4 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 

essay

Why I Wrote a Jewish 
Book about Kidney Donation 
G

rowing up, like lots 
of idealistic young 
people, I always 
wanted to be the kind of 
person who would change 
the world drastically and 
for the better — perhaps as 
a life-saving 
scientist, a 
soul-inspiring 
musician or a 
transformative 
political leader. 
The problem 
was I wasn’t 
quite cut out for 
those fields and 
even those who do make it 
big in the public sphere don’t 
always have a profound or 
positive impact.
So instead, I found myself 
on the path of pursuing 
wisdom and justice in the 
religious realm, where I 
learned from the Talmud 
that saving a life is like 
saving the entire world. Fair 
enough, but saving even 
one life isn’t exactly easy 
either. Becoming a surgeon, 
for example, is extremely 
difficult, as is being a first 
responder.
Then, when I was in my 
mid-30s living in Scottsdale, 
Arizona, teaching Jewish 
values each day, it dawned 
on me that I had an 
accessible opportunity to 
save a life through “altruistic 
kidney donation,” meaning 
giving a kidney to a stranger. 
While the benefits of such an 
action are, just as the Talmud 

teaches, boundless, I was 
overwhelmed with existential 
questions. What is my 
obligation to protect my own 
life? What if, God forbid, my 
wife was to lose her husband, 
and my kids were to lose 
their father? What if my 
remaining kidney were to fail 
later on?
At that time, I didn’t 
have access to the literature 
I wanted in order to be 
informed. I felt morally 
paralyzed by the enormity of 
the quandary. So I pledged 
that if I were to pursue 
this path of donation, I 
would afterward create 
a resource that could be 
helpful to others — to 
people considering donating 
their kidneys and for those 
wanting to be supportive of 
their loved ones who wish to 
donate.
That’s why I wrote The 
5-Ounce Gift: A Medical, 
Philosophical & Spiritual Jewish 
Guide to Kidney Donation 
(Ben Yehuda Press, 2022). 
For this book, I gathered 
Torah wisdom from Jewish 
teachers, medical guidance 
from surgeons, knowledge 
from the world of philosophy 
and practical experience 
from others who have 
donated.
We face an enormous 
problem in our communities: 
About 90,000 people in 
the U.S., per the National 
Institutes of Health, are on 
the kidney transplant waiting 

list, and only about 
20,000 transplants per 
year can be completed. 
Our hearts break for 
those suffering from 
end-stage kidney 
disease, also for their 
family and friends 
struggling along with 
them.
This is yet another 
example of the 
potential for science 
and Judaism to 
work together for 
the improvement of the 
world. By tying the moral 
responsibility imbued by our 
tradition to the life-saving 
power made possible by 
medical advancement, we 
can bring each field toward 
its full purpose.
My goal in writing this 
book was not to persuade 
people to become kidney 
donors. My objective is to 
have an honest and open 
exploration of the questions 
involved for those interested. 
I hope to help readers 
grapple with our obligations 
to one another and our duty 
to protect ourselves.
Ultimately, I decided to 
go through with my kidney 
donation. I had my kidney 
removed in New York in June 
2015 at Mount Sinai Hospital 
in New York City. And my 
kidney was given to a very 
young Israeli named Yossi, 
who had lost his mother at 
a young age. I didn’t choose 
him as my recipient; I was 

willing to donate to 
anyone. But I felt deeply 
drawn toward him and 
accepted him as the first 
option presented to me.
“As far as I’m concerned, 
every person who donates 
a kidney is a superhero,” 
Yossi wrote shortly after 
his successful surgery in an 
essay now included in this 
book.
I never did become Albert 
Einstein or Yo-Yo Ma or 
the president — or one of 
the many nurses who do 
life-saving work every day. 
But to Yossi, it was as if I 
had saved the world. I want 
to figure out how we can 
work to save more worlds 
together. 

The “5-Ounce Gift” is available for 

pre-order through Ben Yehuda Press. 

Proceeds will go to Valley Beit Midrash 

to further Jewish educational pro-

grams. Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is 

the president and dean of Valley Beit 

Midrash. He was recently the Glazer 

Institute Scholar at Temple Beth El.

PURELY COMMENTARY

Rabbi Dr. 
Shmuly 
Yanklowitz

