question about the jewish faith?

Question

i recently heard from a friend that jews do not believe in donating organs after they have passed away. I have no idea if this is true or not, im not jewish, but i was curious about this subject

Answer 1

The question has been asked from the major poskim (Rabbinical decisors) and the most accepted view goes like this:
It is a mitzvah (positive commandment) to bury a body whole- it is stated in the Zohar that if the body is not whole when buried the soul feels pain. BUT, there is a principal called pikuach nefesh - saving a life, which states that there are only three laws which we do not violate in orde rto save a life.
1) Idoltary
2) Sexual immorality (sodomy, incest, adultery)
3) Murder

Now, removing organs from a dead body is not in any of those categories so it can be done to save a life. But therein lies the problem- it cannot be for any other purpose (certain disabilities are classified in th same vein- namely blindness and, some would argue, sever disfiguring burns). So organ donations for those purposes ARE allowed. BUT, the conditions wherein we are allowed to do it are very stringent as to when we will allow a person to be "killed" in order to remove an organ to save another person's life. For this purpose brain death is usually the criterion, but there are other issues around it which mean a competent halachic authority must ALWAYS be consulted in these cases.

The problem in many countries which stops Orthodox Jews form becoming organ donors is that you may not specify conditions on your organ donation. This then means that an orthodox Jew cannot register as an organ donor since organs for purposes not allowed by halachah will be taken. When conditions are allowed to be attached or specific conditions allowed, then you may become an organ donor (but if anyone Jewish is reading this, talk to your local Rabbi first).

Answer 2

That's actually a really complex issue. Ideally, a Jew is supposed to be buried (not cremated), their body intact. However, the imperative of saving a human life takes precedence over most other rules. There's actually a group of Torah-observant Jews that advocates organ donation, within the limits of Jewish law (called Halacha, from the Hebrew root meaning "to walk"). They're called the Halachic Organ Donor Society. Check them out here: http://www.hods.org/index.shtml

I hope you find this information helpful, and if you have any other Judaism-related questions, feel free to contact me directly. There are quite a few honest, knowledgable people on Yahoo Answers (*cough*Allonyoav*cough*), but there are ten times as many idiots (e.g. people who don't know jack squat about Judaism but don't let that stop them from writing elaborate commentaries on Jewish theology, culture, and history) and charlatans (e.g. Christians who for their own perverse reasons go around calling themselves Jews, preaching Christianity and calling it Judaism). So just try to take these answers with a grain of salt, and try to confirm them independently if you can.

Answer 3

Maybe Hasidic Jews don't believe in it. A close Jewish friend of mine received a liver transplant 10 years ago, and he's a huge advocate of organ donation for obvious reasons, so I would guess all Jews don't believe that.

)O(

Answer 4

Allonyoa gave the perfect answer according to Jewish law as I understood it when I explored this issue myself years ago.

I respect that and believe there is nothing wrong with honoring it.

But Reform Jews like me.. often have our organ donor cards filled out.

Hope that helped.

Answer 5

Traditional Jewish belief is that the body must be buried whole.