1,300. Suicide

201:1 When it comes to mourning, a person who commits suicide [without such mitigating circumstances as mental illness - see 201:3] is treated the same as an evil person. This is because suicide [by a person in full control of his faculties] is a serious offense as per Genesis 9:5, "the blood of your own lives I will require of you." The whole world was created for one individual, so taking a single life - even one's own - is like destroying an entire world. Therefore, aveilus (mourning) is not observed for such a person: one doesn't tear one's garments, sit shiva, or eulogize for him. However, the deceased is purified, dressed in burial shrouds, and buried as per usual. The general rule is that we do those things that are done to honor the living.

201:2 We do not automatically assume that people do evil things, so if someone is found, strangled, hanged, etc., if it was possible for someone else to have done this, we do not assume that the deceased did it himself.