Committing suicide

 Part 1

At the end of the 18th century, R. Shaul Berlin (Levin)

published the "ספר "שו"ת בשמים ראש, claiming to be

תשובות of the רא"ש.

Some תשובות in the ספר are outrageous and unlikely

for the רא"ש to have written.

Most Gedolim realized that R.S. Berlin who was a

Maskil, stuck in his own תשובות (opinions) claiming

them to be תשובות of the רא"ש.

The חתם סופר refers to the Sefer as "כזבי הרא"ש"

The forgeries of the רא"ש.

Years later they reprinted the Sefer but removed those

תשובות that sounded outrageous and were attributed to

be written by RS Berlin.

One of the תשובות that was removed is תשובה שמ"ה

where he writes, that the only time we consider

and apply the הלכות of מאבד עצמו לדעת is when one

kills himself because he hates all of mankind & the

world. Only he is considered a מאבד עצמו לדעת.

All others who are fed up with life regardless of

their reason or their mental state is not to be

considered a מאבד עצמו לדעת. 

In other words the whole סימן שמ"ה in שולחן ערוך

should ח"ו be thrown away because there never was

and never will be a מאבד עצמו לדעת to whom

these הלכות would apply.