Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Yoreh Deah/380

Seif 1: These are the things which are forbidden to the mourner – melacha (work), washing, annointing with oils (perfume), wearing shoes, sexual relations (lit. use of the bed). And it is forbidden to read from the Torah and forbidden to say hello or do laundry, and one is obligated to wrap one’s head and to overturn the bed all seven days (i.e. of shiva). And it is forbidden to lay tefillin on the first day and it is forbidden to iron or to get a haircut, or to be happy and to stitch together the tear all thirty days (and all of the elements of mourning are in effect whether it is day or night)

Seif 2: Work – how? Throughout the first three days, work is forbidden even if he is a poor person who is sustained by tzedakkah. From this point on, if he is poor and he does not have what to eat, he [works] privately inside his house. And a woman spins on a spindle inside the house. But the hachamim [sages] said that a curse should come upon his neighbors who made it necessary for him to do this. (In the same manner[i.e. for those things] in which it is permitted to write on hol hamoed, it is thus permitted to write during the days of mourning, not in other matters)

Seif 3: Just as he [the mourner] is forbidden to work, so too he is forbidden to trade (lit. give and take) merchandise and to travel between cities for business purposes (lit. to go from one city to another for merchandise).

Seif 4: Even something that would cause a [financial] loss (as opposed to work done for monetary gain) is forbidden to the mourner to do – whether it is he, his servants, his maidservants, his sons, or his daughters since he is entitled to the product of their labor (lit. hands).

Seif 5: It is forbidden to do work through others (even a non-Jew) unless it is something which has the potential to depreciate since something which depreciates is permitted to be done by others. Even something which is forbidden on hol hamoed because of laboring is permitted and even if this is professional-quality artisanship. ''Hagah – And there are those who say that if he is not able to do it through others and it is something which depreciates, then it is permitted for the mourner to do it by himself. And after the first three days one can be lenient and even during the first three days if there is a potentially great [financial] loss.''

Seif 22: Sweeping the house, rinsing glasses and making the bed – they do not fall into the category of work for a mourner. And so too, it is permissible for a woman to bake and cook during the days of her mourning (what she needs, but what she does not need, is forbidden). And so too a woman serves in the house of another head of household, and her mourning is taking place, she is permitted to bake and cook and to provide for all the other needs of the household whether she serves free of charge or for a wage.