NFL legend Junior Seau was found dead at his home; Seau chose to shoot himself in the chest, as have several NFL players who recently killed themselves in a similar fashion; new studies appear to connect football-related concussions to suicidal behavior.
Although suicide is forbidden in the Torah, there are heroic instances like the community in Masada, Israel 2000 years ago when the people preferred to death to being captured and enslaved by the Roman army. People die to be free because freedom is more important than life.
Football, in a strange way, exemplifies freedom – commentators always describe a player as getting free; perhaps our fascination with the game stems from a deep rooted desire within each person to be free – to be able to take the hit and keep running, never stop or give up.
The Talmud-Book of Law tells a story about a laundryman who heard a voice from heaven saying, Whoever goes to the funeral of Rebbe Yehuda (who was the first to commit the Oral Torah into writing) gets Olam Haba/The Next World – the ultimate reward for living a good life.
The man got involved in his laundry and forgot to go; he was so despondent, he threw himself from the roof and died – another voice from heaven said, He also gets Olam Haba. When hearing of a person’s death it is the custom to say, Barauch Dian HaEmet/God is the True Judge.
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