Organ Donation in Halakha

Can/should I donate organs when I am alive? E.g. donating a kidney or bone marrow or donating blood? The Torah tells us not to stand idly by the blood of your neighbor (Vayikra 19:16). But can we risk our own lives to save others? The answer lies in the risk level. If the donor would be high risk most halakhic decisors would rule the act forbidden but if the risk is relatively low halakhic decisors generally permit and could even mandate it. 

Rabbi Joshua Flug writes "donating a kidney entails a certain degree of risk. In a survey of over 10,000 kidney donations, two donor deaths were reported. If we assume that one must undertake a certain degree of risk in order to save a life, one cannot absolve himself from the obligation to donate a kidney based on the risks associated with donating a kidney."

Rav Moshe Feinstein writes (Igrot Moshe, Yoreh De'ah 2:174) that a person is not obligated to donate an organ to save another person. However, he considers the act meritorious. Rav Ovadiah Yosef ( Yehave Daat 3:84) hints that not only is it meritorious it might even be obligatory.


Can/Should I donate my organs after I die? Are there any halakhic impediments? What do I need to do to be ready? This is an area of halakha which has had many evolutions over the years and it is one which is quite misunderstood. Most Jews think it is forbidden and don't even bother looking into the subject. A wikipedia article quotes Nancy Scheper-Hughes of Organ Watch who writes that "Israel has become a 'pariah' in the organ transplant world. The lack of donations due to Jewish custom heightened the disparity between the supply and demand of organs." All this when Israel is at the forefront in transplant technology. 

Before we can discuss organ donation after death, we must decide when a person dies. What is the definition of death? Is it when the heart stops beating or is it the cessation of respiration (Brain-Stem death)? "Brain-stem death is a term used to describe the whole brain dying – both the cortex and the brain-stem. The brain-stem is the central nervous system of the human body and it is the center of consciousness. If the brain-stem dies, respiration will stop. Once the heart stops receiving oxygen it too will die and stop beating and all other organs also die as a result of oxygen deprivation." Dr Paul Ratzker. 

Ratzker concludes "a brain-stem dead patient is not a person suffering from brain-stem death – he is dead! Once death has been established the question facing the family in this situation is, what to do? Should the family turn off the ventilator and bury the deceased? Or should the family keep the body on a ventilator in order to donate organs and save other people’s lives? Emotionally this is a difficult decision and every family has to do what they feel is right."

Scientifically there is no debate on this issue, the moment of death is brain-stem death. However, in Jewish law it is a little bit more complicated. Rabbi Shlomo M. Brody summarizes the halakhic positions very well in his book A Guide to the Complex: Contemporary Halakhic Debates. He explains that the position of Rav Moshe Feinstein "in 1976 that brain-stem death fulfils the halakhic criterion of death, even if the heart continues beating due to artificial respiration... In 1987, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel endorsed this position, pronouncing conventional, non-experimental organ transplants a great mitzva."

The Halachic Organ Donor Society (HODS) has the following to say. "Organs for donation are usually taken from a person whose heart is still beating and was declared dead because the patient’s brain had died.  Some Rabbis, however, view a beating heart as a sign of life (and prohibit removing organs) while other Rabbis do not deem a beating heart sufficient for life (requiring brain function and autonomous) and therefore allow donation from a brain dead patient.

"The Halachic Organ Donor Society recognizes this debate and encourages organ donation at either stage by offering a unique organ donor card that allows a person to choose donation at brain death or alternatively at cessation of heartbeat.

"From a medical perspective, however, it is difficult to recover organs after cardiac death.  In addition, the heart and lungs cannot be recovered once the heart dies. Therefore the decision about when to donate is significant." To read more about organ donations before and after death, please go to the HODS website. 

Seattle Seahawks and Shabbat

After spending 10 years outside of England, I no longer speak English with the accent I grew up with instead it's morphed into an English which is clearly from England but with American and Australian twangs reflecting the different places I've lived over the years but it plays havoc on dialect tests. But one of the things which still makes me very English is my love of all English sports - football (soccer), cricket and rugby. I'm still crazy about Manchester United and I've been watching the Ashes all Winter although maybe it's time to give up on that after losing so badly in Australia. 

I never really got very into Aussie Rules Football when I lived in Melbourne but I've slowly got quite keenly interested in (American) football watching the Seattle Seahawks. Now it may have to do with them playing really well but I find myself compelled to know the results and watch the games which brings me to the purpose of this blog.

This coming Shabbat at 1:35pm the Seahawks are playing the Saints in the playoffs. It's the ultimate test for someone who keeps Shabbat and is a crazy sports fan. It's the time when all types of questions get asked to the rabbi like is it ok to turn on the television before Shabbat and keep it on? Is it ok to record the game on Shabbat and watch it straight after Shabbat? In Melbourne the perennial question always surrounded walking to the AFL Grand Final with a ticket around your neck! 

Shabbat is all about stopping one's normal workday routine and getting in touch with our spirituality. It's about a cessation of work rather than a day for sleeping in. I love the moment on on Friday afternoon when I turn my phone off and all of the week's troubles are left behind for 25 hours. I'm never more at peace than at that moment. Shabbat isn't a list of things you can't do it's all about connecting to the more spiritual things in this world. As such we have to take great pains to make sure that our Shabbatot are reserved for activities that will enhance our Shabbat experience such as synagogue attendance and delicious meals with friends and families. 

The question of leaving the television on Shabbat can be addressed as follows. There is a well known principle that if something is started before Shabbat it can continue into Shabbat. The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat (18a) addresses the case of a water-operated mill that one sets into motion before Shabbat so that it will operate and grind wheat throughout Shabbat. Bet Hillel permitted such an arrangement, since all the activity is performed before Shabbat. The mechanism operates on Shabbat without any involvement on the part of the individual, and thus no Shabbat violation is entailed.

The Talmud quotes Rava that it is prohibited to add wheat on Friday to a water mill that runs automatically on Shabbat, since the mill produces a large amount of noise and this noise denigrates Shabbat (zeluta deShabbat). Furthermore, people will say that the owner of the mill is running it on Shabbat. Rav Yosef is quoted in the Talmud as disagreeing with Rava and permitting any action done prior to Shabbat even if it creates large amount of noise.

This view is codified by the Shulhan Arukh (O.H 252:6), who adds that even if the mechanism makes a sound, it may nevertheless be allowed to operate on its own during Shabbat. The Rema notes that the Ashkenazi custom is not to allow it if it makes a sound. 

This Halacha is the basis for the widespread use of timers, or "Shabbat clocks," to turn on and off lights and appliances on Shabbat. Thus, for example, one may set a timer before Shabbat to turn on and off a light, an electric fan or heating system during Shabbat. Since the person's involvement occurs only before Shabbat, and not during Shabbat, the timer's operation on Shabbat does not entail any violation.

This Halacha does not extend to televisions. It is, of course, strictly forbidden to watch television on Shabbat, even if one sets the television on a timer before Shabbat, as watching television is not at all in the spirit of the day (and for Ashkenazim would also be not allowed for the noise). 

However, this does not apply to recording the game on Shabbat when the television is left off. Since you haven't been making your Shabbat like Sunday. It is so vital  that the essence of Shabbat be enhanced to the maximum of our ability. Whether we keep Shabbat 100% or whether we keep aspects of Shabbat we must try and remove things that have nothing to do with Shabbat whatsoever.

I will be watching the game after Shabbat and it will probably be better because we can skip the 2 hours of commercials! Wishing the Hawks all the best and wishing you a Shabbat that is full of spirituality.

Why so much Kabbalah in Halakha

Apologies for those looking for Madonna.

In my last blog I mentioned that the custom of Turkish Jews was to wear Talet and Tefillin on a fast day even when the fast falls out on a Friday. Subsequently there has been much debate whether that minhag is a correct custom or not. I would like to state that this blog is not here to make halakhic rulings on particular minhagim or practices. It is here for the process of debate, discussion and food for thought. As such please feel free to comment on the blog or to send me a private email.

Let's start with an introduction. Levantine Sephardim and Sephardim from Western Europe have the custom of wearing Talet and Tefillin on the afternoon of all fast days (except for Yom Kippur of course). Some people have the custom to wear Talet and Tefillin every mincha.

The Be'er Hetev in his commentary to the Shulkhan Arukh (O.C. 37:3) writes that one does not wear Talet and Tefillin on Friday afternoons because of the sanctity of Shabbat. However Rabbi Mordechai Margoliot in his commentary to the Shulkhan Arukh called Sha'arei Teshuva (O.C. 37:3) writes that from a purely halakhic position there is absolutely no problem with wearing Tefillin erev Shabbat and one should not protest if someone wears tefillin on Friday afternoon. However, he adds that he asked many great Rabbis in Israel and they said not to wear Tefillin erev Shabbat. The Kaf HaChaim on the Shulkan Arukh (O.C. 25:100 and 37:11) first writes that there are those who do wear Talet and Tefillin Erev Shabbat but that the minhag in Beit El synagogue was not to wear Talet and Tefillin Erev Shabbat.

The reason given for not wearing Talet and Tefillin Erev Shabbat was Kabbalistic in nature that the holiness of Shabbat already starts from Friday afternoon and already permeates the feel of Friday afternoon especially late on Friday afternoon. This Kabbalistic teaching is held as law by the majority of great Sephardic Rabbis such as the Hida, Kaf HaChaim and Rav Palachi.

The Moroccan Poskim are in debate whether the Talet and Tefillin problem is all Friday afternoon or just late Friday afternoon. The consensus of the Moroccan authorities is that if Mincha Gedola is done on Friday there is no problem of Shabbat's holiness already taking hold. 

Nevertheless according to Maran if a person wishes to wear tefillin all day or even just Shacharit and Minha there is no problem with a person doing this on Friday afternoon from a halakhic perspective. The only issue is kabbalistic. 

My question which I don't really have an answer to is why does Kabbalah play such a central role in halacha? Maran was also a great kabbalist. But he took great pains not to bring too much Kabbalah into halakha. However, the Arizal, the Hida, the Kaf Hachaim, Rav Palachi and others saw Kabbalah and Halakha so intertwined that they always based their halachic rulings in Kabbalistic sources.

For example in my class last Wednesday night we were discussing whether it was permissible to wake up early before the fast started and eat breakfast if one made a declaration before going to bed? From Maran it was clear that this was acceptable to do but Rav Ben Zion Abba Shaul brings the Kabbalah that says even with a declaration once a person goes to bed they cannot get up to eat as the halakha. Now I'm not knocking Kabbalah I just find it strange that Maran would try and keep it away from halakha but in the last few hundred years it has been brought to the forefront.

As a postscript for future years: The next time that Asara Be'Tevet falls on Friday is Dec 25th 2020. There would be no problem having an early mincha on that Friday and that may resolve the problem a little. But there are many who hold even an early mincha is problematic.