[Avodah] Seudas Havraah

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Aug 26, 2025 at 10:34:11PM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> I am bothered by the very last phrase there: <<< lo yochal KLUM ad halailah
> - he should not eat ANYTHING until the night. >>> Why can't he have a small
> snack? Is it really assur to eat ANYthing before the Seudas Havraah? The
> avel has had a very busy and emotional day, and he certainly didn't eat
> anything in the cemetery. Do we really want him to enter Shabbos hungry?

The AhS has a very different take. In OC 249:7 he says that Se'udas Purim
or a Se'udas Havraah is a mitzvah, they *ARE* eaten close to Shabbos.

In YD 378:1 (in Hil' Aveilus) the AhS says that the first meal should
be from food someone gave them, already made. (But if the mourner's
neighbors sin by not providing any, se'if 2 says he isn't obligated
to go hungry.) And afterward, even on the same day, they can eat
from their own cupboard. (At least, that's the Rosh, SA, and he says,
halakhah pesuqah. But he cites rishonim who disagree.)

I don't think it's possible to eat anything before the Se'udas Havraah.
Not that it's assur, but because it would *become* their Se'udas Havraah.
Even if akhilas arai.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 When faced with a decision ask yourself,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   "How would I decide if it were Ne'ilah now,
Author: Widen Your Tent      at the closing moments of Yom Kippur?"
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                          - Rav Yisrael Salanter