I’m a secular Jew. To me that means I’m a non believer but I still identify with Jewish history and culture, however I choose which customs I observe and which I don’t. In other words, I draw a line. Why I’ve drawn my line where I have, I can’t explain. For example I don’t keep kosher, i.e. I mix meat and dairy foods at the same meal off the same plate; but I don’t eat forbidden food including pig, shellfish and rabbit. And so to the issue of organ donation by Jews. It’s a complicated and controversial issue [1]. But, it seems, attitudes are becoming more liberal as time goes on [2, 3]. And practices, of course, follow attitudes. Until now I haven’t signed up to become an organ donor [4]. It’s something I’m thinking about, though. But so far I’ve not made up my mind one way or the other. Despite DonateLife Week (formerly Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week) this year not being until 20-27 February [5], yesterday it was announced that Tasmanians are donating their organs at the highest rate of any State: in 2010, 20 actual donors per million population compared with the national figure of 14 [6]. That surprised me. I’d thought that because on average Tasmanians aren’t as well educated as mainlanders, they wouldn’t take to an altruistic activity like organ donation. But perhaps less educated people can see organ donation’s advantages in simpler and thus clearer terms. Food for thought, eh. Ho hum.
