Selected Reform Responsa BANKS FOR HUMAN ORGANS

QUESTION: Is there any objection to the establishment of repositories for organs like kidneys, heart, liver, cornea, and segments of skin, so that they can be used to help victims at the proper time? It is now possible to store organs only for a short period. Would Reform Judaism object to long term storage as it becomes feasible in order to save lives? Skin banks now help burn victims survive(Rabbi M. Beifield, Jr., Raleigh , N.C. )

ANSWER: Tradition has demanded the quickest possible burial of the dead and considers it shameful to leave a body unburied overnight unless the delay is for the honor of the dead(Deut. 21.23; San. 46b; M.K. 22a; Shulhan Arukh Yoreh Deah 357.1). Burial according to the talmudic discussion in Sanhedrin is an act of atonement and also prevents any dishonor to the corpse. The thought of atonement through burial is based on the biblical verse, “And he makes atonement for the land of his people.” In other words, burial in the earth will make atonement for the individual (Deut. 32.43). In addition it prevents the ritual impurity of the

priests(kohanim) who are to have no contact with the dead(Lev. 21.2 ff: Shulhan Arukh Yoreh Deah 373.7 f; Greenwald, Kol Bo Al Avelut, pp. 249 ff).

Burial of limbs is carried out by extension and was known by talmudic sources(Ket. 20b). Almost all authorities that discuss burial of limbs, however, indicate that it is done only to prevent ritual impurity of the kohanim(M. Eduyot 63), and that the other two motivations for general burial i.e.(Yad Hil. Tumat Hamet 2.3), atonement and the honor of the dead, are not applicable(Jacob Reisher, Shevut Yaagov, Vol. II#101; Ezekiel Landau , Noda Biyehudah, Vol 11, Yoreh Deah#209). Maimonides limited the possibility of ritual impurity to a limb that had been completely preserved with skin, sinew, and so on. He felt that other sections of the human body like liver, stomach, or kidneys, did not transmit ritual uncleanliness(Yad Hil. Tumat Hamlet 2.3).

It is clear from this discussion as well as recent response that there is no obligation to bury the vital internal organs as they do not transmit ritual uncleanliness. That is true for traditional