VOA常速英语2014--Passover Celebrates Liberation from Bondage 世界各地犹太人庆祝逾越节

Passover Celebrates Liberation from Bondage 1 世界各地犹太人庆祝逾越节

WASHINGTON — Jewish people around the world are celebrating Passover, a commemoration of their liberation from slavery in Egypt more than 3,300 years ago. According to scripture 2, God helped the Jews, led by Moses, escape bondage in Egypt and cross the Red Sea into the desert. The story of the Jewish Exodus 3 resonates with other people trying to escape slave-like conditions.

华盛顿 — 世界各地的犹太人正在庆祝逾越节，纪念3,300年前犹太人从埃及人的奴役下被解救出来。据经文记载，上帝帮助了犹太人，让他们在摩西的带领下逃脱桎梏，穿越红海，进入沙漠。犹太人出逃的故事与其他试图逃离奴隶般处境的人有异曲同工之妙。

Preparations for Passover include butchering sheep and baking unleavened bread known as matzah.

逾越节的准备工作包括宰杀羔羊和烘烤无酵饼。  

"It's called the food of faith, just like our forefathers 4, when they left Egypt into the desert with a lot of faith, and trust in God, they went with these matzahs and we relive it every year when we celebrate the holiday of Passover, and we sit at our Passover table eating the matzah," said Rabbi Menachem Glukovsky.

犹太教拉比格鲁科夫斯基说：“这些叫做信仰的食物，就像我们的先人一样，他们怀着坚定的信仰、对上帝的信任离开埃及、进入沙漠，而他们随身携带的就是这种无酵饼。今天，我们庆祝逾越节的时候，会一起吃无酵饼，重温当年的景象。”

Tradition does not allow consumption of products with yeast 5 during the seven-day festival. Many Jewish communities observe the symbolic 6 burning of yeast ahead of Passover. 

传统上，在持续7天的逾越节期间，人们不能吃任何含有酵母的食物。很多犹太人社区在逾越节前会象征性地焚烧酵母。

"The symbolic burning of the chametz (leaven)… is a symbol of all the sins of klal yisrael, the Jewish people… we pray to Hakodesh Baruch Hu (the Holy One Blessed by He) that all our sins should be burnt and we go in to the Pesach Yom-Tov (Passover holiday) fully 7 purified," said Yehoshua Klein, an ultra-Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem.

克莱因是耶路撒冷一位极端正统派犹太教徒。他说：“这是象征性地烧掉酵母，酵母是所有的罪的象征。犹太人祈祷，我们应当把所有的罪烧掉，以完全清洁的身心庆祝逾越节。”

In the neighboring West Bank, a Samaritan community near the city of Nablus performed a traditional butchering of sheep.

在比邻以色列的约旦河西岸纳布鲁斯市附近的一个撒玛利亚人社区，人们正在按照传统方式宰杀羔羊。

"This holiday is for seven days, first day is the slaughter 8 day. We eat during this holiday only stuff without yeast, for example we make the bread at home without yeast," explained Haroun Saloum, a Samaritan priest.

撒玛利亚神父萨鲁姆说：“这个节日持续7天，第一天是宰羊的日子。在节日期间，我们只吃不带酵母的东西，比如在家里烤制的这种无酵饼。”

It is not only Jews who observe Passover. Hundreds of detained African migrants gathered in Israel's Negev desert on Friday to eat matzah and recall the Passover story, outside the facility where they are being held. Despite efforts to prevent immigration from Egypt, and repatriate 9 illegal African migrants, hundreds cross into Israel every year.

庆祝逾越节的不只是犹太人。上星期五，在以色列内盖夫沙漠一处拘留中心外面，几百名被拘留的非洲移民在一起吃着无酵饼，讲述逾越节的故事。尽管以色列千方百计阻止人们从埃及移民以色列，同时遣返非法非洲移民，但每年仍有成千上万的人进入以色列。萨利曼就是其中之一。

"You [Jews] asked to leave Egypt. We also asked to leave our countries because the situation there is very difficult. The Torah says don't wrong a stranger, don't do those things, because you were also one in Egypt. So I tell them [the Jews] don't forget the Torah," said Anwar Suliman, one of the Africans held in Israel's Holot detention 10 facility.

萨利曼说：“你们犹太人要求离开埃及，我们也要求离开自己的国家，因为那里的情况太糟糕了。圣经说，不要对陌生人施恶，不要做那些事，因为你们也曾经生活在埃及。所以我告诉犹太人，不要忘记圣经。”

Rabbi Susan Silverman, a pro-migrant activist 11, said Jews celebrating Passover must recall the real spirit of Passover.

拉比希尔弗曼是一位支持移民的活动人士。他说，庆祝逾越节的犹太人必须牢记逾越节的真谛：

"Every single person in this country who sits down to a Passover seder [meal] has to say to themselves: am I taking care of the stranger among us right now? Why am I doing this ritual? Is it an empty, meaningless ritual and I do it because my parents did it and my grandparents did it and my great-grandparents did it? Or do you do it because it means something?" said Silverman.

“这个国家今天享用逾越节食物的每个人都应当自问：我关照我们当中的陌生人了吗？我为什么要过逾越节？这是不是一个空洞无物、毫无意义的节日？而我之所以过这个节，是因为父母、祖父母、祖先都庆祝逾越节，还是因为这个节日有它的意义？”

Passover dinner is usually celebrated 12 at home with family members and close friends.  But in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, hundreds of Jewish travellers joined by local residents attended what organizers claim was the world's biggest Passover celebration on Monday.

人们通常都和亲朋好友在家里共进逾越节晚餐。但是在尼泊尔首都加德满都，数百名犹太游客星期一和当地居民一起参加了据组织者说是世界上最大的逾越节庆祝活动。