2019年经济学人 羊角号女能人珍妮·利特瓦克(3)

 

After every morning service through the month of Elul, then through Rosh Hashanah—Jewish new year—on to Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, her friend, would call out: Tekiyah. She would respond with a single note, the awakening¹ summons³ to Jews to focus on the year that has passed and think about the type of people they would like to be.

每天早晨做完以禄月的礼拜后，再过犹太新年哈桑纳节，直到赎罪日，就是赎罪日，她的朋友拉比劳伦·霍尔茨布拉特会喊出：“Tekiyah”。她会用一个音符来回应，这是对犹太人的唤醒，让他们关注过去的一年，思考他们想成为什么样的人。

Shevarim, the cry from the heart, the triptych of notes that speak of a sense of brokenness. Teruah for the nine staccato notes that, like an alarmclock, she would say, would summon² the listener, “Wake up, wake up, wake up. Now is the time to do something.” And then Tekiyah gedolah, the final long note, that refers to a oneness, a total unity⁴ coming together. Over 100 notes in all, more than an orchestral hornplayer would expect to sound in an evening concert, blowing the shofar at Rosh Hashanah is a challenge that takes knowledge of the tradition, technique and spiritual engagement⁵.

舍瓦林，那发自内心的呐喊，那三联音符，诉说着一种破碎的感觉。特鲁阿的九断奏音符诉说出这种感觉，她会说，就像阿拉麦克洛克在召唤听众，“醒醒，醒醒，醒醒。”现在是时候做些什么事情了。”然后是“Tekiyah gedolah”，最后一个长音符，指的是一种合一，一种完全的合一。总共有100多个音符，比管弦乐队的号角演奏者在晚间音乐会中演奏的还要多，在犹太新年吹奏羊角号是一个挑战，需要传统、技术和精神投入的知识。

The shofar is usually men's business. As a woman, she had to be twice as good. She had help, she said—a perfect shofar, carved to fit her mouth exactly by a man called Shimon who lived on the Golan Heights and knew just enough English to tell her: “Blow!” There was also, she believed, divine⁶ assistance. At home when she took her deepest breath for the Tekiyah gedolah, she could manage only 40 seconds. But in the synagogue she managed to stretch that out to nearly a minute. Her son had timed her.

羊角号通常是男人的事。作为一个女人，她必须比别人强一倍。她说，有人帮助她——一个完美的羊角号，由一个住在戈兰高地的名叫西蒙的人雕刻而成，刚好适合她的嘴，他的英语只够告诉她：“吹!” 她相信，还有神的帮助。在家里，当她为吹奏“Tekiyah gedolah”音符深吸一口气时，她只能坚持40秒。但在犹太教堂里，她设法把时间延长到将近一分钟。她的儿子给她计时。

1 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。

2 summon   

vt.召唤，传唤，鼓起，振作，召集，召开

参考例句：

• He could not summon the courage to tell them about it.他鼓不起勇气告诉他们那件事。
• He pedaled off to summon a doctor.他骑脚踏车去叫医生。

3 summons   

n.召唤，传唤，召集；v.传唤到法院，唤出，传到

参考例句：

• They served a summons on the young man.他们向那个年轻人发出了传票。
• The summons was withdrawn.传票被撤回。

4 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

5 engagement   

n.订婚，婚约，约定，约会

参考例句：

• I can't see you on Monday because I have a previous engagement.星期一我不能见你，因为我有约在先。
• It was my mother's very own engagement ring.这正是我母亲自己的订婚戒指。

6 divine   

adj.神的，上帝的，神圣的，如神的，非凡的

参考例句：

• Jesus is believed by Christians to have been divine.基督教徒们相信耶稣是神。
• The despot claimed to be the chosen instrument of divine providence.专制者声称自己是上天选定的统治工具。