Like most people, I read with a mix of disbelief and revulsion about  Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, a Brooklyn man, some say rabbi, who was caught up in last week’s New York/New Jersey corruption probe.

Unlike most of 44 people, including rabbis and mayors, charged by federal agents in the investigation, Rosenbaum was not accused of political corruption.

His alleged crime was a lot more strange: he was charged with selling body parts. Specifically kidneys. According to court documents, he is charged with paying people $10,000 for a healthy kidney, then re-selling the organ for as much as $160,000.

The story made me think of all the organ donation stories I’ve written over the years – stories of people who show amazing altruism, often under heart-breaking circumstances, when they agree to donate organs.

It also made me think of LifeSharers. I often get e-mails from this organization, but I’ve never written about them.

Rosenbaum’s arrest is a perfect argument for why such a group can really work to lessen the severe and often deadly shortage of organs.

Here’s how if works: LifeSharers members promise to donate upon their death, and they give fellow members first access to their organs.

LifeSharers member have access to organs that otherwise may not be available or might require a lon waiting list.  As the LifeSharers network grows, more and more organs may become available to member.

Membership is free. More than 12,500 people have already signed up. More than 100,000 people are already on other waiting lists for donor organs, most of them through the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS.

Check it out.