Organ donation considered a great mitzvah

The High Holy Days have passed, but your focus on rejuvenation and new beginnings should be in full swing. One important way to embrace life is to "donate life."

Rabbi Joseph Ozarowski, chaplain for the Jewish Healing Network of Chicago, a joint program of Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and its agencies, Jewish Child and Family Services, Council for Jewish Elderly, and the Chicago Board of Rabbis, explains how Jewish law supports organ donation: "The Torah teaches that human life has inestimable, infinite value. The obligation to preserve human life (pikuach nefesh) is an overriding principle of Jewish law and faith. When we have the ability to save a life, we should do so. Thus, donating organs to save another person's life can be seen as a very great mitzvah."

A past national officer of the Rabbinical Council of America and recent executive director of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, Ozarowski currently provides counsel and guidance to families in a variety of areas, including end-of-life issues and decisions. "If the question of organ donation comes up and families need guidance from the perspective of Jewish law and tradition, I work with them to clarify the issues and help them in their decision making."

For thousands of men, women, and children, each person's decision to donate is a gift of hope.

Every decision makes a difference

"More than 92,000 people are on the national waiting list for lifesaving organ transplants and more than 4,600 are in Illinois alone. But through the decision to donate life after death, one person can save several lives," says Martin Mozes, MD, FACS, medical director for Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, based in Elmhurst, Ill. Gift of Hope is the federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organization that coordinates organ and tissue donation, and services to families of donors, in the northern three-quarters of Illinois and northwest Indiana.

According to Mozes, who received his medical degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, "When organ transplantation started in 1954, the procedure was considered experimental. However, as outcomes improved and risks decreased, Jewish leaders have come to view transplantation as standard medical practice."

Both Ozarowski and Mozes emphasize that organ donation is accepted by both the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America.

One family's experience can put this all into perspective.

A second chance at life

Marvin Reznik, a funeral director with Weinstein Family Services in Wilmette, Ill., knows what it means to give and to receive. In 1995, he was diagnosed with hepatitis C and was put on a treatment regimen. With no cure, the disease began taking its toll on Reznik's health. Then, in July 1996, he and his wife, Sandy, received a dreaded call about their 22-year-old son, Mike.

"We learned that Mike was involved in an auto accident—and he was brain dead," Reznik says. "A respirator was keeping his heart beating."

The Rezniks immediately made the decision to donate Mike's organs. "All three of us had decided years ago that donation was the right thing to do," he says. "As a result, five people today are living because of Michael. My anger at our loss was mellowed by the idea that God had given us a way to use Mike's life in a positive way."

Meanwhile, Reznik's health continued to deteriorate. By December 1997, he had end-stage liver disease and was put on the transplant waiting list. "In summer 1998 I was hospitalized, and the doctor said that the only way I was going to leave, was with a new liver," he explains.

On October 12, a 16-year-old girl died from injuries sustained in an auto accident. Her liver gave Reznik the gift of life. "I've watched my two daughters graduate, walked one down the aisle, and I'm a grandpa," he says.

As a funeral director, transplant recipient and donor father, Reznik uses his experience and advocacy of organ donation to serve as a resource to other Jewish funeral homes and educate the Jewish community. As the nation observes National Donor Sabbath, he will be speaking to Jewish congregations in the Chicago area. Reznik sums up, "We are all looking for ways to remember and be remembered. What better way than the knowledge that, through donation, our legacy is we have saved a life—or many lives. We will live forever through our generosity."

During the weekend of Nov. 10-12, faith communities throughout the country will observe National Donor Sabbath—an interfaith celebration of the gifts of hope provided through organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Together, the religious and healthcare communities will urge people to make faith-based decisions to become organ and tissue donors.

If you would like information and materials (at no charge) to participate in National Donor Sabbath, visit www.giftofhope.org, e-mail donorsabbath@giftofhope.org, or call 888/307-3668.

To learn more about organ donation and/or to sign up in Illinois' new donor consent registry—launched January 1 of this year—visit www.giftofhope.org. The new registry enables individuals to register their legally binding consent to become an organ and tissue donor. Even if you signed your driver's license prior to January 1, you need to re-register.