A few years ago, the New York Times ran an article on the subject of organ donation entitled “Rituals of Honor in Hospital Hallways.” The article described a moving ritual by hospital staff to honour a deceased person who intends to be an organ donor. In this particular hospital, when a donor is carefully wheeled down the hallway to the operating room, each available staff person (nurse, housekeeper, social worker, dietician, doctor, or volunteer) pauses and stands in silence, with quiet reverence, to honour a person who has chosen to be an organ donor. What follows is a Jewish commentary on rituals for life, and purity, and rituals we need today.
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