May friends of an Avel (during Shloshim) buy her a gift card to a restaurant or pizza shop to help with dinners?

 

It is forbidden to send gifts to an Avel during Shloshim (YD 385:3).

If your main intention is not to provide the meal as a gesture, but rather, to help the Avel manage during this difficult time, you may wish to think of other ways to achieve this goal. For example, you could arrange with the restaurant that the Avel will pick up her meal and put the bill on an account and that you will come and pay the account afterward. In this way, you are not giving her a gift, but rather, paying her bills, which is permitted.

 

 

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