Renee, thank you for speaking on this subject as well. I would respectfully disagree about the dehumanizing aspect of tattooing a concentration camp number on one's forearm in remembrance of the holocaust or what we went through and are going through (as exemplified by this discussion) as a people.
To me, a reform Jew, born and raised in Los Angeles, those tattoos are symbolic of something. The represent to me that despite the best efforts of well organized and determined foes, we live. Those that bore the tattoos initially, however they felt about them, survived. Those who might honor their kin or their people with a similar tattoo are showing the world that they too live - that we live, in their own way. Would someone 3 or 5 or 10 generations before have something to say about how I live? I have no doubt they would. Are they more or less right than I am? I would say neither - we cannot judge a person outside of their historical context and I would not like to be judged outside of mine.
In reply to <p>Leah,I thought your piece by Renee Ghert-Zand
Renee, thank you for speaking on this subject as well. I would respectfully disagree about the dehumanizing aspect of tattooing a concentration camp number on one's forearm in remembrance of the holocaust or what we went through and are going through (as exemplified by this discussion) as a people.
To me, a reform Jew, born and raised in Los Angeles, those tattoos are symbolic of something. The represent to me that despite the best efforts of well organized and determined foes, we live. Those that bore the tattoos initially, however they felt about them, survived. Those who might honor their kin or their people with a similar tattoo are showing the world that they too live - that we live, in their own way. Would someone 3 or 5 or 10 generations before have something to say about how I live? I have no doubt they would. Are they more or less right than I am? I would say neither - we cannot judge a person outside of their historical context and I would not like to be judged outside of mine.