Organ Donation and Theft in Contemporary Jewish Folklore
By
Gilad Atzmon
• Aug 30th, 2009
Donation According to Larry David
In
his highly acclaimed TV satire ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’, LA screen writer and
comedian Larry David engages
courageously with subjects to do with American Jewish identity. In his fifth
season (2005) David tackles the subject of organ donation (1). Performing an
American eccentric and egotistical Jew David is confronted with a serious
dilemma. His best friend Richard Lewis (another Jewish comedian) happens to
suffer an acute kidney failure. His survival is dependent on an urgent
kidney donation and as one may expect Larry David is the perfect donor.
David, who comes across as the ultimate selfish persona in American popular
culture is obviously reluctant to donate his Kidney. He procrastinates,
finds excuses and plays
games. He even tries to make friends
with a wealthy
Orthodox Jew who is in a position to
‘sort things out’ as far as kidneys are concerned. He does it all just to
avoid donating his own kidney to his best and closest friend.
As the plot develops, David has hired a Private Detective to discover who
his real parents are, David learns from this private detective that he is
actually an adopted child. Once meeting with his genetic parents David also
finds out that he is not exactly a Jew. He is actually a proper Christian of
Scottish descent. David is very excited about his new ethnic identity and
faith. Instantly, without giving it too much of a thought, he becomes an
empathetic person. His egotistic attitude disappears without leaving any
traces. He suddenly cares about others. He evolves into a sympathetic boring
compassionate ordinary human being. It doesn’t take more than a few scenes
before we see David attending Sunday service with his new ‘parents’ in their
local Church. It is there where he learns from the priest that ‘to give’ is
actually ‘to receive’.
David doesn’t waste a second. He understands it all. He instantly leaves
the Church and takes the first plane to LA where he rushes to the Hospital
with one thing in his mind; giving his kidney to his best friend Richard
Lewis. In the hospital while in his final preparation for the transplant
operation the nurse is overwhelmed by David’s devotion kindness and
conviction. Throughout this transition into Christianity, the Larry David
that we meet is very different to the selfish Larry David we knew. However,
David’s heavenly inspired humanist metamorphosis doesn’t last long. On his
way to the theatre, as he is lying on the trolley already under some heavy
anesthetic, the private detective is seen rushing towards David along the
hospital corridor. “Larry I made a mistake” he shouts, “you are not an
adopted child.” In spite of the anesthetic, the penny drops instantly. David
realises that he is a Jew. His Christian compassionate conviction
fades immediately. His reaction is
rather simultaneous: he is a Jew after all and Jews do not give their organs
to others, not even to their best and closest friends. David, who is now
heavily anesthetized tries to resist, he wants to run away and never to give
his kidney but under the influence of heavy narcotics he happens to be too
weak. Dragged into the theater he happens to be a victim of his own
temporary non-Jewish kindness.
The immediate message posed by Larry David in the above episode is clear.
Being a Jew is merely a state of mind. It is neither biological nor genetic.
The transformation between (Christian) compassion and (Jewish) narcissism is
rather cultural. It is almost a matter of choice. However, one thing is
clear as far as Larry David is concerned: once transforming back into a Jew,
‘giving’ is simply out of the question. The Jew, as far as David is
concerned, does not like to share, donate or give.
Harvesting Human Organs
In
the last few weeks we have been following some interesting developments to
do with Israeli organ theft and Jewish organ trafficking. Back in July
Kidney trafficker Levy Izhak Rosenbaum from Brooklyn was arrested in New
Jersey. The Federal complaint suggested that he was involved in the illegal
sale of kidneys for 10 years(2). A US Attorney explained: "His business was
to entice vulnerable people to give up a kidney for $10,000 which he would
turn around and sell for $160,000." Also in July another group of 30
Israelis were arrested in Romania, this time it was for
human Egg trafficking. They were
suspected of recruiting Romanian women aged between 18 and 30 and paying
them around $300 for their eggs”. They would then resale the eggs for 40
times that amount to women
Earlier this week Alison Weir
published a shocking yet
comprehensive and detailed review of Israeli human organ trafficking and
theft. Weir brings to light some staggering cases of organ theft. She starts
with an alleged case of a heart being pulled out of a living person without
the consent of the family (2). She also brings to light continuous reports
of organs being robbed from Palestinian’s bodies (3)
The increasing attention to Israeli organ theft was fuelled a week ago by
Swedish veteran journalist Donald Bostrom’s publication of an exposé of
Israeli alleged organ harvesting in Sweden’s biggest paper Aftonbladet.
Palestinians, he says, “harbor strong suspicions against Israel for seizing
young men and having them serve as the country’s organ reserve”
From Venice to Tel Aviv
One may ask why it is that organ trafficking has become a ‘Jewish thing’.
How is it that the Jewish state and Jewish people are so involved in such a
repugnant and non-ethical trade. One answer is probably obvious: it is a
good business and there is hardly any competition, not many people are
willing to make a living out of the trafficking or the theft of livers and
kidneys.
Without being a Marxist, I may try to offer a materialist interpretation
of the above. As it happens, some people out there are willing to pay a lot
of money to stay amongst the living. At the same time some others are ready
to give their body parts just to put bread on their tables. Naturally those
two distinct groups of people (the selfish wealthiest and the penniless)
have very little in common except biological similarity. They never meet and
hardly mix. A broker is needed. A merchant that doesn’t belong to any class
whatsoever, a person that is not part of the economic chain of production, a
person that is ethically detached, a person that is foreign to humanity as
well as humanism. As we learn above the perfect candidates have been found.
And they are not alone, their Jewish state is there to facilitate it all. It
is there to provide the necessary means in terms of technology and
knowledge. The Jewish broker can deal with the rich, he can easily handle
the poor, he can do it all as long as there is some money to be made: once a
merchant always a merchant whether it is Venice, Tel Aviv, Bucharest, New
Jersey or Brooklyn.
But it goes further. As we learn from Larry David’s kidney episode, once
rediscovering he is a Jew, his willingness to donate his organ fades into
total refusal. David’s behavior is supported by some devastating statistics.
Apparently, Israel is the world's leading procurer of vital organs from
other countries, at least for its size. “Just
3.5% of Israelis are registered
organ donors. Israel’s donor rate is one-fifth that of Europe so they
acquire vital organs from other cultures. The Israeli government helps by
paying up to $80,000 each to those visiting other countries to purchase an
organ. Brokers openly advertise their services on Israeli radio stations and
in newspapers.” (4)
Kvod Hamet
Judaism may throw some light over the abnormal situation. In principle,
the Judaic law poses strong objections to any interference with the body
after death. Out of respect to the dead (kvod hamet), Judaism
requires an immediate burial of the complete body. However, this humanist
and respectful approach applies to Jewish dead only. Things get slightly
more complicated because Judaism also encourages organ donation in order to
save a ‘Jewish life’ (pikuach nefesh).
The solution of what seems as an opposing dualism is far from being too
complicated. While Judaism leads its followers towards reluctance to donate
their organs it approves or even encourages the usage of other people’s
organs. Bearing in mind Israel is a prosperous state in terms of medical
science, it is just natural that the Jewish state would harbor all those
shady practices to do with organ trafficking and theft. More interestingly,
in spite of much of Israel regarding itself as a secular society, when it
comes to organ donation it seems as if the Jews prefer to follow God
collectively. Larry David’s reluctance to donate his kidney once realizing
that he is a Jew by origin is there to emphasize that unique Jewish ‘choose
and pick’ attitude towards their religious code. Secular Jews are becoming
orthodox when it is convenient.
Israeli Folklore
Back in the 1980’s Israel’s all time leading cabaret act, namely ‘Ha-
Gashash Ha-chiver’ elaborated on the subject of organ donation by means
of a satire. In their comedy act, an Ashkenazi transplant master insisted to
plant a goose’s liver in an (Jewish) Iraqi boy’s body just to gain some
publicity. The Sephardic father was rather devastated, he was concerned that
the donated liver would come from an Ashkenazi person or even a goy.
Needless to say he wasn’t too happy with the goose either. As time goes by,
it seems as if the Jews as a collective have passed that stage. As much as
some Jews may be very ‘picky’ in regard to what they put in their mouth
(kosher diet) or even very concerned with the racial identity of those whom
their kids mix with, they seem to be far less concerned with the origin of
the organs that are planted in their bodies. They are concerned with one
thing, staying amongst the living regardless of any ethical concern.
The current organ theft scandal proves once again that as far as Israel
is concerned, loving yourself as much as you hate your neighbor, is the
manifestation of contemporary Jewish philosophy. At the end of the day, it
shouldn’t take us by a complete surprise. This is what you would expect from
a people who live on other people’s land and eat other people’s grapes and
figs.
(1) Season 5 episodes 2,5 and 10
Synopsis can be found here:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2005/12/05/curb-your-enthusiasm-the-end/
(2) In December 1968 a man named Avraham Sadegat (the New York Times
seems to give his name as A Savgat) died two days after a stroke, even
though his family had been told he was “doing well.”
After initially refusing to release his body, the Israeli hospital where
he was being treated finally turned the man’s body over to his family. They
discovered that his upper body was wrapped in bandages; an odd situation,
they felt, for someone who had suffered a stroke.
When they removed the bandages, they discovered that the chest cavity was
stuffed with bandages, and the heart was missing.
During this time, the headline-making Israeli heart transplant had
occurred. After their initial shock, the man’s wife and brother began to put
the two events together and demanded answers.
The hospital at first denied that Sadegat’s heart had been used in the
headline-making transplant, but the family raised a media storm and
eventually applied to three cabinet ministers. Finally, weeks later and
after the family had signed a document promising not to sue, the hospital
admitted that Sadagat’s heart had been used.
(3) “"There are indications that for one reason or another, organs,
especially eyes and kidneys, were removed from the bodies during the first
year or year and a half. There were just too many reports by credible people
for there to be nothing happening. If someone is shot in the head and comes
home in a plastic bag without internal organs, what will people assume?”
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 1990, Page 21, The
Intifada: Autopsies and Executions
http://www.jweekly.com/
(4)
http://www.geocities.com/organdonate/organsellingorgantheft.html
