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Sabbath
A Jewish mourning tradition. Following a funeral, the person’s immediate family sits and mourns for seven days, either in their home or that of a close relative. Traditions vary by family and denomination, but generally the family does not work or celebrate during this week, they cover all mirrors, and they sit on the ground or on low stools. In this book, Ruth’s family sits shiva symbolically, to demonstrate that she is as good as dead to them.
Shiva Quotes in The Color of Water
The The Color of Water quotes below are all either spoken by Shiva or refer to Shiva. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
I was born an Orthodox Jew on April 1, 1921, April Fool’s Day, in Poland. I don’t remember the name of the town where I was born, but I do remember my Jewish name: Ruchel Dwarja Zylska. My parents got rid of that name when we came to America and changed it to Rachel Deborah Shilsky, and I got rid of that name when I was nineteen and never used it again after I left Virginia for good in 1941. Rachel Shilsky is dead as far as I’m concerned. She had to die in order for me, the rest of me, to live.
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Explanation and Analysis:
This quote appears in the second paragraph of the first chapter. It is the first time Ruth introduces herself, and in just a few sentences she covers the three distinct eras of her life. In each era she has had a different name, which has corresponded to a different racial and religious identity. Ruchel, which sounds both Jewish and European, was Ruth’s birth name. When her family immigrated, her name was Americanized to Rachel, and although she was still an observant Orthodox Jew, she had shed her identity as a foreigner. Each name change is marked by a forgetting, and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta.
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Shiva Term Timeline in The Color of Water
The timeline below shows where the term Shiva appears in The Color of Water. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Dead
When Ruth married her first husband, Andrew McBride, her family sat shiva and acted as though she had died. In Jewish tradition it takes seven days to...
(full context)
