Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses the mitzvah of building a maakeh, a protective fence around a roof so as to prevent someone from accidentally falling. The relevant verses are in Devarim (22:8):

“When you build a new house, you shall make a fence for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if the one who falls shall fall from it.”

The Hebrew phrase is interesting because it implies that the person who could fall from the roof that we are commanded to protect is somehow “one who falls”—i.e., destined to fall.

Our Sages picked up on this nuance and commented in Shabbos (32a):

“In a similar vein, Rav Yitzchak son of Rav Yehuda said: A person should always pray that he will not become ill, and if he becomes ill they say to him: Bring proof of your virtue and exempt yourself. It is preferable for a person not to be forced to prove that he merits staying alive, as he might not be able to prove it.”

“Mar Ukva said: What is the verse that alludes to this? As it says: “When you build a new house, then you shall make a fence for your roof, that you bring not blood upon your house, if the one who falls falls mimenu from it (or him)(Devarim 22:8). He explains: Mimenu—from him proof must be brought. When one falls from his previous situation, it is his own responsibility to prove his innocence and emerge unharmed.”

“The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: What is the meaning of the phrase “if the one who falls falls from it”? This person was destined to fall from that roof from the six days of Creation; it was ingrained into nature. Although he did not yet fall, the verse calls him “one who falls. Nevertheless, the owner of the house is indicted for this, as merit is engendered by means of the innocent and guilt by means of the guilty.”

The Gemara is grappling with the concept of predestination versus human intervention. While much ink has been spilled on the philosophical and theological paradoxes of a predestined future, the Torah clearly takes the approach that, whether we understand it or not, both can be true. (See the famous discussion between the Rambam and Raavad, Laws of Teshuva 5:5. Also the Shalah offers an original and fascinating approach to this paradox; see Toldos Adam, Beis HaBechirah.) Suffice it to say that on a practical level we believe that though there is a fate that is at least likely, at the same time it can be averted through merit and/or preventive action. We are not allowed to behave with fatalism but rather must always strive to prevent harm through both actions and prayer in order to merit safety and success.

I will offer an original peshat in this wording “the one who falls.” One would think that those who are suicidal, plus or minus, will find a way to carry through with their intentions. For example, if there was a bridge with no guardrail, and statistically x number of people jumped off it a year, if you put up a guardrail and there was another bridge three miles away, the same approximate number would still commit suicide. They simply would find the next bridge. Yet study after study has proved this not to be the case. This is known in the clinical literature as reducing the availability of means. This has been shown from England coal-gas substitution event. Until the 1960s, domestic utility gas in the United Kingdom (coal gas) contained high levels of toxic carbon monoxide. It accounted for roughly 40% of all suicides in England and Wales in 1963. When they switched to a less lethal form of gas, the annual suicides in England and Wales dropped significantly, even though surely there are other ways to kill oneself. The same has been noted in numerous studies where a bridge builds a railing. Even if other local bridges do not have railings, the suicides go down. (See Pelletier AR, “Preventing suicide by jumping: the effect of a bridge safety fence,” Injury Prevention 2007;13:57–59; and “Suicide and the availability of means: the British gas story” by R. V. Clarke and D. Lester, 1989.)

Based on this, I believe the Torah presaged this counterintuitive psychological trend. “The one who falls” could be referring to someone with suicidal intent. The Torah is saying: even though people might have intention to do themselves harm, you are commanded to make a fence and it will have impact.