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Kidney donor

A Jewish action hero

 
 
 

With so many Jewish villains in the news lately, including convicted financial scoundrel Bernard Madoff, corrupt politicians, and Jewish community leaders allegedly laundering money, it is refreshing to discover and applaud a true Jewish hero.

A grassroots e-mail campaign is promoting Rabbi Ephraim Simon for recognition as a Jewish Hero in United Jewish Communities’ online contest. If he receives enough votes on the UJC Website (www.jewishcommunityheroes.org/nominees/profile/rabbi-ephraim-simon), then his altruistic act may be recognized by UJC, the Jewish federation’s umbrella organization, with a $25,000 donation to Teaneck Chabad House.

The Internet campaign “celebrates the selflessness and courage of those who put others before themselves.”

The e-mail that is circulating is encouraging people to: “Please go to this site and vote every 12 hours for Rabbi Simon as Jewish hero….”

The e-mail continues: “As many of you know, Rabbi Simon selflessly donated his kidney!!!!

“He would never accept any award for this act, so lets [sic] take this opportunity to win this award and get a miracle boost of 25k to the chabad house of teaneck!!!!”

According to the Website, www.jewishcommunityheroes.org, “Over the next three months, anyone across North America can go online, submit nominations, and vote for the candidates they believe best embody the spirit of the award.” The five finalists will be honored at the General Assembly in Washington, D.C., in November, and one of them will be named Jewish Community Hero of the Year. A $25,000 award will be presented to the Hero of the Year “to be used as an investment in their community project or non-profit effort.” The four runners-up will receive smaller awards to be used in their community projects or non-profit organizations.

“It only takes a few seconds so please vote!!! ( You can vote as many times as you want, every 12 hours),” reiterates the e-mail. “Rabbi Simon gave someone a miracle...lets give him one too!”

 

More on: Kidney donor

 

The need, the process, and legislation

There are 80,729 people in the United States on waiting lists for a kidney (2,723 in New Jersey). Although the number of living donors has increased in recent years, the rate of donation does not keep up with demand and many people die while waiting for a kidney. There are approximately 6,000 live kidney donations per year in the United States, representing about 45 percent of all kidneys donated (the rest are from deceased donors). In New Jersey, living donors have actually eclipsed deceased donors; in the last 10 years there were 1,472 living kidney donors, compared with 1,297 deceased donors.

 
 

My children should see what it means to be a Jew

Need a babysitter, a ride to Manhattan, or a kosher used barbecue grill? TeaneckShuls, a moderated listserv connecting people in the northern New Jersey area, can help you find what you need. Need a kidney? TeaneckShuls can help as well. Ruthie Levi, a moderator for the listserv, reports that “as a result of an e-mail posting on this list for someone seeking a kidney donation, Rabbi Ephraim Simon of Chabad Teaneck has … successfully donated his own kidney.”

“It’s not like I woke up one morning and wanted to donate a kidney,” said Simon, who serves as the Chabad rabbi in Teaneck. “My own children, ages 2 to 14, are my first priority.” He recounted how a woman named Chaya Lipshutz had been posting for years on TeaneckShuls about people who needed kidney donors. “I would read them, and sigh, and go on with my day. I have nine little children and it was not something I would envision doing.” However, one such posting touched him deeply. “In August 2008, [Lipshutz] had a post of a 12-year-old girl — how could I let a 12-year-old girl die? I have a daughter who is 12.”

 
 
 
 

 

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted 24 Oct 2009 at 09:51 PM

very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted 04 Nov 2009 at 01:15 PM

It takes a strong sense of self-sacrifice to be able to donate an organ. I salute Rabbi Simon for his bravery and selflessness.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted 04 Nov 2009 at 05:38 PM

That’s true. Rabbi Simon is a modern day hero. Organ donation is no easy feat.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted 05 Nov 2009 at 07:46 PM

I’ve got my organ donor sticker on my driver’s license, though I know it’s a lot easier to give an organ when you’re dead. My hat is off to the rabbi.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted 05 Nov 2009 at 07:48 PM

This is true. It’s very brave and fortunate that there are people out there like this. Good job.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted 06 Nov 2009 at 03:17 PM

The kidneys perform a very important function in the human body. The reason why we have two kidneys is because in case of a kidney failure there’s another one as back-up so I consider giving away your back-up kidney to be a very brave thing to do.
Grand Palladum White Sand

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted 09 Nov 2009 at 06:17 PM

Wow! Giving up a kidney for someone you barely know… now that’s what I consider a hero, a true self less act. Photo Lighting

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted 16 Nov 2009 at 02:40 AM

I’m touched by his true sense of empathy.  Putting another person’s daughter on the same level as his own is very selfless.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted 17 Nov 2009 at 03:11 PM

This world needs more people like Rabbi Simon. People who are selfless and kind.
Alli

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) posted 24 Nov 2009 at 05:26 PM

That’s really noble of him to give up a kidney. You know, the kidneys play key roles in body function, not only by filtering the blood and getting rid of waste products, but also by balancing levels of electrolytes in the body, controlling blood pressure, and stimulating the production of red blood cells. So it’s important to keep it healthy by keeping the right diet and proper exercise.
Ayurvedic Medicine

 

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Kidney donor

My children should see what it means to be a Jew

Need a babysitter, a ride to Manhattan, or a kosher used barbecue grill? TeaneckShuls, a moderated listserv connecting people in the northern New Jersey area, can help you find what you need. Need a kidney? TeaneckShuls can help as well. Ruthie Levi, a moderator for the listserv, reports that “as a result of an e-mail posting on this list for someone seeking a kidney donation, Rabbi Ephraim Simon of Chabad Teaneck has … successfully donated his own kidney.”

“It’s not like I woke up one morning and wanted to donate a kidney,” said Simon, who serves as the Chabad rabbi in Teaneck. “My own children, ages 2 to 14, are my first priority.” He recounted how a woman named Chaya Lipshutz had been posting for years on TeaneckShuls about people who needed kidney donors. “I would read them, and sigh, and go on with my day. I have nine little children and it was not something I would envision doing.” However, one such posting touched him deeply. “In August 2008, [Lipshutz] had a post of a 12-year-old girl — how could I let a 12-year-old girl die? I have a daughter who is 12.”

 

Woodstock

The Jewish connection

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the historic Woodstock Music Festival, which attracted perhaps as many as a half-million, mostly young, concertgoers. The peaceful behavior of festival-goers gave, and still gives, Woodstock the aura of being the tangible affirmation of the “peace and love” ethos of the ’60s hippie “counterculture.” The “good vibes” were preserved for posterity by the best concert film of the ’60s.

As I recall from Hebrew school, the Torah likes the number 40 — 40 years in the desert and so on. So, I guess it is appropriate, on this anniversary, to explore Woodstock’s many Jewish connections.

Let’s put on a show

 

Jewish groups join national debate on health-care reform

Legislators and lobbyists working to push through President Obama’s health-care reforms have sought out the faith community as a voice of moral urgency.

Indeed, the contentious debate over health-care reform facing the country appears to have united Jewish advocacy organizations. While individuals within the Jewish community may not universally accept Obama’s push for reform, the Jewish organizational world is mostly unified in support, said Steve Gutow, president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella group for the nation’s Jewish Community Relations Councils.

“Social justice is a Jewish imperative,” said Nancy Ratzan, president of the National Council for Jewish Women, during a telephone interview on Monday. “Access to basic health care for everyone, I think, is understood today as a fundamental social-justice issue. The Jewish community is very engaged and very inspired by this opportunity to change policy to ensure that kind of justice for everybody, so it’s not just those who can afford it.”

 

RECENTLYADDED

An ill wind

Community mourns deaths and struggles to recover

Teaneck was in mourning this week for Ovadia Mussaffi and Lawrence Krause, killed by a falling tree during Saturday night’s nor’easter as they walked home from shul after Shabbat.

Teaneck was in mourning this week for Ovadia Mussaffi and Lawrence Krause, killed by a falling tree during Saturday night’s nor’easter as they walked home from shul after Shabbat.

As mourners gathered in the men’s homes for shiva this week, friends and family described both as friendly, sweet, and generous. Mussaffi, 54, is survived by his wife, Susan, and their four children. Krause, 49, is survived by his wife, Zahava, and six children, including a six-week-old daughter.

Born in Israel to Iraqi parents, Mussaffi served in the Israel Air Force. After the death of his parents he began to become more religiously observant. Coming to Teaneck more than 20 years ago, he owned Italian Connection, a clothing store in New York. For the past few years he was president of Cong. Shaarei Orah, Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck, where his loss appeared to be felt most by those he was close to.

 

An ill wind

A matter of faith?

Rabbi David Fine, religious leader of Temple Israel & Jewish Community Center in Ridgewood, recalls a book he was required to read in high school.

“The Bridge of San Luis Rey,” by Thornton Wilder, tells the story of several people who die in the collapse of a suspension bridge in Peru. A friar who witnessed the event tries to make sense of it, searching for some kind of cosmic reason for the tragedy.

“People always try to find explanations,” said Fine, who spoke to The Jewish Standard by cell phone Tuesday, since the synagogue’s telephone lines were still down because of the storm. But, he added, even after reading the book, he walked away unconvinced of a cosmic cause, concluding that the bridge collapse was simply an accident.

“Tragedy is random,” he said. “That’s what makes it so terrible. We’re at the mercy of the world. We try to control it as best we can, but events like this remind us of our humility.”

 

An ill wind

Whirlwind week for JCC

Avi Lewinson, back on Tuesday from surveying the storm’s detritus at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, strove for some rueful humor. One good thing about Saturday’s storm, the JCC’s executive director told The Jewish Standard, was that “it forces you to purge right before Pesach.”

But he quickly turned serious, noting that eight people had been killed during the punishing wind and rainstorm, two of them from Teaneck. (See related story.) He did not know the area men personally, he added, “but we’re all brothers. One Jew for another.”

The JCC was up and running on Thursday, but the epic storm required an epic cleanup.

 

 

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