Organ Donation



I was always a big endorser of the idea of organ donation.  In the past I was an organ donor on my driver's license.  I have since gone through a metamorphosis of sorts and have don't a 360 degree turn on this subject.  I was previously becoming more involved in my own personal religious beliefs and considering that one must not wish to have an autopsy as a Jewish person, I also considered that one might not wish to donate a solid organ and that one might in fact be more righteous and better off upon our burial with all of our organs intact.  I had thought this way now for a good 3 years or more.  I had considered that if I went to the grave without an organ, that my post life afterlife might be somewhat changed and perhaps that my soul would not be very happy in the world to come having been buried without a vital structure.  The Jewish belief is that we must be completely buried.  That is a fact. 

But I have since reconsidered this position.  I must say that I read an article of a fellow who received organs from a North Carolina Tar Heels affiliate and that he has since become a big North Carolina State Fan.  That struck me as prolonging ones legacy and ones interests in the human kingdom.  I must say that being a blogger, I hope that my blogs and interests will indeed continue for me beyond the grave.

That said, I must say that this was the trigger to make me reevaluate (and it happened quite fast) my own ideas about donation of my own organs post mortem.  I do think I will be changing my drivers license to allow such donations. I personally think that Judaism and Torah which are for living matters and the living world would indeed endorse Organ donation.  If you can prolong life, it is a mitzvah.  I do not believe that there are any considerations for your afterlife if your organs are transplanted into a living body. I do however think that if your kidney or other organ sat in a lab after you died (such as by autopsy), this does in fact interfere with the integrity of your body as it is placed in its final resting place.  So Organ Donation I say is fine.  Let the rabbis and all continue their enlightened discussions.  I have never read a single bit that I recall that details the Jewish view on organ donation and I no longer think I will be looking for this information, only if it does come across my desk in life.