犹太人的故事（2013）

这些都是犹太人的"命根子"
through generations of difficulty,
hardship and calamity,
是他们历经几世艰难困苦和各种劫难
而从未敢忘的"命根子"
and what was this God,
反过来呢，小S"鼓吹"的这位"上帝"
who was also nature,
of Spinoza's, offering instead?
等同于"自然世界"的这位， 究竟又是何方神圣？
Well, in Spinoza's mind
it was offering to bring the Jews
这么说吧，小S提出的想法是：
用这种“神是实体 是自然”的理论
together with the rest
of humanity -
将犹太人与世上的其他所有人(包括基♥督♥徒)
Jews, Christians, and anyone else
for that matter, who could share
"团结"在同一片蓝天下 #
the same common space -
同呼吸，共命运！ 爱神，爱自然 #
and Spinoza thought,
what was not to like about that?
小S认为， 倘若这样，定是人人皆大欢喜之事...不是吗？ #
[这么超前的想法。难怪被唾沫淹死]
Spinoza challenged
Jew and Gentile alike
小S(就是这样)用自己的宽容派哲学理论
with his philosophy of
toleration.
无差别叫板犹太与非犹太两个世界
Two generations after his death,
that challenge was taken up here,
他过世后200年，在当时的普鲁士首都柏林
in the Prussian capital of Berlin.
有人接过了小S的枪
Berlin then was enclosed
by a city wall.
其时的柏林， 还有一道外墙环绕
Inside, some 2,000 privileged
and protected Jews
墙内，约有2000名受保护和优待的
were permitted to live.
犹太人获准居于此地
Elsewhere in Prussia, they were
confined to provincial towns,
而在普鲁士的其他地方，犹太人被限制居住在各地的犹太城镇之内 #
inward looking, closed off
from the Gentile world around them.
成为与非犹太的外部世界隔绝的"内向"型城镇
But then a young Jewish scholar,
当时，一位年轻的犹太学生
his first name weighty
with historical significance,
--带着他那听起来极具历史厚重感的名字-
walked to Berlin,
following his religious teacher.
追随自己的宗教导师，步行去了柏林
Moses Mendelssohn,
unprotected, unprivileged,
小伙子名曰:摩西.门德尔松
[他的孙子就是德国著名作曲家F.门德尔松]
he somehow made it into a city world
rich with new possibilities.
他还真的做到了，徒步抵达了这座遍地都是新机遇的城市
In 1743, the lad, Moses Mendelssohn,
barely out of his Bar Mitzvah,
1743年，重兵把守的旧柏林城墙下
stood before one of these heavily
guarded city gates in old Berlin,
初来乍到的门德尔松站在其中一座城门之前，
on the brink of a great cultural
adventure
此时的他，才刚受过诫礼，也许还不知道，
自己已经身处一场文化冒险之旅的边缘
[Bar Mitzvah 受诫礼 年满13岁的犹太男孩举♥行♥的成人仪式]
that would transform
not just his life,
从此，不仅是他的生活将发生巨变
but all of the relationships
and encounters
连带着变化的，还有一切发生在
between Jews and Gentiles.
犹太与非犹太世界之间的联♥系♥与碰撞！
Of this mighty destiny he could have
had very little inkling.
对于强大的普鲁士王朝，门德尔松知之甚少
He had lived all of his young life
amidst religious Jews like himself.
13岁之前的他一直与那些同样是信仰虔诚的同胞生活在一起。
He spoke just two languages -
Judeo-German,
他本来只说两种语言: 一是日常使用的 "犹太化德语"
otherwise known as Yiddish,
in his daily rounds,
也被称为 Yiddish语
[或为 idesh . 德国犹太人发展出来的
犹太化德语方言.一译 '意第绪语
and Hebrew in the synagogue,
in prayers and studies.
二是 希伯来语， 用于教堂，祈祷和学习
He would end his life
但是门德尔松的一生，注定是学霸的一生，
as the embodiment
of the Jewish Enlightenment,
他后来成为犹太启蒙思想的化身
able to speak and write, and read
every language you could think of -
精通 法，英，拉丁，希腊等各种语言...
French, English, Latin and Greek.
你能想到的语种，他都能听说读写毫无困难
He didn't know
what was in store for him,
语言上的天赋，
but it was an extraordinary opening,
在不知觉中，为他开启了一扇非凡之门，令他学贯东西
not just in these city gates,
他所大步踏入的，不仅是一扇柏林城门
but the entire history of the Jews
and those who met them.
而是整部犹太人的历史，以及其中的犹太与非犹太世界的往来史.
Mendelssohn may have come to Berlin
to pursue his religious studies,
门德尔松同学来柏林的初衷也许只是为了继续研习宗教学识
but soon he was reaching
well beyond the Talmud,
不过很快，他的研读范围就不再局限于《Talmud经》这些经典
exploring new worlds
of secular knowledge,
开始不断探索宗教之外的新知
dipping into dangerous Spinoza.
对危险的Spinoza学说---也开始涉猎
He wasn't trying to escape
his Judaism, though.
不过他并非意图叛教...
He would live, marry and raise
six children, all within the faith.
门德尔松后来娶妻，育六子，始终未逾教门半步
At the Jewish Museum in Berlin
there is something that captures
在柏林的犹太博物馆内，我们能看到某物记载着
his ideal of vigorous new growth,
deeply rooted in long tradition.
他怀揣的"老树新芽"的理想
It's a masterpiece of synagogue art,
这是一件犹太教堂艺术品的杰作
made from Mendelssohn's wife's
own wedding dress.
由门太的嫁衣制成--
This is a Torah ark curtain
女声：“我们现在看到的是圣经(存放)柜上的幕帘”
which was given to
the Berlin Jewish community
"受赠于摩西.门德尔松和他妻子: Fromet.门德尔松"
by Moses Mendelssohn
and his wife, Fromet.
"对象是柏林犹太社区"
And both their names are on it,
and it was dedicated by them.
"你看她俩的名字都绣在上面，而且由他俩共同赠予."
And what I think is particularly
special about them,
"我觉得尤其特别的是， "
the names are in parallel,
that seems like equality. Yeah.
"你看夫妻俩的名字是并列的，有股子平等的意思"
Yeah, that is
a very Enlightenment thing.
SIMON:"对，对，看起来就很有启蒙的味道-夫妻平等"
'Spinoza would have loved this.
Spinoza要是能看到这个， 一定喜欢
'If you had to make something
that says "God is nature",
因为如果你真要在某物上面表达 “神即自然”的话
'this is surely it.'
眼前此物表达的就再好不过了。 #
What's particularly unusual here is
that you actually have... Flowers.
女声:"极不寻常的是，你看这上面居然绣了各种花朵"
..the flowers and the grass and it's
all alive
"花花草草的一派生机勃勃"
and it's a real landscape. Yes.
"是一幅真的景色！"
Yes. That's very, very unusual.
Yeah, it is, isn't it?
女声:"这非常非常少见"
SIMON:"是啊"
And that the flowers, you can
actually tell which kind of flowers
女声:"然后你看这各种的花，能直接看出它们的品种"
they are, that you can find.
What have we got?
女声:"都是自然界的确有的物种"
SIMON:"是啊，来看看都有些什么花？"
We've got roses
and we've got lilies.
SIMON:"这是玫瑰...这是百合..."
We have carnations.
HaSharon. We have carnations.
"还有康乃馨..."
[Simon说的"HaSharon" 意思不明.
Ha-Sharon= the Sharon
黄水仙=Havazelet HaSharon=lily of the Sharon
但是黄水仙和carnations貌似无关]
And we have... Goodness,
those beautiful blue flowers.
"我们还有这些...天啊...非常漂亮的蓝色花朵..."
This whole sense of botanising
"整幅作品上的各种植物采集...，"
being part of the 18th-century mind,
"也是18世纪启蒙思想的一部分，"
that you catalogue
the wonders of nature
"重点就在于人为的对自然界各种事物命名，归类，造册" #
[这里也许还指林奈(1707-1778)和他的动植物分类学研究造成的影响.]
and you can have two views
about that.
"那么，(看着这些)你自然就会心生两种看法"
You can have
the kind of non-religious view
"一是 与宗教无关:--"
that nature is its own thing.
"这上面绣的表现的就是自然而已，与其他无关"
Or you can have the view
that nature is absolutely proof,
"或者呢，你也可以认为，眼前的自然万物"
not just of God's existence,
but of His genius.
"不仅是上帝存在的绝对明证，而且还证明了上帝之手有多么神奇，能造出如此繁多美丽的事物"
So a sense, actually,
of the deep past
"因此，这整幅绣品，我觉得就是在用百花齐放的今日-"
made beautiful by the possibility
of a flowering present
"来点亮悠久的昨日历史，"
is all in the object.
"用各种可能的新知，来为犹太教注入新的活力"
Nourished by the ideas
of the Enlightenment,
在启蒙思潮的各种新理念浇灌之下
there were other flowers
that bloomed for Mendelssohn -
门德尔松在接触各种新知和新思想的同时
close and enduring friendships
made with non-Jewish writers.
还结交了一批密友，他们大多是作家，而且都不是犹太人.
It seems so obvious, so easy now,
sharing culture,
在不牺牲自身特性的前提下达成各种文化共享和交流-
without being asked
to sacrifice your identity,
在我们今天看来似乎是理所当然的
but then it was almost incredible.
可是在门德尔松同学的年代，却是千难万难.
His closest friend was the poet
and playwright, Gotthold Lessing.
比如门德尔松的知己：Gotthold Lessing--是个诗人兼剧作家
[1729-1781德国启蒙运动时期剧作家、美学家、文艺批评家]