GD has cautioned us not to kill any human being in any way, saying, " Do not murder" (Shemos 20:13). The closer his relationship to the murdered person, the more culpable the murderer is. Accordingly, as none is closer to a person than he is to himself, he who kills himself undoubtedly deserves severe punishment. For he may be compared to a servant whose master ordered him to guard a certain place for a certain amount of time, warning him not to abandon his post until the arrival of his messenger. When the servant saw that the messenger was late in coming, he abandoned his post before the latter came. pg 403
Once, on a Motzoei Shabbos, the chasidim were sitting in the bais medrash of the Ruzhiner Rebbe zy”a for Melave Malka. Suddenly, the Rebbe opened the door of his room next to the bais medrash, stood at the entrance, and said, “The Baal Shem Tov was not a deity, and the zaida, the Magid, was not just an ordinary wagon driver. And once, when the holy Baal Shem Tov prayed, his talis fringe fell out of his gartel and dragged on the floor. The Magid approached, picked it up, and put it back in the gartel, but he was trembled with such tremendous fear that he fainted and his life was in danger. They were compelled to rouse the Baal Shem Tov from his deep dveikus in order to calm him.” He then added, “I told you that the Baal Shem Tov was not a deity and my zaida, the Magid, was no wagon driver. Still and all, when he touched the Besht’s garment, he fainted from fear. The entire world is Hashem’s garment. How much fear must we feel to touch this world!” May the memory of the...
