Players arriving at training camp with tattoos attract little notice, as those without body art adorning their skin often seem to be in the minority. The simple three-word inking Adam Bisnowaty sports inside his meaty left arm looks more stencil than artwork, but nevertheless attracts plenty of attention.
“A lot of guys ask me what it is and we always joke around, what it means, because a lot of guys don’t speak Hebrew, they don’t even know what Hebrew looks like,” Bisnowaty said. “I always tell ’em it’s the symbol for who I am and what I believe in.”
Bisnowaty, a rookie offensive lineman set to compete in this first NFL training camp with the Giants — players report Thursday — does not hide his Judaism. He wears it proudly, not on his sleeve but inside it, stretching from left elbow to armpit. The tattoo quotes a famous Bible verse — Exodus 3:14 — as Moses, at the Burning Bush, asks God what to call him. God tells Moses “ehyeh asher ehyeh,” which translates to “I am that I am.”
After his freshman year at Pittsburgh, Bisnowaty decided he wanted a tattoo, but only if he could find one meaningful to him.
“I always wanted to symbolize something religiously as well as kind of relate back to who I am, so I thought it was the perfect thing,” Bisnowaty told The Post. “I’m really big on who I am and what I hold myself accountable for and kind of the way I live life. In the Torah, you have it related to God, it’s also the other aspect of being able to have something kinda higher than you.
“For me, it’s a statement for my life.”
Standing 6-foot-6 and sporting long, flowing, bushy hair, Bisnowaty makes a statement without saying a word. The Giants took him in the sixth round, appreciating his size, strength, huge hands, attitude — he describes himself as “a nasty football player” — and experience — he was a four-year starter at left tackle for the Panthers — while acknowledging his athletic limitations. Given the dearth of depth on the offensive line, Bisnowaty should make the roster as a backup right tackle, unless the coaching staff sees a more promising future for him inside at guard.
“He’s gonna be good for the team,” Bisnowaty’s father, Miron, said in a phone interview. “No problems in school, no fights, no bad words, no cussing, very, very intelligent. He gets along with every coach, every coach liked him.”
It is not lost on Bisnowaty that landing in this particular NFL home in the New York/New Jersey area figures to hold special significance for him.
“It’s a very heavily Jewish population, so it’s great to be around, you can say, my people,” he said.
Miron Bisnowaty was born in Israel, growing up in Rishon LeZion, just south of Tel Aviv. Miron’s mother is a Holocaust survivor, having escaped the Nazis by hiding in the Polish woods. Miron served in the Agaf Modin, the military intelligence body of the Israel Defense Forces.
Adam said his was a practicing Jewish family in Pittsburgh until his parents, Miron and Randi, divorced when he was 12 years old, waylaying his bar mitzvah. He is hopeful one day he will resume his studies and become a bar mitzvah — preferably in Israel, where he visited when he was 8.
Asked if he has “Jewish cravings,” Bisnowaty said: “Of course. It’s crazy because I don’t eat pork because that’s how I was raised. We didn’t keep a kosher house, but I’ve always had a box of matzah in the cupboard and matzah ball soup, potato pancakes, everything. It’s just how I was raised and just love the food.”
Imagine his surprise and delight when during a spring practice, the Giants’ team cafeteria one day featured a Mediterranean-themed meal.
“Some hummus and some pita wraps, it was great,” he gushed. “I love that kind of stuff.”
Bisnowaty said he often opens up by telling people he’s Jewish, especially in football circles. And so, Justin Pugh, Weston Richburg and John Jerry have taken to calling their new teammate “Schwartz,” hearkening to Geoff Schwartz, a Jewish offensive lineman who was with the Giants in 2014 and 2015.
“The guys always joke around about me and him, like, ‘Ah, another Schwartz in here,’ ” Bisnowaty said. “It’s just funny.”
If Bisnowaty’s Jewishness ever makes him feel like a stranger in a strange land, he can draw inspiration from his uncle, David Bisnowaty, a native Israeli who is a Parliament member in Malawi, one of Africa’s poorest nations. David Bisnowaty was elected to the Malawi National Assembly in 2014 and has said he believes he is the only Jewish citizen in a country of more than 16 million people.
Adam Bisnowaty said lighting Hanukkah candles is “a must’’ and that his family usually gets together for Passover. His father has been after him to contact Julian Edelman, the Patriots receiver, whose father is Jewish, perhaps envisioning a sort of Jewish hotline.
“I told him,’’ Bisnowaty said, “ ‘Listen, it doesn’t work that way.’ “