Lamentações 1:15 Halacá: Kitzur Shulchan Arukh & Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah

Concerning the final meal before the fast, there are many laws. The correct custom is to eat a regular meal before the Minchah service. After that, you pray Minchah, omitting Tachanun, because Tishah beAv is called a Moed as it is written, "He has proclaimed a Moed for me" (Lamentations 1:15). Towards evening, you should sit on the floor²A weak person is permitted to place a cushion or mat on the floor to sit on after concluding this meal. It is permitted to sit on a regular chair until nightfall. (Ibid. 552:18) but it is not necessary to take off your shoes. Three people should not sit down (to eat) together, so that they will not be required (to recite Birkas Hamazon) with zimun. You should eat only bread and a cold hard-boiled egg.³Mishnah Berurah does not mention that the egg must be cold. You should dip a small piece of bread in ashes and eat it.⁴Before eating it, you may say, “This is the meal of Tishah beAv.” (Ibid. 552:16) You should be careful to finish the meal while it is still day. (Whether you are permitted to eat after this, see 131:12 below).

[On Hol ha-Moed]¹ Glos. one recites for the dead Ẓidduk Ha-din and Kaddish¹ Glos. as usual; likewise, on the second Festival day [of the Diaspora], but on the first day of a Festival, since we do not attend to [the burial needs of] the dead, it [Ẓidduk Haddin]¹ Glos. is not recited.¹⁸Tur on the authority of Ghayyat, Rashi. Thus also N. O.Ḥ. § 420, 2. Gloss: Some differ [with this ruling and maintain] that Ẓidduk Haddin¹ Glos. should not be recited on [Hol] ha-Moed;¹⁹Tur citing a number of authorities — G. and thus is the common practice in these countries, [viz.,] not to recite Ẓidduk Haddin¹ Glos. on all days during which Taḥanun¹ Glos. is not recited.²⁰Minhagim — G. Hence, [it] is also not said after midday on the eve of the Sabbath.²¹But on the eve of Rosh Ḥodesh and Ḥanukkah (likewise Purim) it may be recited after midday — ShaK. On the Fast of Esther and on the eve of Lag Ba-Omer, after midday, Ẓidduk Haddin may be recited. On the eve of Tish‘a be-Ab (ninth of Ab) after midday, Ẓidduk Haddin may be recited although the ninth of Ab is designated a Holiday (Lam. I, 15) — P.Tesh. For a scholar, Ẓidduk Haddin may be recited on Lag Ba-Omer and on Tish’a be-Ab and on the eve of Rosh ha-Shana before midday—TaZ (to O.Ḥ. § 420). On days when Ẓidduk Haddin is not recited, the customary halts on the cemetery (v. supra § 358, 3 Gloss) are not made. R. Yoel ha-Lewi did not recite Ẓidduk Haddin during the seven days after the Feast of Weeks (Shabuoth), for the law is that if one did not offer the prescribed offerings on the Feast of Weeks, he has a supplementary period of seven days after the Festival — Be’er ha-Golah. Some say that if the corpse is interred at night, Kaddish¹ Glos. and Ẓidduk Haddin¹ Glos. are not recited.²²Kol Bo — G. It is customary not to recite the El Male Raḥamim (אל מלא רחמים) prayer on days when Ẓidduk Haddin is not recited. It is unknown when this prayer was composed. In Geonic times it was called אשכבתא or השכבה, (Hashkabah), a name by which it is still known among Sephardic Jews today. supra § 344, 20.