Look at it this way, if you knew that there was something you could do, that would cost you nothing, that could save another person's life, you would do it. Right? No question about it.
I'm saying this to you because I hear, over and over again, that there are still Jews who believe that being an organ donor is contrary to Jewish law. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jewish law requires us to act to save a life, and that is what we do when we donate the organs we're not using any more.
The real resistance, I fear, to Jewish organ donation has nothing to do with Jewish law. It has to do with death. Of course we fear death. We don't want to think about it and we don't want to think about what happens to our bodies after we die. I can sympathize with that. It doesn't fill me with warm fuzzies, either. But, we don't really have any choice when it comes to making a decision that could save a life. We have to do what we can do.
The card pictured above is my card. It was issued to me be the Halachic Organ Donor Society. It is an organization founded and run by orthodox Jews on a mission to overcome the resistance to organ donation in the Jewish community. Please believe me when I tell you that these people have not compromised one bit of their Jewish values or their commitment to Jewish law in encouraging people to make their useable organs available for life-saving transplants after they die.
There are complicated Jewish legal issues related to organ donation. Most have to do with the definition of when death occurs. I don't need to go into any of that here. All I want to do is just convince you that nothing should stand in the way—not your health, not your age, and not your fears—of making the choice to save a life.
I'm saying this to you because I hear, over and over again, that there are still Jews who believe that being an organ donor is contrary to Jewish law. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jewish law requires us to act to save a life, and that is what we do when we donate the organs we're not using any more.
The real resistance, I fear, to Jewish organ donation has nothing to do with Jewish law. It has to do with death. Of course we fear death. We don't want to think about it and we don't want to think about what happens to our bodies after we die. I can sympathize with that. It doesn't fill me with warm fuzzies, either. But, we don't really have any choice when it comes to making a decision that could save a life. We have to do what we can do.
The card pictured above is my card. It was issued to me be the Halachic Organ Donor Society. It is an organization founded and run by orthodox Jews on a mission to overcome the resistance to organ donation in the Jewish community. Please believe me when I tell you that these people have not compromised one bit of their Jewish values or their commitment to Jewish law in encouraging people to make their useable organs available for life-saving transplants after they die.
There are complicated Jewish legal issues related to organ donation. Most have to do with the definition of when death occurs. I don't need to go into any of that here. All I want to do is just convince you that nothing should stand in the way—not your health, not your age, and not your fears—of making the choice to save a life.
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