| While attending Abraham Rogarshevsky's funeral, friends and neighbors of the family would prepare the apartment for shiva, the traditional Jewish period of mourning. After returning from the cemetery, the Rogarshevsky family would first rinse their hands outside of the tenement and then eat the seudat havra-ah, which is the traditional mourning meal in the Jewish faith. All of the food is round which signifies the circle of life that has no end and no beginning, but goes on and on forever. |
"In the Dominican Republic, what happened was the that everyone in her small town knew my grandmother passed away, so everyone came out to see my grandmother and then the family members would go to the cemetery to bury her. After the burial, they went back to the house and for nine days they do an Orosanta, the rosary, at a certain time each day. An Orosanta is a prayer for the resurrection of the body and the spirit, to take away all their sins. And there, a lot of people bring food, everyone who came brought something to eat." |
