Q2 Outside Reading Post 5: Miriam's Kitchen

This week, I finished the book, Miriam's Kitchen.  This week, a very unfortunate even occured.  Elizabeth's grandma, or Miriam, died.  Elizabeth Ehrlic describes one memory as, "Buried: the box that held her body was set in a hollow dug for that box, and her remains covered with earth" (317).  This is obviously a memory that has stuck with her for a long time.  She seems to remember this scene very clearly because of all the descriptive words she uses.  Miriam seemed to be a huge part of Elizabeth's life.  Ehrlic keeps one special thing of Miriam's to remember her.  She writes, "The ripping cloth stays with me, an image that serves the bubbe" (318).  The cloth seems to be an important keepsake to Ehrlic.  By keeping it with her at all times, she will always have a part of Miriam, or her bubbe, with.  This chapter really shows us that Miriam was one of the most important parts of Ehrlic's life.

In one of the last chapters, Continuity, we really see how important family is to Ehrlich.  By writing this book, she could capture and remember all the sad, happy, good and bad times she had with her family.  Ehrlich writes, "The stories were remembered for a reason.  Family stories, they were told and retold because they contained essential truths" (351).  The word "essential" really shows how important her family stories are to her.  Without them, life wouldn't be the same for her.  We also get a sense of how religion influenced her life.  She states, "Religion is a story that tells us how to live" (351).  By saying this, Ehrlic is saying the Judaism has made her who she is today.  She lives her life based off all of those rules and has been a huge part of her life.  By reading this book, one would be able to see the true meaning of religion, family, and memories to Elizabeth Ehrlich.