Powered by WebAds

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Generosity

This is a beautiful, beautiful story. I literally choked up while reading it:
The organs of Ahmed Ismail Khatib, 13, the Palestinian boy shot Thursday by IDF soldiers in the West Bank town of Kabatiya near Jenin, will be donated to six Israelis.

Ahmed was shot after soldiers mistook his toy gun for a real one. Still, his parents decided to donate the organs “for the sake of peace between the two people.”

...Ahmed's heart has been transplanted Sunday into the body of a 12-year-old girl at the Schneider hospital in Petah Tikva. His liver was donated to a six-month old baby and a 66-year-old woman at the Beilinson hospital in town.

Ahmed's lungs will be donated to a 14-year-old Cystic Fibrosis patient, and his kidneys to a five-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl.
What a wonderful example of righteous people who took a personal tragedy, and turned it into an opportunity to help others. Their actions show not a trace of the bitterness that we see in so many of those affected by senseless events such as their son's accidental killing. Instead, they chose give the gift of life in the form of organ transplants to so many, regardless of the recipients nationality, religion, or political views. Let us all learn a lesson from this generosity of spirit and heart.

May God repay them in turn for their good deed, and may they be comforted in their time of terrible loss.

10 Comments:

Blogger MC Aryeh said...

It would be a beautiful, selfless gesture in any case, but given the political situation, it is quite extraordinary. I wonder how they came to the decsion and how their community will react to their choice...

11:07 PM  
Blogger Mar Gavriel said...

Some things really make me optimistic about the yêtzer lêv tôv in the human race....

11:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"will be donated to six Israelis."

" What a wonderful example of righteous people who took a personal tragedy, and turned it into an opportunity to help others."

Help others? Would they look to help someone that is not Israelis if it was called for?

REminds me of when I was in the salon and some young girls were gettting their hair cut short for 'locks of love'. Overheard them saying that they were making sure their hair was going to an Israeli child.

What is the difference where it goes as long as someone is being helped!

8:11 AM  
Blogger Frummer????? said...

Wow!

Amazing story.

A side note, it's interesting how the BBC still describe the incident as the boy having been shot becuase he was throwing stones, with no mention of the gun, toy or otherwise. But then aagain, I'm not surprised.

9:03 AM  
Blogger Jameel @ The Muqata said...

OrthoMom: I wrote a reply, but the blogger comment monster ate it.

Even as its midnight here, I rewrote my reply and posted it here:On Organ Donations, Arabs, and Co-existance

Layla tov.

5:04 PM  
Blogger Shifra said...

My brother was the recipient of a live saving organ when he was 18.
Thank god for the generosity of people even in their time of greatest tragedy (in the US a donor card is not enough, the family must agree to allow the organs to be harvested).

9:47 AM  
Blogger orthomom said...

My brother was the recipient of a live saving organ when he was 18.

Wow, Shifra. So you got to see first-hand that organ donation is the gift of life.

9:58 AM  
Blogger Shifra said...

Yes definately. He was literally dying. Now he is married with two children, a house, and a good job. None of that would have been possible without this most generous of all gifts.

It is quite difficult for me to be objective when it come to the topic of whether orthodox Jews can donate their organs...

I give blood regularly as my way of "giving back" at least minimally. That's something anyone can and should do if it is not too difficult for them.

10:09 AM  
Blogger Mar Gavriel said...

It is quite difficult for me to be objective when it come to the topic of whether orthodox Jews can donate their organs...

So, are you an organ donor?

(I, too, give blood a few times a year, though perhaps not as frequently as I should.)

2:39 PM  
Blogger Jameel @ The Muqata said...

This is way too serious a subject for a comment section. Who wants to run with this blog subject? Jewishworker? GH?

HODS = Halachik Organ Donor Society"

Its different in Israel, with different options.

5:30 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home