Food on a Yahrzeit

Q: Why do some people serve refreshments in the Synagogue on the yahrzeit of their parent?

A: This custom is becoming less and less practiced among our people.  Yet it is an old and staid part of our tradition.  Two reasons are given for supplying food on the yahrzeit.  They are:

1.     It is an act of tzedaka.  And as is well known among our people, "tzedaka saves from death.”

2.     People say berachot over the food.  Thus the sponsor brings about praise to God at the memory of the deceased.