[Avodah] Is there any issur here al pi halacha?

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Joseph Kaplan wrote:

> Isn't there another downside ... i.e., that rich people whose
> condition is not as serious as that of poor people will live
> and the poor people will die? ...
> Is it just/moral/halachically permissible ... for the rich
> person to get the transplant and the poor person to die, when,
> if the poor person got the transplant, both of them might have
> lived (albeit the rich person having to undergo additional
> dialysis)?

How wonderful it would be if the rich person would offer to pay for the poor man's transplant, and it would certainly be a great mitzvah of tzedaka (and, I suppose, pikuach nefesh).

But I don't think the rich person is obligated to do this. He certainly doesn't have to do it for every single patient who is poorer than him.

For some reason, Hashem allows us a great deal of latitude in where we give our tzedaka. (Yes, there are guidelines, but there's still a lot of latitude within those guidelines.) I often wonder about inequities in our system, and the possibility (probability? certainty?) that some tzedakos get more donations for reasons which have nothing to do with their relative worthiness.

I'm trying to keep this as vague and as general as I can. I'm talking about varied institutions within a category, and also about the various categories. My heartstrings are tugged by this one, and yours by that one. It seems unfair, but sometimes it looks like Hashem designed it that way on purpose.

Anyway, my point is to acknowledge that my heart strongly agrees with RJK, but I'm not sure if my brain does.

Akiva Miller

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