Organ donor families and transplant receivers gather for Hanukkah

Organ donor families and transplant recipients gathered at the National Transplant Center at the Tel Aviv Medical Center Monday night to light candles for the second night of Hanukkah.Each family brought a hanukkiah and a picture of a deceased family member who donated their organs when he or she died.A collective hanukkiah was lit by Rabbi Avraham Reznikov, the hospital's rabbi.Also attending were those who had received transplanted organs. They spoke about their conditions before being saved by a transplant. One attendee, Batya Cohen, said the date of her transplant was the anniversary of her grandmother's death in the Holocaust. Another, musician and volunteer Zohar Ravitz, told how she had been thriving for 20 years thanks to her transplanted heart.It was an emotional and moving event.