Syndicated columnist Thomas Elias (whose political column appears regularly in the Daily Breeze opinion page) plans to celebrate the holiest day in the Jewish year with an unusual ceremony.
Elias received a kidney transplant 13 years ago, and he sees no reason why his kidney shouldn't receive a bar mitzvah just other teenagers. The ceremony is planned for Saturday, on Yom Kippur, and will be conducted by the rabbi at his reconstructionist synagogue in Pacific Palisades.
The Jewish day of atonement is "concerned with life and death," said Elias, a Santa Monica resident. "It's a very serious time, very solemn time. ... This kidney very much gave me life."
Elias believes it is the first religious ceremony of its kind celebrating organ donation. He hopes it will catch on the Jewish tradition, and other faiths, as a way of gratitude and thankfulness for his renewed life.
The ceremony will also mark the ongoing life-giving aspect of organ donation. Those close to recipients pay attention when their loved one is faced with death prior to receiving a new organ, but quickly forget, he said.
"They kind of lose sight of what it is and what it does for someone," said Elisas, who suffers from polycystic kidney syndrome. "Some of these people are literally a day away from dying. I would have been dead within six months if I hadn't received a donation."
The ceremony will also fall within Polycystic Kidney Disease Awareness Week. For more information, visit www.pkdcure.org.
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