Letters To The Editor

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Written by 5TJT Readers

Thursday, 10 February 2011 12:53

Another Schmutter Fan

Dear Editor, Mordechai Schmutterâ€™s column â€œNot The Same Shirtâ€ led my wife to believe that I wrote the column. Everything written pointed in my direction.

I have a closet full of soup-stained ties, and every time I pick one out â€œit does not match.â€ I solved that problem by putting the tie into one of the pockets before hanging the suit in the closet. When I wear it again, I take the tie out and my wife is amazed at the fact that â€œit matches.â€ However, when I am in the shower, my wife lays out clothes, including another tie. Now, I have two ties for the same suit, and I put both into the pocket so that now I have two ties that match.

Gerald Zisholtz, Esq.

More On The Organ Debate

Dear Editor, I wish to bring to your readersâ€™ attention a scary development. For the past several years, Agudath Israel of America and other chareidi groups have been fighting for equality under international and national law with regard to end-of-life matters. This equality is about to change. As of January 1 of next year, Israeli residents who sign an organ donor cardâ€”permitting doctors to remove vital organs at their discretion should they be labeled â€œbrain deadâ€â€”will be moved to the front of the line to receive organs should they themselves ever need an organ. Conversely, those who for whatever reason do not sign such a card will be moved to the bottom of the list should they ever need an organ.

While this has limited significance to most Israeli chareidimâ€”since they follow the piskei halachah of Gedolim such as Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, ztâ€™l, and ylâ€™t Rav Elyashiv, shlita as well as other leading poskim who forbid the receipt of organs in Eretz Yisraelâ€”this new law may serve as a precedent worldwide. Unchecked, this law will overturn centuries of medical ethics, wherein the decision regarding who should get care depends solely on the medical condition of the patient.

For example, under the new law, a thief or murderer who has in the past signed an organ donor card will almost certainly be given preference over a Hatzolah member, the head of a soup kitchen, or any of the myriad of charedim who contribute all sorts of benefits to societyâ€”simply because they signed this card, whereas the charedi declined to do so, having accepted the halachic ruling of their posek. If this is not religious discrimination, what is?

I strongly advise readers who live in Eretz Yisrael or have relatives who live there to contact the Members of Knesset of the religious parties and ask what if anything is being done to counter this dangerous law. Time is not on our side. The time to act is now.

Respectfully,
Leon Zacharowicz, MD
Member of the Executive Committee of the Arichas Yamim project of Agudath Israel of America
Co-founder of the International Yarchei Kallah in Medical Halacha

Dear Editor,

One who thinks a brain-dead person is alive, and nonetheless puts himself on a list asking doctors to murder the brain dead patient and take out his organs is committing an act which is morally repulsive and halachically untenable. In addition, in spite of Dr. Zacharowiczâ€™s hyperbolic claim that the new Israeli law will move those who donâ€™t have an organ donor card to the bottom of the organ waiting list, it is simply not true. The Israeli algorithm that calculates a personâ€™s place on the waiting list is combined of many factors such as length of time on the list, the personâ€™s dire medical need, etc. Only when two people have the same ranking on the list, the person who has an organ donor card will be given preference.

Moreover, in spite of Dr. Zacharowitczâ€™s logic, the principles of justice and fairness dictate that one who refuses to donate organs to society should not benefit by taking organs from society. You canâ€™t have your kugel and eat it too. Furthermore, Dr. Zacharowiczâ€™s cry of religious discrimination is spurious. This new law applies to anyone in Israel who doesnâ€™t have an organ donor card, including the many secular Israelis who are too squeamish, too selfish, or too lazy to register for an organ donor card.

Perhaps if Dr. Zacharowicz lived in Israel instead of Long Island, he would feel the acute need for organ donors in this country. Perhaps he would meet, as I do, the many people on the list who die due to the dearth of donors and then he too would understand why this law was enacted. The test of integrity is the willingness to pay the price for oneâ€™s principles.

Robby Berman, Jerusalem,
Founder and Director, Halachic Organ Donor Society

A Questionable Professor

Dear Readers, It is pathetic that the administrations of Brooklyn College and CUNY have caved to intimidation tactics and reversed their earlier, praiseworthy decision to oust Kristofer Petersen-Overton from his post [as professor].

Mr. Petersen-Overton has stated in published reports that he â€œunderstandsâ€ suicide bombing. In re-hiring Mr. Petersen-Overton, Brooklyn College and CUNY have sent a message to suicide bombers and their supporters that a publicly funded institution of higher learning condones suicide bombing as an acceptable method of â€˜resistance.â€™ Granting Mr. Petersen-Overton access to thousands of impressionable young minds, especially at the taxpayersâ€™ expense, is nothing short of shameful and embarrassing. By CUNYâ€™s own determination, Mr. Petersen-Overton was relieved of his teaching job and deemed unqualified because he did not hold a doctoral degree. His reappointment and the universityâ€™s flip-flopping on this issue is cowardice at its very worst.

Assemblyman Dov Hikind