犹太人的故事（2013）

The Story of the Jews S01E01

Part 9 Jan. 28, 2021, 3:47 p.m.

不屑与犹太人为伍
They didn't mind saying so.
而且当面表达鄙夷 ###
At some point, Josephus had had
enough of all this ignorance
and gloating.
令Josephus饱受白眼与奚落几至忍♥无可忍♥之地。
About 20 years after
he wrote The Jewish Wars,
他记录犹太战争约20年之后
he took up his pen again,
Josephus再次提笔著述
this time to explain,
这次，他带着耐心与尊严，
with patient dignity
and a note of firm defiance,
坚定的站在自己的立场秉笔直书
and over considerable length,
洋洋洒洒长篇大论
just what Judaism was
and what it did.
欲向世人解释犹太教的真实一面以及他们的所作所为
It's the first serious attempt
by a Jew
这是史上首次由犹太人自己执笔，用心地尝试
to make a sceptical,
non-Jewish world understand
that Judaism is not,
向犹太教以外的满怀疑虑的世界解释：犹太教并非
as the Romans liked to sneer,
罗马人所讥笑的那种
a mere superstitio, a superstition,
乡野迷信 (superstitio 英文即 superstition)
but a true religio,
an authentic religion.
正相反，犹太教是一种早登大雅之堂的自成体系的信仰(religio的英文即Authentic religion)
And so Josephus, like Sigmund Freud
many centuries later,
正如许多世纪之后的弗洛伊德那样，当年的Josephus
turned to the lawgiver, Moses.
也选择重提立法者摩西
To be Jewish, he explains,
is simply to observe the laws
他解释道：只要谨遵摩西从
that Moses brought down from Sinai,
西奈山上带下的圣诫，就是一个真正的犹太人
laws that teach, not impiety,
but are enemies to injustice,
圣律(十诫)教诲道：不敬神的，就是非义的，吾之敌也。###
and have a care of righteousness.
我辈须时时心怀正义。###
SHE SINGS IN HEBREW
These laws require
honour to parents,
十诫教诲我们要礼敬父母
they abhor killing,
要摒弃杀戮
they require charity and succour
for the sick and old.
还教诲我们提携照顾老弱病残
At last, this compromised,
sycophantic,
最后，我们这位变节，献媚
creepily self-exonerating historian
还惺惺作态自辩清白的犹太史官
stands tall,
终于能够解开心结，满怀一个犹太人的自豪感
brimful with pride in his Judaism,
重新抬头做人
and says in a phrase
I find genuinely moving,
他还写下了这样的词句，令我阅之肃然：
"We have become the teachers of men
in the greatest of things."
"我辈于大是大非处可为世人师表" ### [师者，大节不亏也]###
Given the hammer blows
of the Roman legions,
罗马铁蹄也好；
and coming as they did
after century upon century of blows
巴比伦之囚也罢；抑或是上溯至埃及为奴和亚述征服
from Egyptians,
the Syrians and Babylonians,
几千年来这一波又一波对犹太人的捶打与征服
there would have been scant reason
to suppose
我们也许很难有足够的理由相信
that the Jews would survive
as a people,
犹太人还能作为一支民族幸存下去
and yet, 2,000 years later,
the Jews are still here.
然而，2000年过去了，犹太人还屹立于世界民族之林
How?
我们是怎么做到的？
Well, one answer can be found
back at the Arch of Titus,
哦...让我们回到Titus凯♥旋♥门下，这里能找到答案之一
not something that's here,
but something that's not.
它不是你在凯♥旋♥门下能看到的什么，而恰恰是此处缺失什么
When Josephus describes
the procession
---Josephus笔下记载罗马人从犹太省得胜班师
of loot and prisoners paraded
through the streets of Rome,
he says,
当描述凯♥旋♥游♥行♥队伍裹挟着战利品和犹太俘虏缓缓穿行于罗马街道上的时候
"And last of all of the spoils
was carried, the laws of the Jews."
他写道：“承载着战利品的队列的最后，是犹太人的法典”
But where are the laws?
可是法典在哪？
Where are the Torah scrolls?
Torah经卷何在？ (浮雕上根本没有)
Conspicuously, tellingly,
其实看似隐晦，实则昭然
they are absent.
----经卷根本不在此
What were scrolls of law anyway?
“归根结底，Torah经卷到底是什么？”
Just so many words on parchment,
“只是羊皮纸上一大堆的文字词语”
not really worth the time of a
sculptor or the cost of the marble.
“看起来似乎不值那世世代代的誊写，或者是不惜血本的雕刻在各种石板上”
But words copied,
memorised, internalised,
“但是，文字典籍经世代记述，复写，早已铭刻在心”
made unforgettable,
will beat swords any time.
“已成永世不忘，任何武力征服都无法将之磨灭”
You can't hold words captive.
“因为没人能够囚禁思想！”
The Roman Empire has come and gone,
武力与强权来的快，去的也快，罗马帝国早已泯灭于历史长河。
but go into a synagogue any Saturday
“可是你随便挑个周六进一所犹太教堂听听”
and you'll still hear those words.
“神圣十诫和那些文字典籍仍然声声不息！”
In September 1913, Dr Sigmund Freud,
the godless Jew, was in Rome.
无神论的犹太人--弗洛伊德曾于1913年九月游历罗马
And he sent a postcard
of the Arch of Titus to a friend.
他从那里给某友人寄了一份印着Titus凯♥旋♥门的明信片
On it he wrote,
"Der Jude ubersteht's."
并写上了一句德语："Der Jude ubersteht's."
The Jew survives it.
“犹太人挺过来了”