VTA light-rail worker dies in apparent suicide ktvu.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ktvu.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ten years ago, I lost my 16-year-old son Jesse, to suicide and I wrote an article for the Boulder Jewish News, about the loss, the community response, and some things people could do to support suicide prevention efforts. At the time, I didn’t really care whether suicide was a “Jewish Issue” that belonged in this newspaper.
With the passage of time, I have thought about writing something again but wondered if it was an appropriate topic for this forum. After all, suicide is prohibited by most major religions. In traditional Judaism, a person who dies by suicide cannot be buried inside the cemetery gates and the family is not to sit shiva for one who dies by suicide. Thankfully, this view is changing, with an understanding that suicide is not an act of rebellion against G-d, but rather a result of a struggle with mental health issues. For my family, following the death of my son, the outpouring of love and support from our Jewish community was life saving.