Explore every episode of the podcast Inspiring Stories, Inspiring Chesed

There's a word our people have said in prayer and story for thousands of years. Chesed. We say it when someone gives, when someone saves, when someone shows up in the dark for another person — but what does it actually mean, really?

In this trailer for Just One Chesed, hosts [Host 1 name] and [Host 2 name] introduce a show built around one idea: that a single act of kindness can set off a chain reaction no one could have planned. Coming up — stories from soldiers, teachers, mystics, and everyday givers who gave a kidney, built something from nothing, and showed up for others when it mattered most.

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Welcome to the first episode of Just One Chesed!

Join hosts Yosi Sasson and Naftali Kalfa for a conversation with Tzachi (Aaron) Turen, who, after more than 20 years of declining kidney function, finally found a donor — then got a phone call that changed everything: another recipient, a stranger in Ashdod, was a better match and needed the kidney urgently. Without hesitation, Tzachi gave up his donor.

The next day, his brother in Chicago turned out to be a perfect 6-out-of-6 match.

Tzachi shares the full story — from a routine checkup in his early twenties to a hospital room in Beilinson where his brother prepped for surgery beside him, praying together as the doctors around them asked for prayers of their own. It's a story about chesed on every side of a kidney transplant: the donor, the recipient, and the stranger in between who almost got Tzachi's kidney instead.

Along the way, Tzachi talks about living with an immunosuppressed system, the emotional weight of nearly giving away his one shot at a transplant, and how he's learned to read hardship not as "why me" (lama) but as "what now" (lemah) — a question of what message he's meant to receive.

This is a conversation about hashgacha pratis, surrender, and the quiet, enormous chesed of organ donation — a mitzvah that costs the donor almost nothing and gives the recipient everything.