What is the symbolic meaning of "the shawl" and how does it relate to the main idea?

haleyl,

The details of the story, important as they are, are not laid out according to any plan or scheme. We learn in the first four paragraphs that Rosa, along with her young daughter Stella and her infant daughter Magda, have been on a forced march, and that spectators have lined up along the way as the marching Jews have gone by.

With paragraph 5, the scene shifts to the confines of a Nazi extermination camp, which is not named. Ultimately, a German guard murders Magda by throwing her against an electrically charged fence. Ozick presents these details as the major character, Rosa, perceives them—not as she sees them and remembers them in outline, but as she receives impressions about them. This is the symbolic meaning of the "shawl." The result is that we experience the story as it not only affects Rosa but comforts her as much as possible within the confines of what happens in the story. Unless she perceives it, it is not included in the story.

To pigeon-hole the idea that the shawl symbolizes any one type of religious ware, might narrow an interpretation and dilute the true themes of the story. While it is true that there are various themes to stories, the more limiting symbolic objects stand as symbols, the less focused the energy of the story. Even if you remove any references to a German concentration camp, the full effect of the story is not marginalized or mitigated. Oppression can happen anywhere, and we are comforted by things as best we can.