{"id":13374,"date":"2011-01-04T12:30:53","date_gmt":"2011-01-04T12:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/meet_the_kidney_matchmaker\/"},"modified":"2015-11-02T08:15:48","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T13:15:48","slug":"meet_the_kidney_matchmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/meet_the_kidney_matchmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Kidney Matchmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in Jewish Action Magazine WINTER 2010\/5771 \u2013 Volume 71, No. 2. For more articles, click Jewish Action Magazine<\/a> or visit: http:\/\/www.ou.org\/jewish_action<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

To subscribe to Jewish Action Magazine hard-copy and receive a special price offer, click Jewish Action Magazine Subscription<\/a>, or visit:
\nhttp:\/\/www.ou.org\/jewish_action\/article\/subscriptions_to_jewish_action<\/a><\/p>\n

Ever since Chaya Lipschutz, creator of KidneyMitzvah<\/a>, answered an ad to donate a kidney to a mother of two in New Jersey, she\u2019s been busy linking those in need of kidneys with others willing to donate theirs\u2014and aptly living up to her name, \u201cChaya,\u201d Hebrew for \u201clife-giver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lipschutz, who hails from Brooklyn, began her mission by renting a booth at the 2005 Jewish Market Place Expo, held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York, to promote kidney donation. She continued to spread the word about the pressing need for donors through postings on various Internet lists, speaking engagements and interviews on NPR, with the New York Daily News and the Jerusalem Post, and with other media outlets. From across the globe, donors and those needing kidneys started turning to Lipschutz for assistance. Her kidney matchmaking venture quickly took off.<\/p>\n

One of Lipschutz\u2019s first success stories involved her brother, Yosef, who in 2007, at the age of fifty, donated one of his kidneys to a grateful recipient. In 2009, with the aim of drawing wider interest, she launched kidneymitzvah.com. Since the site\u2019s inception, she has made eight kidney matches.<\/p>\n

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, more than 86,000 people nationwide are waiting for a healthy kidney as of this writing. Last year, more than 4,600 lost their fight for life while waiting.<\/p>\n

Finding the right match often requires more than a little determination. Rabbi Ephraim Simon, co-director of Friends of Lubavitch of Bergen County in Teaneck, New Jersey, a forty-one-year-old father of nine, responded to a mass e-mail from Lipschutz announcing the need for a kidney donor for a twelve-year-old girl. Soon after, she informed him that a donor had been found. \u201cI felt like I didn\u2019t act fast enough,\u201d says Rabbi Simon. \u201cI knew right then and there that if somebody else was in need, I was going to be the one to save his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

He insisted that Lipschutz continue to keep his name on file for others in need. Eventually, he donated his kidney to a Satmar Chassid, a father of ten from the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no greater feeling than knowing you brought life to another human being,\u201d says Rabbi Simon. \u201cIt has truly been an amazing experience that ranks right up there with the birth of my children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost every week, people are calling me, begging me to find a kidney donor,\u201d says Lipschutz, \u201cnot only for themselves, but for family members, friends and others in their community. People on dialysis are suffering terribly.\u201d Lipschutz doesn\u2019t accept a penny for her work. \u201cJust like my kidney donation was altruistic\u2014so is my kidney matchmaking. My goal is to help save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Bayla Sheva Brenner is senior writer in the OU Communications and Marketing Department. To find out more about “Save a Life – Donate a Kidney”, please visit: http:\/\/kidneymitzvah.com\/<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in Jewish Action Magazine WINTER 2010\/5771 \u2013 Volume 71, No. 2. For more articles, click Jewish Action Magazine or visit: http:\/\/www.ou.org\/jewish_action To subscribe to Jewish Action Magazine hard-copy and receive a special price offer, click Jewish Action Magazine Subscription, or visit: http:\/\/www.ou.org\/jewish_action\/article\/subscriptions_to_jewish_action Ever since Chaya Lipschutz, creator of KidneyMitzvah, answered an<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":47770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet the Kidney Matchmaker - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ever since Chaya Lipschutz creator of KidneyMitzvah, donated a kidney to a mother in New Jersey she\u2019s been busy linking those in need of kidneys with donors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/meet_the_kidney_matchmaker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the Kidney Matchmaker - 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