1. Can a woman in the year of Aveilus wear jewelry on Shabbos and/or during the week?
2. Can she give gifts to others (i.e. wedding presents, bar-mitzva gifts etc.)
3. What about plucking eyebrows and shaving legs?
4. What is the definition of a prohibited pleasure trip during the year of Aveilus (does a day with your husband for purposes of Shalom Bayis fall under such a category?)
5. Can one wish mazal tov and/or give a gift to someone on the occasion of a child’s birth to a non-Jewish mother and a Jewish father?
6. Does the case change if the mother is Jewish? (by ignoring the birth it may cause animosity in the family.)
Answer:
1. Jewelery may be worn in the first year of aveilus.
2. Presents may not be given (other than the minimal mishloach manos on Purim)
3. It is permitted to pluck eyebrows and shave legs.
4. Pleasure trips are forbidden. If necessary for shalom bayis they would be permitted, because this would not be considered a “pleasure trip,” but rather a trip for the sake of a mitzvah, which is permitted.
5. One should not wish mazal tov if this would give the situation a sense of legitimacy. If it is necessary to avoid family animosity one should do so in a way that does not assume legitimacy. The same applies if the mother is Jewish and the father non-Jewish.
