By Rabbi Motti Wilhelm – Chabad Lubavitch of Oregon
Three years ago, my father Rabbi Moshe Wilhelm, Head Shliach of the Rebbe in the State of Oregon, was in need of a kidney transplant.
A match was identified, and the logistics of the transplant were arranged by Renewal, an organization dedicated to streamlining the lifesaving work of Kidney transplants, advocating for both donors and recipients.
The donor, a Jewish woman from Lakewood, New Jersey did not know who the recipient would be and was doing this completely altruistically. Such decisions don’t come easily, especially to a woman from a frum community where potential halachic restrictions are always taken into account.
The family decided to seek the advice and guidance of the great Torah scholar Rav Chaim Kanievsky OBM, who passed away this past week at the age of 94.
His response (similar to the one published in the sefer “Derech Sicha”) was “I cannot instruct you to donate a kidney, but it was certainly a great Mitzvah.”
Once the woman and her family made the decision to go ahead with the donation, they once again turned to Rav Kanievsky. This time they asked for his blessing and on the day of the surgery, he prayed for its success.
Rav Kanievsky’s guidance and calming demeanor yet firm resolve in the importance of the task were all this woman needed to go through with her selfless act of courage. She was donating a kidney to a person she did not even know. This man could be someone’s husband, father, grandfather and friend.
The procedure was a success. Baruch Hashem, my father was infused with a new sense of vigor and energy, enabling him to continue the important work the Rebbe had tasked him and my mother back in 1984 – to enhance Yiddishkeit in Portland.
The woman and her family from Lakewood have since learned the identity of the kidney recipient. Our families had grown very close and stayed in regular contact. In 2020, they came to Portland for my sister’s wedding and two weeks ago my parents were in Lakewood to attend the wedding of their son.
My family will forever be grateful to her, her family and to Rav Kanievsky’s guidance.
VIDEO: Rabbi Wilhelm and donors husband dancing by donors child Sheva Brochos hosted by the son of Rabbi Wilhelm
so beautiful to read
A young man from Lakewood once came and presented the following question to Rav Chaim Kanievsky: “A relative of mine is suffering from acute renal failure,” he said, “and desperately needs a kidney transplant. My whole family were tested and I am the only one who is a match. I am ready to undergo surgery to give him a kidney, but one thing is troubling me: I am a Kohen. When the Beis HaMikdash will speedily be rebuilt, I am afraid that donating a kidney will make me a baal mum, a “blemished” person who may not perform the Avodah… Read more »
WE ARE SO GRATEFUL TOTHIS WONDERFUL WOMAN WHO SAVED A YOUN MANS’ LIFE!
TO UNDERSTAND THAT THOUGH WE ARE CHABAD CHASSISIM
WE SHOULD ACKNOWLEGE THE GREATNESS AND HELIKEIT OF A TLAMUD CHOCHOM WHO SAT YOM VLAILA LEARNT TORAH AND WAS AN OIHEIV SHALOM V’ROIDEF SHALOM IN AM YISROEL!!!!!
ACHDUS BRINGS MOSHIACH .