What should be eaten at the Seudat Havra'ah
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Question
What should be eaten at the Seudat Havra'ah?
Answer
The custom is to eat bread and cold eggs. (And the mourner should not peel the eggs himself, but should have someone else peel them for him.) Afterwards, they can eat as they wish.
Source
Gemara Bava Batra, page 16b: "And Esau came from the field, and he was weary, and it was taught: On that day, our forefather Abraham passed away, and our forefather Jacob prepared a dish of lentils to comfort his father Isaac. [Why lentils?] They say in the West in the name of Rabba bar Mari: Just as a lentil has no mouth, so too a mourner has no mouth. Another explanation: Just as a lentil is round, so too mourning revolves and returns to the people of the world. What is the difference between them? The difference is in comforting with eggs (in eggs, which have no mouth but are not round). And the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, laws of mourning, chapter 378, section 9, writes: "In a place where it is customary to comfort with meat, wine, and various dishes, they do so; and they first comfort with eggs or a dish of lentils, in memory of mourning, and then eat all they need." This is the ruling according to the explanation that they have no mouth. And in Bedek HaBayit, it is written that the mourner should not peel the eggs himself, as it appears greedy. And in Aruch HaShulchan, it is written that bread should be eaten at the Seudat Havra'ah, as the main verse in Ezekiel refers to bread, where it is written "and bread of men you shall not eat," and from this, the law of the Seudat Havra'ah is learned.
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