Israel’s First Multi-Organ Donor: Rabbi, Father of 11 and IDF Soldier!

Rabbi Gadot made history in Israel as the first person to donate separate organs to two different people.

By United with Israel Staff

On Sunday, Rabbi Elad Gadot entered the Rabin Medical Center at the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, Israel to donate an organ to a critically ill person. The act made history in the field of transplants in Israel as this was the Rabbi’s second organ donation.

“This is a very rare transplant,” said Rabbi Yeshayahu Haber, head of Gift of Life (Matnat Chaim), the foundation that made the donor-recipient match.

Rabbi Gadot made his first donation 13 years ago to his son Eliyahu, who urgently needed a liver lobe transplant at the age of eight. His father was a perfect match.

Deciding to once again save a life through donating an organ, Rabbi Gadot was tested  by Gift of Life. He was a match for a person in need of a kidney. Also named Eliyahu, this man had been waiting eight years for a kidney and was on dialysis.

Though the two men did not previously know each other, they met on the way to the operating room.

Rabbi Gadot’s son, Eliyahu, who is presently serving in the Israeli army, transported his father to the hospital, according to the report.

“The fact that my brother donated two organs is unprecedented in Israel,” Elad’s brother, Rabbi Aviad Gadot, said, according to Israel Hayom. “We want to encourage more people to think and consider organ donation, each according to their capabilities. There are people who wait a long time to donate and can help and save their lives. We hope and wish them both a complete recovery, that everything will end well,” he said.

Rabbi Gadot is the rabbi of Negohot, near Hebron, south of Jerusalem. He is the father of 11 children and still serves as a combat soldier in the Israel Defense Forces as a reservist.