JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<table id="foo" border="1">
    <tr> 
        <td rowspan="3" class="date">Monday</td> 
        <td class="name">Cell A1 <a href="#" class="edit">edit</a></td> 
    </tr>
    <tr> 
        <td class="name">Cell A2 <a href="#" class="edit">edit</a></td> 
    </tr>
    <tr> 
        <td class="name">Cell A3 <a href="#" class="edit">edit</a></td> 
    </tr>
    <tr> 
        <td rowspan="3" class="date">Tuesday</td> 
        <td class="name">Cell B1 <a href="#" class="edit">edit</a></td> 
    </tr>
    <tr> 
        <td class="name">Cell B2 <a href="#" class="edit">edit</a></td> 
    </tr>
    <tr> 
        <td class="name">Cell B3 <a href="#" class="edit">edit</a></td> 
    </tr>
</table>

CSS

td {
    padding:5px;
}

JavaScript

$(function(){
    
    $("#foo a.edit").click(function(e){
        
        var tr = $(this).closest("tr"),
            date = tr.find("td.date");
        if (date.length == 0) {
            date = tr.prevAll(":has(td.date):first").find("td.date");
        }
        
        e.preventDefault();
        alert(date.html());
    });
    
});