds another layer, that we teach people as being made in God's image and that tattooing is a negation of that.
It's important that R' Lucas states later in this teshuva that ear and nose piercing is fine because everyone-does-that. He will make a point that body piercing in covered areas is wrong because it violates tzniut, modesty.
My take: R' Lucas is within bounds with his Rambam-style of opinion. However, cramming btzelem Elohim into this is strained. If we're concerned that changing our bodies fails to reflect a Jewish value, then why not enact a takkanah and ban hair dye, plastic surgery, certain kinds of clothing/jewelry, etc?
To put it another way, R' Lucas hates tattoos and will find a way to hate them Jewishly. How Jewish is that?