Should You Donate Blood?

Hi, this is Dovid Orlofsky with our question  answer series where in a few minutes we try   to answer questions from our listeners. Now, this  person is apparently in Florida and I'm guessing   from the question he lives in Boca Raton. There's  a blood drive in Boca. That's that was the hint   that I picked up on. Yeah, that goes to the local  hospital. I believe that Boca is like 50% Yidden.   Some percentage from and some that is  not. Is it at least a Kiddush Hashem? 100% I want to I want to tell you something that uh um  is a scary. Uh I knew somebody who needed a heart.   Needed a heart transplant. Now, we have a  problem giving donating hearts uh because   um you can't really be dead. If you're dead, then  the heart stops and then it's no good anymore.   You have to take the heart out  while the person is still alive.   So, what did they do? They came up with something  called brain death. There was a secular um   science writer who wrote a whole book on this and  he pointed out that there's never been a concept   of brain death and all the mistakes that are made  with it etc. etc. and you know. So, they came up   with brain death so that they could take the heart  out of a person who's still technically alive.   So, that's why for us it's obviously problematic.  A lot of donations are problematic. A lot of uh uh   donations that are given. There are those people  who of course are much more lenient after you're   dead uh to give a cornea or something like that.  But um uh but we don't participate in transplant   donation the same way. So, I heard somebody say,  you know, we don't give organs to from Jews cuz   they don't give to us. And uh I heard that and I'm  a much machid. what a frightening thing that is.   So, I'm not saying that halachically we should  do something that is problematic. Yeah? Um   but giving blood, that to me is a no-brainer. It's  it's First of all, half of it's going to a Yidden,   so there's a very good chance it's going to go  to a Yid, whether they're from or not. Yeah?   Um I I I I think that we can participate  in saving anybody's life. But for goodwill,   we find halacha will occasionally make  exceptions when it comes to non-Jews   um because of exactly that. Yeah, to be able to  keep goodwill, to be able to make people happy.   So, if we can give blood, we definitely should.  That's my opinion. I would encourage anybody who   can. They won't take my blood cuz I have  hepatitis and apparently they're a little   you know, skittish about taking people's  blood with hepatitis in it, you know? But   but if if you're healthy and you can give  the blood, you know, by all means a person   should. I encourage it 100%. This is Dovid  Orlofsky with our question and answer series.