Rabbi Efraim Simon: One Of The Country's First 'Dual Donors'

00:03 Speaker 1 I'm Gary Wolk, and this is Lamplighters, stories from Chabad emissaries on the Jewish frontier. Life as a Chabad emissary is often joyous, but it can be unpredictable and even dangerous. Chabad has become a ubiquitous presence in every corner of the world, but behind every Chabad house are emissaries, regular people striving to transcend their circumstances, and a community that supports and relies on them. These are their stories. In December of 2018, two total strangers met for the very first time in a conference room in Cleveland.

00:49 Speaker 2 We just embraced and held each other in an embrace.

00:51 Speaker 1 That's Efrayim Simon, Chabad rabbi from Teaneck, New Jersey. The man he embraced is a restaurant owner and father of three from Long Island. His name is Adam Levitz.

01:03 Speaker 2 He wrapped his arms around me and he said, "You're gonna be good. Don't worry." I don't think there was a, was a, a dry eye in the room. The nurses were crying. His family was crying. You know, my wife was crying. And we just embraced.

01:15 Speaker 1 Adam was fighting for his life, and Rabbi Simon was there to help save it by doing something only a handful of people had ever done. But that meeting in Cleveland would not have been possible if not for one very special person. Our story begins with Chaya Lipschutz. Lipschutz found her calling in 2005, when she saved a life by donating her own kidney.

01:41 Speaker 3 And I just felt like I only helped one person. What about these other people? I had already a list of people who needed a kidney from even before I donated a kidney, and I said, "I gotta try to help these people."

01:52 Speaker 1 Three months later, she started her own organization called Kidney Mitzvah. She oversees a vast global network of contacts designed to connect potential donors with recipients. Her work keeps her very busy.

02:07 Speaker 3 Yeah, but I don't get paid or charge a fee. I don't accept donations. My reward is when a match goes through.

02:13 Speaker 1 Fittingly for a woman named Chaya, that's now her life's work.

02:18 Speaker 3 Somebody was once interviewing me many years ago about what I do, and I wasn't calling myself a matchmaker at the time. He says, "Oh, you're a kidney matchmaker." And I was like, "Wow, yeah. I guess that's what I am. Maybe I should be calling myself that."

02:41 Speaker 1 In August 2008, Rabbi Efrayim Simon was in his Chabad House office when he opened an email from Chaya Lipschutz.

02:49 Speaker 2 I had seen previous emails from her in the past. She would usually email this group once every few months about somebody who needed a kidney. And when I would see the email, I would read it and, you know, sigh and, oh, how sad that somebody needs a kidney, and then I would move on to the next email. You know, I thought what kind of person donates a, a kidney out of their body to a, to a, to a total stranger? It wasn't anything that was on my radar at all.

03:15 Speaker 1 But this particular email was an appeal for a kidney for a 12-year-old girl. It resonated with Rabbi Simon in a personal way.

03:24 Speaker 2 I just could not delete it or move on to the next email. I'm a father of nine children, and I have six daughters, and I just remember thinking if that were my child, I would want somebody to step forward if I could not.

03:37 Speaker 1 Simon talked with his wife. They did some online research, and they learned that a living donor can designate a recipient, and they agreed that Simon should donate one of his kidneys to the young girl. He called Chaya, and soon he was at a hospital getting tested for suitability. Simon was a match, but before surgery could be scheduled, another donor was found. Simon says he was happy that the girl would be saved, but-

04:05 Speaker 2 I remember feeling disappointed. Here I had the chance to not only save this girl's life, to save the life of another human being, but also I speak to my children constantly about our values. We're not simply here on this world to live for ourselves, but we're here that our lives should be a source of, of, of life and inspiration and joy to the lives of others, and here I had an opportunity to truly live the messages that I'm teaching my children.

04:41 Speaker 1 Simon persisted. He tested again for another match, but none could be found.

04:46 Speaker 2 And at this point I'm thinking I, I can't give this kidney away.

04:50 Speaker 1 But a few weeks later, as he was preparing a Seder on Erev Pesach, he got a call from a hospital.

04:56 Speaker 2 I'm a match.

04:57 Speaker 1 The recipient was a father of 10 with advanced kidney disease.

05:01 Speaker 2 And I just remember the sense of happiness and really peace that I had that, wow, I'm actually going to be able to do this, to save another human being's life.

05:12 Speaker 1 In August of 2009, Rabbi Simon became a kidney donor.

05:16 Speaker 2 Today he's as healthy as you and I are, and that was an incredible experience to bring life and light back to this person's life and to bring a father back to his children and a husband back to his wife and a grandfather back to his grandchildren.

05:30 Speaker 1 That would be a good end to this story, but there's much more to it. Because as Simon's story went viral, more and more people were inspired to donate their kidneys and save more lives. That, in turn, inspired Rabbi Simon.

05:48 Speaker 2 I was so affected by that and so just overjoyed by that that I felt like, wow, I wish I could do this again, but I, I, I only have one kidney, and I need that one. So I felt, how can I do this again?

06:05 Speaker 1 Simon did some more research. In 2012, he again contacted Chaya Lipschitz.

06:12 Speaker 2 And I said, "Listen, I know you only do kidneys, but I see that you could actually donate a liver. Is it possible you can find me a liver recipient? I'm O positive, so I'm a universal donor. I could give to anybody."

06:28 Speaker 1 If you're wondering why Rabbi Simon seemed so eager to donate yet another organ, keep in mind that about four in five people waiting for a liver never receive one, and at the time, none of the hospitals in New York allowed kidney donors to subsequently donate part of their liver because the procedure is riskier and more debilitating than a kidney donation. Typical recovery time for kidney donors is about two weeks. With a liver, it's about two months, although the liver does eventually grow back to full size. But Lipschitz and Simon kept researching. They tried the Mayo Clinic and hospitals in Philadelphia with no luck. A few years passed, then Chaya made a discovery.

07:15 Speaker 3 I was reading a book on organ donation, and in that book, there was a story about someone who donated part of her liver at the Cleveland Clinic, and she was also a kidney donor.

07:29 Speaker 1 Chaya Lipschitz told Rabbi Simon about that.

07:31 Speaker 2 And so I reached out to the Cleveland Clinic, and sure enough, they said if I would pass all of the rigorous testing involved in a liver donation, that my kidney donation would not disqualify me, and they would accept me. So this is fantastic. Now I have a hospital; I have to find a recipient.

07:48 Speaker 1 In 2017, after two near misses with potential liver recipients, Rabbi Simon was again feeling frustration.

07:57 Speaker 2 It was literally like the same situation with my kidney. I can't give this organ away. I'm trying.

08:02 Speaker 1 Then there was a breakthrough. A woman in Connecticut had read the same article Chaya had read about the Cleveland Clinic. She called her.

08:11 Speaker 2 And said, "Listen, I have a son who is in dire need of a liver transplant. Would you happen to know anybody who's willing to give a liver?" So of course, the light bulb went off. She said, "Actually, miraculously, I do have somebody," and that ended up becoming my liver recipient, and that was Adam.

08:30 Speaker 1 When he was 16 years old, Adam Levitz was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, a chronic illness that causes inflammation of the digestive tract. The disease can become life-threatening. In Adam's case, it did. When he was in his early 40s, he was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC. By 2017, he was close to end-stage liver disease.

08:57 Speaker 4 Every three months I was hospitalized with stuff caught in the bile duct, stones, sludge, and they'd have to go in, they'd have to put stents, they'd have to clean them out. And at that time I was told I would eventually need a liver transplant.

09:09 Speaker 1 But even as he was suffering through pain and fatigue, Levitz was running a business and caring for his family.

09:16 Speaker 4 I was 44 at the time. I was doing everything I had to do. Never missed a sports activity for my kids.

09:22 Speaker 1 At that time, Adam's youngest child was in sixth grade, and his twins were in high school. He feared he'd never see his kids grow up. He knew that the medical odds were against him.

09:36 Speaker 4 Something like 70 to 80% of the people never even make it to the transplant 'cause they don't get a liver in time.

09:42 Speaker 1 Levitz was having no luck at New York hospitals, so he registered with hospitals in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio. After more than a year of searching and waiting, he was getting sicker and less hopeful. But then, in August 2018...

09:59 Speaker 4 I got a call at 5:30 in the morning from University of Pennsylvania that they had a liver for me.

10:03 Speaker 1 Adam made the two and a half hour drive to the UPenn hospital, only to discover while he was being prepped for surgery that the liver from a deceased donor was not suitable for transplant. Weeks later, he had the same experience. Adam and his family were very discouraged.

10:22 Speaker 4 We started looking into other options. I was told that the best chance I had to get a liver quickly was to look for a living donor. And my parents are members of the Chabad in Milford, Connecticut, and the rabbi's wife told my father she heard of this woman in Brooklyn. She runs an organization called Kidney Mitzvah, and she looks for kidney donors. She didn't know if she really did liver, but she said, "Give this woman a call."

10:52 Speaker 1 In the fall of 2018, Adam talked to Chaya. A couple weeks later, she called Adam back.

10:58 Speaker 4 And she said, "I actually have someone that's willing to donate a liver."

11:02 Speaker 1 That was Rabbi Ephraim Simon.

11:05 Speaker 4 "Would you be willing to go to Cleveland, to the Cleveland Clinic, to get tested and see if you're a match?"

11:10 Speaker 1 Adam says he would have gone anywhere to get a new liver, and it turned out that he had sent Cleveland Clinic his records weeks earlier. On a Friday morning, he called the woman in charge of transplants there.

11:23 Speaker 4 And she goes, "Your blood type, everything looks like it would be a, a match, but you need to be here Monday. Can you get here Monday for testing?" I said, "Sure." I got on a plane Sunday night, flew down to Cleveland, did my five days of testing, went home. About a week later I got a call from them that it was a match, and I'm like, "I'm going to Cleveland."

11:41 Speaker 1 The surgery was scheduled for December 20th, 2018. In the meantime, Rabbi Ephraim Simon had asked for Adam's contact information. They began to talk once a week on the phone.

11:54 Speaker 4 And I'd be like, "Are you sure you're gonna still go through with this?" And he's like, "I told you, I'm doing it. Don't worry, I'll be there."

11:59 Speaker 2 I just told him, "Listen, I'm not gonna back out. I know that's always a fear that the donor's going to back out. I'm healthy, I'm strong. I so want to do this." I want you to know I'll be there for you

12:10 Speaker 4 Rabbi Simon, he never asked me how religious I was, never asked me anything, which to me meant something.

12:16 Speaker 2 He is a human being, and I wanted to save the life of another human being. I didn't care at all what level of observance he was. It was completely irrelevant to me.

12:25 Speaker 1 On December 18th, Rabbi Simon arrived in Cleveland with his wife, Nechami. Adam Levitz arrived there with his wife and three children. A day later, they all met for the very first time in a hospital conference room.

12:42 Speaker 4 It's the kind of thing is you're speechless. You don't know what to say to the person, because here's a guy who's gonna save your life, and my kids were speechless, my wife was speechless.

12:51 Speaker 2 I don't think there was a, a dry eye in the room. The nurses were crying, his family was crying. You know, my wife was crying.

12:58 Speaker 4 And he said, "You're gonna be good. Don't worry. It's all gonna be okay."

13:01 Speaker 1 Despite Rabbi Simon's optimism in front of Adam, deep down he was very concerned.

13:08 Speaker 2 He looked in terrible physical shape, obviously. He was dying.

13:12 Speaker 4 I was pretty sick leading up to the surgery. I was very jaundiced. I was really in need of a liver.

13:20 Speaker 1 At that first meeting, when Adam could finally speak at length, he told Simon that he was afraid he'd never see his children grow up.

13:29 Speaker 2 He would never walk them to the chuppah. He would never dance at their weddings. He would never see his grandchildren. That's what he thought.

13:39 Speaker 1 Early on the morning of December 20th, Rabbi Ephraim Simon was brought to a Cleveland clinic operating room.

13:46 Speaker 2 I was just so thrilled. That was really all I felt. Throughout the entire testing process and waiting for the surgery, I never felt scared or nervous. I just felt real happiness to be able to do this.

14:01 Speaker 4 He was wheeled down before me. They started his surgery, like, an hour before mine. So when I got down there, they said, "He's already in. They've already started the surgery."

14:09 Speaker 1 The operation to remove part of Rabbi Simon's liver took about six hours, but the operation to graft it onto Adam's liver took about 12 hours.

14:19 Speaker 4 So they took my whole liver out. They took my gallbladder, took my appendix out at the same time. I got 33% of his liver.

14:28 Speaker 1 The surgery was successful. After 24 hours in the intensive care unit, Simon was brought to his own room. Doctors told Simon that Adam was doing well.

14:38 Speaker 2 And they asked me do I wanna go see him. Of course I wanna go see him.

14:42 Speaker 4 After about an hour of being in my room, they said, "You have a visitor. He wants to come in." He came in and held my hand.

14:48 Speaker 2 He was like a different person. His color had come back. He was vibrant. You could see the light in his eyes.

14:57 Speaker 1 Do you remember the first thing he said to you?

14:59 Speaker 2 He said, "Why are you crying?"

15:04 Speaker 4 Afterwards, my doctor told me how bad my liver actually was. He said, "You were at the end stage of liver disease." A healthy liver's pink, beautiful. My liver was black, shrunken, and hard. So I don't think I realized how sick it really was. The surgeon said, "The minute we took the liver out of him and then connected it to you, it pinked up and it started pumping blood." He goes, "You got a perfect liver. You couldn't have asked for a better liver."

15:33 Speaker 1 With that transplant, Rabbi Simon was one of the first people in the country to become a dual donor. More hospitals now allow that, and in just a few short years, many more lives have been saved. Simon recovered in Cleveland Clinic for two weeks and returned to Teaneck, but he didn't resume work for another six weeks. Adam returned to his home in Long Island after a month in Cleveland.

16:01 Speaker 4 And that really was the beginning of our lifelong relationship and connection.

16:12 Speaker 1 These days, Rabbi Ephraim Simon and Adam Levitz are both strong and healthy. Adam saw his twins graduate high school. They now attend the college at which Levitz and his wife met. Simon is as busy as ever at his Chabad house in Teaneck. Levitz and Simon advocate for organ donation, sometimes appearing together at speaking engagements with Chaya Lipschutz.

16:37 Speaker 4 I was given a chance at life, and I'm 47. I have a whole life to live, and whatever I can do to help other people in the situation I was in, I wanna do. I'll do whatever I can do to help other people out.

16:48 Speaker 1 This is another place where Adam Levitz's happy story could end, but it gets even better. On a weekday morning a few weeks ago, Adam's younger son became bar mitzvah. The Levitz family made the trip from Long Island to celebrate the big event at Rabbi Simon's Chabad house in Teaneck. When Adam and his son walked in, Rabbi Simon surprised them with sets of tefillin in bags with their Hebrew names on them.

17:16 Speaker 4 And it was like a full circle event. It really meant everything.

17:22 Speaker 2 Seeing Adam so healthy, gained weight, and just looks good and vibrant and strong, seeing Adam in his tallis and tefillin, standing next to his son in his tefillin as his son is getting his aliyah at the bimah and the Torah's being read, watching that happen was the most rewarding experience.

17:44 Speaker 1 In fact, Rabbi Simon calls the donation of part of his liver to Adam the greatest hesed, kindness, imaginable. The hesed clearly went in both directions, but Simon is emphatic when he says that Adam gave more to him than he did to Adam. Adam says he hears that from Simon all the time.

18:05 Speaker 4 He goes, "No." He goes, "What you've given me is much more..." But I'm saying, "No, you don't understand." And he goes, "No." He- that's the kind of person he is. I mean, he is my guardian angel, and I have a lot to look forward to. Lots to look forward to.

18:18 Speaker 1 Adam's successful liver transplant was a double victory for Chaya Lipschitz.

18:23 Speaker 3 It was a real relief to hear that he survived it, he's doing well. I finally, after so many years of Rabbi Simon wanting to do this, it was like mission accomplished. And for me, I didn't have to have him anymore bugging me to try to find a recipient for him.

18:40 Speaker 1 Chaya is joking, of course. Finding donors is the life's work of the kidney matchmaker. She hasn't kept count of how many lives she's saved, but they've been many. As for Ephraim Simon, rabbi at Friends of Lubavitch of Bergen County in Teaneck, New Jersey, he says donating a kidney and part of his liver was just part of his job.

19:04 Speaker 2 My mission as a shliach is to encourage others to dedicate themselves to make the world a better place. Organ donation isn't for everybody, but what everybody can do is extend themselves a little bit, sacrifice a little bit, or even more than a little bit, to change the lives of others.

19:25 Speaker 1 If you're considering kidney or liver donation, or know someone who needs one, please contact Chaya Lipschitz. Visit her website at kidneymitzvah.com. I'm Gary Wollek. Thanks for listening to Lamplighters: Stories from Chabad Emissaries on the Jewish Frontier. We welcome your questions and comments about what you've just heard on Lamplighters. Please email us at podcast@lubavitch.com. And if you know of a great story involving Chabad emissaries or the people they inspire, please let us know about them. That's podcast at L-U-B-A-V-I-T-C-H.com. This is a Lubavitch International podcast.