The Book of Leviticus – Chapter : 19 Verse : 28

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead,
nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

The Book of Leviticus – Chapter : 19 Verse : 28

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By Joshua Andrews

Hebrew Lettering Tattoo Designs

In the holiest language of all languages, Hebrew (Ivrit), the Creator transmitted his Torah (Instruction) to Moses on Mt. Sinai, over three thousand four hundred years ago, commanding the Tribes of Israel (the ancestors of the Jews today) to follow his six hundred and thirteen laws for them to live by, or else. One very specific law out of those six hundred and thirteen laws is that no member of the Tribes of Israel may be tattooed. Unlike many laws in the Torah, such as to lay Phylacteries on the arms and between the eyes, or to attach fringes to the corners of your garments for example, the law regarding the Judaic prohibition against tattoos on members of the Tribes of Israel can be taken literally from the text, which puts it in a unique category of the Creator’s laws that can be understood literally.

What also makes this specific law unique is that the Hebrew word for tattoo (Kaw’akaw – Bottom sentence, second (four letter) word from the right, beside the comma.) is a not a common word or even a pre-existing word found elsewhere,  but rather it is very specifically used in only this one particular and specific location in the Torah. Many words in the Torah have their linguistic roots in Aramaic, however the Aramaic word for tattoo is pronounced Otwoto, which is nothing like the Hebrew word for tattoo.

There is a concept or system in Judaism where the Hebrew letters also serve as numbers and so every Hebrew letter has a numerical equivalent, and this system is known as Gematria. Words that share the same equivalent may have a shared relationship and so the Hebrew word for tattoo is four letters: Kuf, Ayin, Kuf and Ayin. The letter Kuf equals one hundred and the letter Ayin equals seventy, and so it is one hundred + seventy + one hundred + seventy equals three hundred a forty. Other Hebrew words that add up to three hundred and forty are Mitzri (Egyptian), Paras (Persia), Sarisi ( Eunich ), and Shem (Name, also first name of one of Noah’s three sons.).

The Hebrew letter Kuf is the nineteenth letter of the Hebrew Aleph Bet. The Hebrew word and name for the letter Kuf means monkey. What is a monkey? A mimic, as in the well-known adage: “Monkey see, monkey do.” The letter Kuf is also a mimic. It imitates the letter hei.

The Hebrew letter Ayin, is the sixteenth letter of the Hebrew Aleph Bet. Ayin is the Hebrew word for eye, but it’s also used for  source, well, spring, fountain, origin. The letter Ayin’s numerical value, or gematria, equals seventy, which is a number of significance in Judaism. The shape of the letter Ayin resembles an English letter Y, however once upon a time when the shapes of the Hebrew letters were more pictographic in shape and form, the symbol or picture for Ayin was an eye shape or a circle. Through our ayin, or eye, is one of the ways we accept and project positive and negative energy, or vibes or whatever you refer to them as.

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