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Several weeks ago, I attended a panel discussion on organ donation in Jewish law. Although many prominent rabbis believe that organ donation is fine, the topic is still ripe with controversy. Many people in the ultra-orthodox world will not donate their organs even though they will accept them. In the past several years many rabbis have become proponents of organ donation and the rate of Jewish donors is rising.

The discussion took place in Highland Park, NJ, where Aviva and I used to live. The first panel speaker was Dr. Michael Eleff who is medical director of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey in Hamilton. Dr. Eleff presented the audience with the history of organ donation as well as the medical procedures for all transplants. Although extremely interesting, I found Dr. Eleff’s tone to be somewhat depressing. He brought up the negative aspects of donation like the liver donor who died in Mount Sinai Hospital many years ago and the immense pain associated with bone marrow transplants. Still, it was very insightful and a good way to begin the discussion of organ donation.

Robby Berman, the founder and director of the Halachic Organ Donation Society (HODS), spoke next. Robby began by describing the controversy in Judaism, which derives from the question of when does death occur. Rabbis disagree as to whether death occurs when breathing stops (brain-stem death) or when the heart stops beating. Clearly, those who believe in the latter view do not allow for organ donation. After going over the various views and the opinion of HODS, Robby spoke about the problems of organ donation in Israel. Because of the controversy surrounding donation in Jewish law, Israel has a very low rate of donation, roughly 10 percent. America, for example, has around 40 percent of its population donate life-saving organs. Robby spoke about the problems of donation and how the HODS foundation is trying to combat that.

Finally, Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser, an author and leader of a congregation in Brooklyn, addressed the audience. The Rabbi began with a parable in the Talmud.

An angel once visited a great Torah scholar. When he came to the door, the scholar gave him bread but the angel asked for the scholar’s soul. Immediately, the scholar gave it to him.

Rabbi Goldwasser explained that the ideal in Judaism is to give of yourself completely. Although I was expecting him to speak about the aspect of organ donation and Jewish law, the Rabbi instead spoke about the more general topic of giving of yourself, whether it be your time, your money, or your organs.

In attendance at the discussion was a writer for the New Jersey Jewish News. She approached me after the talk and asked about my story. Although I didn’t address the audience that night, I was introduced as someone who had a life-saving transplant. The reporter asked to write an article about my upgrade and I agreed. Click here to read the article.