New Jersey Rabbi Who Gave His Kidney To A Stranger Donates Part Of Liver
Rabbi Ephraim Simon Image by youtube
(JTA) — A New Jersey rabbi who a decade ago donated a kidney altruistically, has donated part of his liver.
Rabbi Ephraim Simon, a 50-year-old father of 9 who co-directs Chabad of Bergen County in Teaneck, New Jersey, traveled to the Cleveland Clinic in mid-December to give part of his liver to Adam Levitz, a 44-year-old father of three from Long Island, New York, whose liver was damaged as a result of his Crohn’s disease. As of Jan. 1 he remained in Cleveland for observation following the surgery, the COLLIVE community news website reported.
The two men met for the first time shortly before they were taken to surgery in adjoining operating rooms. They both described the meeting as “emotional,” according to the report.
The rabbi had been trying to donate his liver since 2012. Since he had already donated a kidney he was considered a high risk candidate for surgery and many hospitals turned down his offer. In addition, gifts of organs to strangers are often viewed suspiciously and therefore rejected.
The surgeons said that Levitz’s liver was in worse shape than they had expected and that he might not have made it much longer.
“As a rabbi, I do a lot of talking about love, doing things for others and altruism,” Simon told COLIVE. “This was my opportunity to do that and I didn’t want to let it go. Adam allowed me to actually give the gift of life, perhaps the greatest chessed, kindness, I can imagine.”
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
