犹太人的故事（2013）

Pinsker医生出版了一本小册子， 我孩提时代曾经读过
and it had an electrifying influence on me,called Autoemancipation.
当时感觉犹如触电一般。
小册子的主题，叫做 《犹太自我解放》
In that booklet,Pinsker diagnosed -
Pinsker医生在册子里
and he was a doctor,remember -
给出的"诊断意见"是
Judeophobia as a kind of fear of ghosts.
恐犹症，基本表现为对幽灵的恐惧
The problem,he said,was that Jewish national existence
他的看法: 犹 太 民 族 作为民族的一支
had died a long time ago,but Jews were still alive everywhere,
早已不复存在， 可问题是， 犹 太 人却依旧散布于世界各地
and people treated them as phantoms and you get neurotic about phantoms.
因此，各地的其他民族眼里，犹太人就像幽魂一般，
那么正常人面对幽魂自然会神经紧张的，不是吗？
The only way to cure it, for Pinsker,
Pinsker医生给出的"治疗方案":
was not for Jews to be beholden to others,
犹太人不必再幻想着与他族和谐
to receive civil rights, like charity given to a beggar.
不必再幻想什么取得公民权，因为那基本等同于乞丐在要求施舍
The issue was to seize a sense of your own national identity
解决问题的核心，在于抓牢"自我民族认同"，重新确立犹太人作为
世界民族之林的一支
to make it happen somewhere,
并致力于通过军事力量和道德力量
and make it happen with power and moral strength.
在世界某处实现这种理想
Thereupon was a momentous departure.
由此，犹太人的思想巨变终于扬帆起航
Momentous absolutely for Jews,
这样的巨变 ， 我不说你也知道
and,as I need hardly tell you,
不论对于犹太人
incredibly momentous for the world.
还是对于全世界都可说绝对的振聋发聩！
'For the countless Jewish multitudes,
然而对于无数的犹太大众来说
'there was,of course, another way out.
这当然不是唯一出路
'Why wait for Zion when there was another promised land
对他们来说， 锡安太远，美国挺近，
'lying across the ocean?
跨过大海就能到
'America.
也是一块不错的应许之地。
'It was known in Yiddish as the "goldene medinah",
意第绪语里面还有专门词汇形容美国
被栅栏区的劳苦大众天天挂在嘴边
'the golden sanctuary and it had long been on the lips of the Pale.
叫做"goldene medinah" ---金色庇护所，
'Letters from relatives who'd already made the trip
赴美亲友寄回来的信里
'told fables of a land of miracles
也把美国吹上了天
'and if that sounds like something straight out of Hasidism,
是不是听起来非常像哈西德派的论调？
'well,then,it's no coincidence.
当然了，这可不是巧合
[赴美哈西德派数量极多]
'Maybe this is where the Messiah might be,
也许只有在美国才能找到救世主
'even if this Messiah would be called American democracy.
即便如今这救世主的名字叫做 --- 美式民♥主♥
'And the tales weren't all tall.
而且美国来鸿也并非都是瞎说
'Earlier Jewish immigrants had gone west and struck gold.
早期犹太移♥民♥参与西部大开♥发♥就挖到了第一桶金
'In America,Motl the tailor could become Levi Strauss of Levi's jeans.
只要肯努力，犹太裁缝可以成为Levi Strauss
[Levi Strauss即Levi's创始人]
'Pedlars could build banks.
只要肯努力，小贩也可以开银行
[说的可能是斯提耳曼家族创立的纽约城市银行，即花旗银行的前身]
'A Jew,Adolph Sutro,
再比如，有个叫Adolph Sutro的犹太人
'could even become the 24th mayor of San Francisco.
还做了旧金山的第24任市长
'All of them had the same story.
所有这些犹太成功人士都有一个共同之处
'Emigrating from provincial Germany in the 1850s,
他们的家族都是19世纪中叶从德国各地移♥民♥来美的。
'they'd peddled their way across America,
他们的足迹遍布全美，白手起家
selling soap,polish and cloth,
几乎什么都干，卖♥♥肥皂，磨光剂和衣物
'opening stores and investing wisely
到处开店从小买♥♥卖♥♥做起，稳步投资于
'in the industries that built America -
美国经济的各命脉产业
'the steel works,the mines, the railroads and the skyscrapers.
包括钢铁，矿产，铁路和摩天大楼
'In uptown New York,the Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue
纽约上城区第五大道的那座精美的Emanu-El犹太教堂
'shows just how established and successful
可以说明这一波犹太移♥民♥
'this wave of Jewish immigrants would become.
后来的立足之稳和成就之大
'This was,and still is,
此地曾是，而且迄今仍是
'the headquarters of American Reform Judaism,
全美犹太改革派的总部所在
'progressive,English speaking,
这是一群开明，讲英语的犹太人
'not sticklers for the minutiae of Talmudic laws,
与他们的父辈，看重繁文缛节埋头犹太经典的"旧式"犹太人♥大♥不相同
'but proud,unapologetic Jews nonetheless.
尽管如此，他们那种自豪且心地坦荡的犹太性格却依然存在
'This is where many of those Jewish American names
在这所教堂里朝拜的，有许多享誉世界的
'you might have heard of,
美国犹太名人
'the Wall Street bankers and industrialists,
其中许多是华尔街的银行巨子或者各种实业家
'like the Schiffs,the Warburgs and the Guggenheims,
比如我们都熟知的古根海姆家族，华伯格银行家族和席夫氏
'could sit together with their wives
他们通常携眷出席礼拜
'in their fancy hats
身上的各种锦衣华服，
'from Bergdorf's,Macy's and Bloomingdale's,
也出自同是教内兄弟开办的百货企业
'their fellow congregants' stores.
比如伯格朵夫，梅西和布鲁明戴尔
[幕后老板全是犹太人]
'Here was the promise of Jews out in the world becoming something,
步入世俗的犹太人到底有多成功
'astonishingly realised in glass and stone.'
你都可以在这座玻璃与巨石构建的殿堂里感知无遗
Anyone coming into this place could be forgiven for thinking
无论哪个犹太人置身其中，都恍惚间感觉自己
that they'd arrived perhaps in a third temple in Jerusalem,
仿佛回到了耶路撒冷，看到了重建的第三圣殿. 这感觉不足为奇。
and if this wasn't actually Jerusalem,
当然，你再睁眼细看，此地其实并非圣城
it must have seemed pretty much like it.
但是那种故都重临的感觉也差不多了
This stupendous, glorious decoration -
眼前这一切华贵装饰:
marble,mosaic, soaring Romanesque columns -
各种大理石装饰，马赛克贴花，和高耸的罗马柱
all will have delivered an astonishing proclamation
都在传达着高大上的
of Jewish magnificence.
大犹太民族宣言
Remember where the Jews of New York had come from,and now,uptown,
别忘了纽约的犹太移♥民♥如何筚路蓝缕创业至今
they could lay claim to one of the most extraordinary buildings,
如今功成名就的他们交出了这份完美的答卷---这座大教堂
not just in New York,but in the whole of the United States.
不仅是纽约之最，也是全美之最
'A couple of miles downtown,
再向纽约闹市区走不到几英里
'most of the new wave of Jewish immigrants
就是当年大部分初来的犹太穷移♥民♥的落脚点，
'pouring into New York Harbor
当年他们涌入纽约港
'ended up just streets away from the boat,
离船之后一般只能在岸边就近的几个街区先安顿下来
'in the mega shtetl of New York's Lower East Side.
使得这一带成为纽约下东区的一个大犹太市镇
[纽约下东区曾经是世界上最大的犹太社区。
所以字面意思下东区基本=犹太社区]
'It's THE iconic landing place
而且，此地还有1个充足理由
'in the Jewish American story for a good reason.
使其成为美国犹太人历史上的最富标志性的落脚点，没有之一！
'Of the two and a half million Jews
因为从19世纪80年代到20世界20年代
'arriving in America between the 1880s and the 1920s,
曾有约两百五十多万犹太人移♥民♥美国
'more than 60% of them began their new lives here,
其中六成都先落脚此地
'stuffed into a patch of land just one and a half miles square.
大家都挤在这片只有1.5平方英里的弹丸之地
'This lot were deeply different from the uptown Jews of Temple Emanu-El -
生活质量与上城区的那些犹太富人就有别云泥了
'proletarian,drenched in old world superstitions or radical politics
挤在平民区里的犹太大众，除了穷困，还满身都是旧世界带来的各种
迷信和极端政♥治♥思想
'and,worst of all,Yiddish.
最糟的是，他们还只能说意第绪语
'And in many ways,the new world
在他们看来， 与抛在脑后的那个旧世界相比
'was just a high rise version of the old one they'd left behind.
新世界除了高楼大厦，其他方面怎么看都没啥差别
'Here too were the pushcart pedlars
这里一样满街的推车小贩
'and the street corner revolutionaries.'
到处也可见街头激进分子
MEN SING
'Here too were Orthodox synagogues
这里还照样有东欧摩尔式的
'built in the Moorish styles of Eastern Europe,
正统派教堂
'where star cantors were shipped in from Odessa,
这些教堂还干脆花下巨资从奥德萨
'albeit now on $2,000 contracts.
请来当红领唱，签约价2000美元起跳！
'Welcome to America!'
真是"美国欢迎你啊！"
SINGING CONTINUES
'But in the shove and jostle of city life,
只是在摩肩接踵的闹市生活之中
'the authority of the rabbi
传统拉比的权威
'was soon overtaken by the institutions of democratic America.
很快让位于美式宪♥政♥民♥主♥体制
'In particular,the socialist newspaper the Daily Forward
尤其是亲社♥会♥主♥义♥的报纸 《Daily Forward》
[1♥8♥9♥7年诞生的意第绪语报纸.当时的犹太移♥民♥♥主♥要发言平台]
'and a Jarmulowsky Bank,
和Jarmulowsky银行
described as the two handles of the Torah scroll
这两者甚至被称为托拉经的卷轴把手
'holding the community up.'
完全是犹太社区的支柱
By the standards of 1912,these two buildings were skyscrapers,
按照1912年的标准来看，Daily Forward报业大楼和Jarmulowsky银行
都是标准的摩天大楼
the tallest boys in the block,and they're very close to each other,
街区的最高建筑和地标，两者也挨的很近
two big animals ideologically locking horns.
两边的理念仿佛两角相抵，缠斗在一起
'They were built on the same street in the same year
这两栋大厦，建于同年，处于同一条街，
'by two immigrants from the Pale.
建造者呢，也都来自栅栏区隔都
'On one side was Abraham Cahan,
Daily Forward报业大楼这边
领头人是Abraham Cahan(亚伯拉罕.卡恩)
[(1860-1951)第一代美国犹太移♥民♥小说家、编辑和政客,]
'a revolutionary socialist from Lithuania
出身立陶宛的社♥会♥主♥义♥革命者
'who turned the Forward
在他治下
'into the most widely read Jewish newspaper in America.
Daily Forward报成为全美发行量最大的犹太报纸
'Like a secular tzaddik,he fought the battles of the poor in print
此君算是个世俗的柴迪克
他用自己的报纸和文笔为穷♥人♥斗争
[有德之人正义之人在希伯莱文中被称之为"柴迪克"(tzaddik)]
'and initiated them into the novelties of American life,
不断的将美式生活的各种新事物引入劳苦大众的生活之中
'like baseball and voting.
比如棒球和选举
'On the other was Sender Jarmulowsky,a new world banker,
另一边，是Sender Jarmulowsky，他既是位新大♥陆♥银行家
'but always a good Torah Jew.
同时也是虔诚的教♥徒♥
'Not only did he encourage Jews to save,
他不仅鼓励美国犹太人节俭储蓄
'in order to get themselves out of the Lower East Side,
以期有朝一日能有足够资本离开贫民区
'he also provided reliable shipping tickets
他还为那些依旧困在东欧魔界中的乡亲
'to those they'd left behind in the nightmare of the pogroms.
筹措善款，提供路费和船票助他们逃出生天。