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PAGE 16 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE March 21, 1986 '‘'★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★■A ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Professional, Individualized Assistance All Levels, In: English Comp. • Reading Comprehension Study Skills • Organizational Skills Basic Math • Pre-Algebra • Algebra Geometry • SAT Prep Mon. —Sun. Flexible Hours Suite 262 Enrollment is limited 120 Copeland Rd Hourly rate: $25 Conveniently Located in Sandy Springs “NO ONE DOES IT BETTER” Roberta Simonelli fi4T^81? Tristram Coffin * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Plus r/t airfare via EL AL INCLUDING: • 8 Nights in JERUSALEM • 7 Nights in TEL AVIV • 4 Nights in a KIBBUTZ Guest House • Choice of Top First Class or Deluxe Hotels • Israeli Breakfasts and Dinners Daily • 13 Leisurely Paced Escorted Sightseeing Tours • Exciting Social and Recreational Activities • Transfers. Service Charges & Local Taxes • Services of Local Hosts DEPARTURES: Apr 14 May 5. Jun 9 Jul 7. Aug 4 Sep 8 29. Oct 15. 1986 Optional: Extensions in Israel and/or Switzerland Come to Israel. Come Stay With Friends! See your travel agent or request folder from: A.J.S. TRAVEL CONSULTANTS, Inc. 177 Beach 116th Street Rockaway Park. NY 11694 (718) 945-5900• 1-800-221-5002 Willett Toyota 2650 N. Decatur Rd. Decatur, GA 30033 299-0551 Danny Tourial Danny invites you to see and drive the all-new 2986 Toyotas. Fleet cars and trucks Leasing all makes and models Jewish law weighs thorny issue of organ transplants by Ron Csillag —TORONTO Jews can allow themselves to become organ transplant reci pients but are not obliged under Jewish Law to be organ donors, says a leading expert on Halacha and organ transplants. Rabbi Howard Sacknovitz, a Toronto teacher, told an audience here recently that the surge in the last decade of safe, almost routine organ transplants has presented Jewish law with new problems. While organ transplants were regarded as sins 20 years ago, they are today seen as mitzvas because, in most cases, they are life-saving, Sacknovitz said. In Jewish Responsa literature and in the Talmud, he noted, it is written that Jews are allowed to risk immediate death for the possi bility of living longer. So an organ recipient can take the risk of a transplant operation, Sacknovitz explained. But the problem many Jews per ceive with being a recipient, he added, is that Kohanim are not allowed to come into contact with a dead body, or even with a dead limb or organ. Sacknovitz said there “is no problem” with being a recipient if one is a Kohain because an organ that is removed from a body for transplant is not dead—it is still a living thing. He said halachically, there are “bigger problems,” however, with being an organ donor. In the case of a live donor, Sack novitz said there is a “major dis agreement” between how the Babylonian Talmud and the Jer usalem Talmud interpret the matter. The dilemma is that on the one hand, Jewish law holds the sanctity of life above all else and says it’s a mitzva to save a life but also com mands not to endanger one’s own life. The Babylonian Talmud, he said, indicates one is under no obligation to donate an organ in order to save another life, even if that life is in immediate danger. The Jerusalem Talmud hints that one is obliged to donate an organ—that the risk of death out weighs the doubt. Sacknovitz said that since most rabbis in the Diaspora follow the Babylonian Talmud, the prevail ing thinking is that one is under no obligation to donate an organ. However, it is still seen as a mitzva to volunteer an organ. Volunteering, he states, is “morally still the proper thing to do.” The case of a dead donor is more complex, said Sacknovitz. Hala cha states that mutilation of a corpse is desecration, that one cannot derive benefit from a dead person and that a whole body must be buried. So on the surface, it seems tak ing an organ from a dead donor is halachically wrong. But, Sackno vitz stressed, saving a life super cedes those three prohibitions, so in many cases today, being a dead donor is all right. He added that even cornea transplants have received the Jew ish stamp of approval because being blind can be life-threatening. In the case of kidney trans plants, though, both kidneys of the recipient must be damaged before one should donate his own kidney. In the final analysis, Sacknovitz said, each transplant case must be judged on its own merit. SAM M. BROMBERG. CPA AND JEFFREY COHEN. CPA TAKE PLEASURE IN ANNOUNCING MERGER OF THEIR PRACTICES TO FORM THE FIRM OF BROMBERG & COHEN, P. 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