Halakhah sa Ester 4:2: Sefer HaChinukh

It is from the roots of the commandment [that it is] because it is known to the Sages that the matter of impurity weakens the power of the intellect and mixes it up and separates between it and the pure and perfect Elevated Understanding. And it will be separated until it is purified. And [it is] as it is written regarding the matter of impurity (Leviticus 11:43), “and do not become impure with them and be impurified (venitmetem) in them” — and they, may their memory be blessed, expounded (Yoma 39a), “and be stupefied (venitamtem) in them”; meaning to say that the sources of intellect are stupefied by impurity. Hence it is not fitting for a person who is sullied by impurity to be in the holy and pure place, wherein the spirit of God is [found]. And this matter can be compared metaphorically to the palace of a king from which we distance any man that is leprous or disgusting in his body, or even in his clothing. And it is similar to that which is written (Esther 4:2), “for one cannot enter the king’s gate wearing sackcloth.”

It is from the roots of the commandment [that it is] because the consecrated foods are the table of the Higher realm, and it is not fitting for someone who is worried and very hurt in his heart to approach the table of the King. And by way of an analogy, it is like the matter that is written, “for one should not enter the gate of the king with sackcloth” (Esther 4:2). And another reason is because atonement of the owner is found in the eating of the consecrated foods — and like the matter that they, may their memory be blessed, said (Pesachim 59b), “The priests eat, and the owners are atoned.” And there is no doubt that when they would eat their consecrated foods, they would eat them with great concentration and with complete minds and [that] all of their thoughts and movements would be proper in front of God. And in a person being distressed, worried and trembling on the day of his relatives’s death, his mind and concentration will not be settled at all. And therefore, it is not fit to eat the consecrated foods of the Heavens [at that time]. And the matter is fit in the eyes of the one who says it (the author).