Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Prolific Sperm Donor Who Made Headlines Last Year Is Still Doing His Thing

Without a doubt, the most important New York Post story of 2016 was that of Ari Nagel, the good Samaritan who made headlines for spreading his seed most anywhere it was needed. And now, in a sequel to his New York City beginnings, the jaunty upstart Nagel and his inexhaustible sperm make a visit to Israel to deliver the necessary baby-making ingredients to an Israeli woman in need.

It’s like a fairy tale without the love or romance.

Nagel, who is a professor at CUNY, took time out of his trip to speak frankly, as he does, to the Times of Israel about the trials and tribulations of being a full-time, unpaid sperm donor.

“If an older woman and a younger woman are ovulating on the same day, do I help the older one, who may not be as fertile but this may be her last chance?” Nagel said of the ethical concerns inherent of his position. “Or do I help the younger woman, who has a better chance of conceiving?”

Mightily impressive, indeed, that Nagel receives so many messages each day that he simply cannot decide which woman will be the proud recipient of his finite ejaculate.

While Nagel swears his only motivation is to give aspiring mothers the push they need to succeed, he concedes that the perks of the job, such as getting flown around the world to the homes of his various donor recipients, aren’t bad.

But all fairy tales have a villain and, in Nagel’s case she exists in the form of the five women who have sued him for child support. Nagel says he does not sign official contracts in most cases, a mistake all you sperm donor hopefuls out there should learn from.

Pretty amazing how the heroes of our favorite stories keep doing their thing long after the media blitz has faded away. Keep on keeping on, Ari.

Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.