organ donation

Dec 08, 2010 01:08

There exist some who claim that observant Jews cannot donate their organs but can give them.  Despite the fact that they feel organ donation is murder in most cases (because they do not accept brain death as death, and so the donor is murdered by removing his organs), they feel this murder will occur anyway, and since it is life-saving it is permitted to benefit from said murder.

Imagine a Jew and his trusty non-Jewish bodyguard are trapped in an airproof container together.  As is, the three of them will suffocate after several hours.  If there were fewer people, the oxygen would last longer for those still alive.  The bodyguard informs his Jewish employer "I am going to kill the third party, so that the two of us have more air."  Can the Jew really just sit there, if by objecting he can prevent this murder?
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