Eggs in the Mourning Meal
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Question
Is it permissible to eat boiled and crushed eggs at the mourning meal?
Answer
It seems that the main reason is for the eggs to remain whole.
Source
Talmud, Bava Batra, page 16b: "And Esau came from the field, and he was weary. And it was taught: on that day, our father Abraham passed away, and our father Jacob prepared a dish of lentils to comfort Isaac, his father. [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 upon the inhabitants 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). Therefore, the idea of comforting with eggs is because they have no mouth, and thus they comfort the mourner who has no mouth to respond to the decrees of heaven. And if the egg is crushed, it is not apparent that it has no mouth."
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