The Sisters of the Winter Wood Quotes

“There are many types of love. But there is nothing like a sister.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“She became what she needed to be to save herself.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“If you want to know the history of a town, read the gravestones in its cemetery.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“She worries about what people say and how they see us. It makes her angry, but she wrings dough instead of her hands.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“Let’s help them believe that being a Jew means always changing—staying true to what you are, but adapting to your surroundings. That’s what our people have always done. Let’s give them something worth fighting for.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“The blood that is being spilled in these woods, in towns all over Bessarabia, makes fruits that are as unnatural as the men who grow them. They have one goal and one goal only—to bring back the Kodari forest, their ancestral home. And they think that the fastest way to do that is to sow fear and hatred into people’s breasts. If people hate each other, they will blame each other, and eventually they will kill each other. And what better group of people to start with than the Jews?”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“I recoil. He thinks his words are true, but he doesn't understand what it means to be a Jew, the way we protect ourselves and each other how we ensure Jewish continuity by marrying within our faith. He
doesn't know we honor the memory of the many Jews who died 'al kiddush Hashem'-sanctifying God's name- in order to preserve our traditions. He doesn't know that Jews always come out battered, bruised, but still triumphant. Because we believe in God, in community, in compassion, and in the power of our people to endure. His words hurt but they don't scratch the surface of what I am, what we are.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“This morning, everything looks clean from the snow that fell last night and I imagine the icy frost coating the inside of my lungs and mind, making my thoughts white and pure.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“Necessity breaks iron—Noit brecht eizen”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“The one thing we Jews know how to do best is survive.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“There is something
twisted
in his eyes.
It is love
and anger
and pain.
He bends down to kiss me.
I love you enough, he says,
to let you go.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“But suddenly I know that there is only one answer. I know it in my bones the same way I crave meat and dream of cold dark rivers. I will show them what I am.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“I’ve never been beautiful. I will never be beautiful. But I never wanted to be a bear.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“Liba—you are stronger than you believe. You too can become what you need to be in a time of need.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“That's not how you treat a woman." I raise my voice. "That's not how you treat anyone. You don't get to decide my future. You don't get to decide when I shift. I don't care whose daughter I am. My father doesn't get to decide my future either. Only I can make that decision.”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“Beautiful is not what is beautiful, but what one likes—Nit dos iz sheyn, vos iz sheyn, nor dos, vos es gefelt Better caution than tears—Besser frieher bewohrent, eider sh peter beweint”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“schmaltz—chicken fat”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood

“beshert—destiny or soulmate bissl—a little bit”
― Rena Rossner, The Sisters of the Winter Wood