TORONTO — The Toronto Board of Rabbis (TBR), in conjunction with the Trillium Gift of Life Network, the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto and the Canadian Council of Imams, is spreading the word about the need to register as an organ or tissue donor.
Faith leaders from the Jewish, Catholic and Muslim communities gathered in Toronto last week to promote organ donation. From left are Imam Habeeb Alli from the Canadian Council of Imams; Rabbi Michal Shekel, executive director of the Toronto Board of Rabbis; Trillium Gift of Life Network president and CEO Frank Markel, and Moira McQueen, director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute. [Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf photo]
Speaking at Trillium’s interfaith press conference last week, Reform Rabbi Michal Shekel, TBR’s executive director, told The CJN that all four major streams of Judaism – Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Orthodox – view organ donation as a halachic imperative.
“The Toronto Board of Rabbis does not set halachah, but the four major movements have all stated that donating an organ is a mitzvah,” she said, adding that there are differences between the denominations as to what donations are allowed.
Rabbi Shekel said that people who want to register as organ donors should consult a rabbi to find out what organs they can list for donation.
She said most Jews don’t know organ donation is permissible and, in fact, encouraged.
“Jews are reluctant to donate, because they believe they’re not allowed to. This is not true,” she said. “It’s disappointing the low levels of organ donors in our community, one with such a high level of education.”
The TBR first teamed with the Trillium Gift of Life Network in 2005, when the network’s newly installed president and CEO, Frank Markel – who is Jewish – approached one of Trillium’s board members, Rabbi Reuven Bulka, who urged Markel to reach out to TBR’s executive director at the time, Rabbi Aaron Flanzraich, to get the message out.
Soon after, Trillium and the TBR produced a set of brochures and posters for distribution to synagogues and Jewish organizations telling the community about the need for donors and clearing up misconceptions about Halachah on the matter.
“Our community prides itself on charity and compassion for other people,” Markel said, adding that he hopes those traits will inspire action in the community.
According to Trillium’s statistics, 1,651 Ontarians – and nearly 4,000 Canadians – are waiting for organ and tissue donations, the majority of whom need kidneys and lungs to save their lives.
In a statement, the TBR said that it “urges members of the Jewish community to register their consent to become organ donors. We also encourage families to help in life-saving transplant procedures by consenting to a loved one’s post-mortem organ donation when a request is made by hospital staff.”
Rabbi Shekel noted that all the rabbis on the board have registered as organ donors with the province.
This year, a new Trillium brochure aimed at the Jewish community – titled Organ Donation: it’s a mitzvah – was printed just before Rosh Hashanah, in order for rabbis to refer to it from the pulpit during High Holiday services.
In it, the TBR affirms that “the value of human life, pikuach nefesh, is a cardinal value in Jewish law” and stresses the importance of registering as an organ donor in accordance with that principle.
The brochure also addresses questions about whether organ donation is allowable because of burial concerns, since Jewish law states that a body should be buried intact.
“Judaism clearly draws a distinction in the case of donating organs and tissues in order to save a life. The saving of a life is the most important of human activities. This is an overriding principle,” it states.
For more information, visit www.giftoflife.on.ca or www.torontoboardofrabbis.org
