In Memory of an Organ Donor
Today marks the second anniversary of my wife’s death, reckoned on the civil calendar. (Her Yartziet is Nisan 10 on the Hebrew calendar, which was Shabbat ha’Gadgol that year.) After Ami z”l died and became an organ donor, I wrote a Yizkor prayer for organ donors. The last sentence is the classic ending of a Yizkor prayer. To listen along, click the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.
In Memory of an Organ Donor
G-d of endings and beginnings,
G-d of past and future,
G-d of death and life,
Grant a perfect rest to ______________________ (name in Hebrew or your native tongue),
Whose death brought new life and new hope to others
Through the gift of his / her [vital] organs.
May those who received these gifts live lives of health and service,
Reflecting the love and devotion,
And the highest ideals,
Of our/my [father / mother / sister / brother / child / wife / dear one].
Bless our family with peace
Knowing that the hour of his / her death
Became a moment of life for others.
May this act of generosity echo through the generations,
A source of hope and comfort.
May his / her soul be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.
© 2011 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.
Postscript: See also “For Organ Donation” and these memorial prayers: “For Bereaved Children” and “For the Bereaved.” For some Jews, a specialized Yizkor prayer for an organ donor may be problematic, since this remains a debated practice. In 1991, the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America approved organ donations as permissible, even required, from brain-dead patients. In 1992, a revered ultra-orthodox rabbi ruled that organ transplantation is permissible. All four branches (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist) support and encourage donation, but, sadly, opinions vary from rabbi to rabbi. Please see the Halachic Organ Donor Society for Jewish resources. Here’s a resource on how different religious systems view organ donation. Thank you to reader Cindy Barnard for the link to the the Halachic Organ Donor Society.
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Dear Alden – Last week an 11 year old girl in our congregation went in to sudden heart failure. Today, she lays recovering – alert and alive – with a new heart beating in her chest because of the generosity of you and others who made this difficult choice in their moment of grief. My husband, Rabbi Joel Abraham, and I has been giving lots of thought in the last few days to how we honor those who gave life to others. This prayer is a beautiful way of doing that. Thank you. May your wife’s memory forever be a blessing.
Michelle, thanks for the lovely note. Alden
Alden,
Thank you for writing this prayer for Ami z”l – my sister. She is much loved and missed by us all. I remember the time we spent with her in the hospital during the last hours of her life; and the joy of those who received the news that an organ was now available due to the compassion Ami z”l had for the lives of other human beings.
~ Donna
Donna, I’m so glad you were there. Love, Alden
Please see the Halachic Organ Donor Society at http://www.hods.org for some wonderful resources. Thank you very much for contributing beautifully to our understanding of how organ donation honors life and is a deeply Jewish action.