Dear Benny,



Daat Emet is embroiled in an ideological battle against religion. One of the tangents to this fight is organ donation.



Rabbis forbid donation, because the Talmud determined that the moment of death is when breathing ceases.



To promote this topic on the religious front you must promote the idea that the Talmud has no medical authority to determine the moment of death.



Sincerely,



Daat Emet

Dear Benny,



Do you mean Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach OBM? If so, I would be interested in seeing an authoritative source for what you quoted.



Daat Emet

Dear Benny,

Thanks for the sources.

The view of the rabbis on this issue seems quite correct.

I think we have to create legislation which would obligate the donation of organs to save lives, on the principle that “saving lives overrides burying organs.” The family and friends of the dead person are not party to this. and even if, while alive, the person had asked that his organs not be donated, he should not be heeded.



Daat Emet

Benny Basowitz



A: Dear Benny,



I think you are mistaken.

There is a significance disagreement between the medical definition of death and the Halachic. According to doctors death depends on the brain and according to Halacha — relying on the Talmud written in the 5th century — it depends on breath.



Herein lies the practical problem and the lack of trust.



Thus was it ruled in Responsa Tzitz Eliezer 10:25: “The declaration of death in these days…whether man’s life is tied to the heart or the brain…a man’s death is determined with the cessation of breath, for it is a rule with all the dead, for this has been tradition as long as we have been G-d’s people…doctors cannot change, based on their opinion, the medical wisdom determined by Chazal…for we cannot debate matters of the laws of Torah and the commandments through scholars of nature and medicine. If we believe what they say, well, there is no Torah from the Heavens, G-d forbid, and they believe in false wonders…We will rely upon Chazal, even if they tell us right is left…Now we will examine why there are those who err…and want to determine…that life depends on the brain…this opposes what Chazal rules, and how many lives does this ruling cost, for in what they call clinical death…they really kill people, and this is what many doctors in the world now do so they can earn a name for heart transplants. We should shout out against this and call them murderers.”



This rabbi and posek ruled that one should not rely upon doctors, but rather on the sages who lived in Sura, Nahardia, and Pumbedita 1500 years ago.

Dear Benny,

Thanks for the sources.

The view of the rabbis on this issue seems quite correct.

I think we have to create legislation which would obligate the donation of organs to save lives, on the principle that “saving lives overrides burying organs.” The family and friends of the dead person are not party to this. and even if, while alive, the person had asked that his organs not be donated, he should not be heeded.



Daat Emet

Dear Benny,

Thanks for the sources.

The view of the rabbis on this issue seems quite correct.

I think we have to create legislation which would obligate the donation of organs to save lives, on the principle that “saving lives overrides burying organs.” The family and friends of the dead person are not party to this. and even if, while alive, the person had asked that his organs not be donated, he should not be heeded.



Daat Emet