A couple of years ago we heard for the first time that that doctors in NYU successfully transplanted a pig’s kidney into a human being.

In the UK alone, more than 5000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant and the average wait is 2-3 years. Essentially, they are waiting for someone else’s tragedy — for a motorcycle accident or some other tragic incident — to bring them salvation.

I was looking at this statistic because Dabrushy’s cousin recently donated a kidney, joining a growing trend among observant Jews to donate kidneys to people they don’t know.

Needless to say, the report from NYU was a major medical breakthrough. But why a pig?

The answer is that a pig’s organs are quite similar to those of a human in size and form — far more similar than monkeys or chimpanzees. This was already known in the Talmudic era; the Talmud relates that when Rabbi Yehuda heard there was a virus spreading among the pigs, he declared a full day of prayer and fasting for the entire community, during which they prayed to G-d to protect them from this illness. Why were they so afraid of illness among pigs? Because their internal organs are quite similar to those of humans; they were afraid it would spread to the human population.

The question which immediately arises: does Jewish law permit the insertion of a pig’s organ into a Jewish body? The answer is that eating a pig’s meat is forbidden but using its organs for a transplant is definitely permitted and is actually a mitzvah, as an act of saving a life.

Now, it is self-understood that as a result of this procedure the pig loses his life for the sake of the human being and indeed some animal rights activists have spoken out against it. Human organ donors, whether live or after death, are only with their express consent. Pigs can’t consent. Would Judaism agree?

In this week’s Torah portion, we read about Abraham our forefather and his attempted sacrifice of his son Isaac, which we read at the end of our Torah portion. The angel tells Abraham, “don’t touch the boy,” and then, “Abraham looked up and saw a ram stuck in the bushes. He took the ram and offered it as a sacrifice instead of his son.”

In the beginning of the portion, when Abraham discovered his three guests, “Abraham ran to the cattle” to have animals slaughtered; Rashi tells us that he slaughtered three animals to serve each guest the tongue in mustard. What is the justification for slaughtering living animals?

Chassidic philosophy explains: “the order and purpose of Creation is that the inanimate, in addition to its task of serving its own end, should sustain plant life, and thereby be elevated to the “world” of the vegetable; and the latter should sustain, and thereby be elevated to, the animal world; and all three — animal, vegetable and inanimate — should support and serve mankind, and thereby become part of, and be elevated to, the world of the human being.”

Every category was created to serve the category above it. Or, more accurately, it helps the category above fulfil its G-d-given purpose.

What is the purpose of the highest category, the human being? Who are we supposed to serve? Our purpose is to serve our Creator. As long as we serve our Creator and fulfil our purpose, we have the moral justification to derive our sustenance from the lower three levels; we can eat meat, vegetables, drink water and so on.

But the moment that, God forbid, we don’t fulfil our purpose, we are intitled to be questioned about our right to eat meat or even step on a stone.

Let’s make sure we fulfil our mission!