Sandhaus
Hananya
FISHKILL – Jack Hananya, 56, of Long Island was on dialysis since
he was 32, and when Rabbi Zalman Sandhaus, who is co-director of the Pardes
Chabad Center for Jewish Life in Fishkill, learned of his predicament in
2014, he stepped forward.
Zalman’s blood type matched that of Hananya. A year later the rabbi
donated a kidney to the total stranger.
“It’s a great feeling to know that there is person out there
with a wife and three children, who now can live a normal life without dialysis
and can get back on his feet and go to work and be a family man once again,”
Sandhaus told MidHudsonNews.com. The rabbi said he chose to donate his
life-saving organ as a result of his childhood upbringing.
“One who saves a life is saving an entire world and each person
is an entire world. So, if we can do something to save somebody, then
we do what we can to save a life,” said Sandhaus.
Hananya, a native of Israel who emigrated to the US years ago, called
Rabbi Sandhaus “an angel.”
