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'Jewish values' led tot's family to donate organs By Yuval Azoulay For four weeks, Haleli Walfish fought for her life at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Karem after she choked while playing in the day care center in her hometown, the West Bank settlement of Tekoa. Last Thursday, doctors' efforts to save the 18-month-old finally failed - and then, the second stage of her drama began. "The possibility of donating Haleli's organs had arisen even before she was declared dead," said her grandfather, Rabbi Dr. Avraham Walfish. "Two or three days after the incident in the day care center, we understood from the doctors that the chances of the story ending well were slim, and we knew there was a realistic possibility of her being declared brain-dead. We talked with the medical team at the hospital and raised the question of donating her organs. Even then, we were looking ahead, on the assumption that if that was how it ended, that is how we would act - because there is some small comfort for us in it." Advertisement Last weekend, four of Haleli's organs were transplanted into other children: Her heart was given to a 13-month-old girl, her liver to an 18-month-old girl, one kidney to a three-year-old boy and the other to a seven-year-old girl. "The decision to donate Haleli's organs was a joint decision by the entire family," Walfish said. "It wasn't just for moral reasons, but primarily for reasons of Jewish and halakhic values. I, my wife and other family members have all signed Adi [organ donor] cards, conditioned on rabbinical supervision." Walfish noted, "Not only in religious circles is organ donation not taken for granted, but also in secular communities." Nevertheless, he acknowledged, "One reason for the reluctance to donate organs is linked to religious belief, and there is a halakhic issue that influences some people: Not everyone agrees that brain death can be defined as death [according to religious law]." "There is also the question of the resurrection of the dead, but I never understood why that should have an influence," he added. "Resurrection of the dead is a miracle in which the body restores itself and does not remain in the grave. One organ more or less will not affect the world to come." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Love story Israel grants permission for gay Palestinian to join lover in Tel Aviv. Interfaith get-together Saudi King plans first interfaith conference to include Jews.

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