Idea School students have been learning the halachot related to organ donation as part of a unit on the pursuit of justice and the role each one of us plays in creating a caring and just society. As part of the unit, students researched how many Americans are in need of organs and assessed the risks of being a live donor. They heard presentations from Dr. Moshe Wertenteil who works with HODS, Halachic Organ Donor Society, and Iris Borger, a member of Rinat Yisrael who donated her kidney to Tikvah Wiener’s father David Kramer. Then students prepared source sheets on Sefaria, using the Talmud and texts such as the Sefer HaChinuch. The research culminated with the students opening a recent JCC staff meeting with their interactive Divrei Torah. Their conclusion: While not everyone decides to be a live organ donor, we can all look for ways to better the world. Tzedek, tzedek tirdof, indeed.
