Q. I attended my friend’s mother’s funeral and they held a reception after the levaya at the old age home where her mother lived. After the reception, my friend insisted that I take home some of the left over food. Is it OK for us to eat it?

A. There are Poskim who opine that nothing, whether objects or food, should be taken out of the place of mourning during the entire Shivah, as a Ruach Raah (unfavourable spiritual influence) rest on the abode (Eliahu Rabah 224,7. Lechem Haponim 376). Some rule that the restriction applies only if the death happened in that home otherwise it in not relevant (Chidushei Rabbi Akiva Eiger 37). Other authorities state that this tradition has no Halachick basis at all. (Yosef Ometz p.330), Nitey Gabriel 92,1 writes that this seems to be the accepted custom. When the prohibition of B’al Taschis (discarding good usable food) is also involved, this last one would have priority.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld – revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlita