“According to statistics from Israel’s transplant authority and the United Network of Organ Sharing, the number of people who hold an organ donation card in Israel is at a paltry 8 percent. Most Western countries hover closer to 35 percent.”

In explanation, the author brings up Jewish law against desecrating a dead body.  “Is posthumously donating an organ considered desecrating? Complicating this is determining what actually constitutes ‘dead’—does brain-dead count? Doctors might say one thing, while some rabbis might say another. Taking a Jew off life support can fast become an exercise in intellectual gymnastics once rabbis are consulted.”

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