A Conversation with the Author
How long did it take you to write this book?
I began work translating some selected psalms in 1997, then began to work in earnest the following year. Some of the psalm translations went through literally dozens of version before I felt I had it just right. The commentary passages, actually, were easier to write-because I felt I could express my own thoughts as opposed to attempting to capture someone else's in my own language.
Who is the audience?
I hope my book will be of interest to people of all faiths and from all spiritual disciplines. The Psalms are not just a classic of spiritual literature, after all-they are the bedrock document that sets the tone for the spiritual bearing not only of rabbinic Judaism, but of Christianity as well. So seeing them through fresh eyes and, especially for non-Hebrew readers, having a new avenue of access to the original should be an invigorating, interesting experience for all sorts of people.
Aren't there already enough translations of the Psalms on the market?
There are lots, that's for sure. But I was amazed, when I finally sat down to compare what was out there, how many of them were done, for example, by people whose knowledge of Hebrew appeared minimal. And just speaking Hebrew isn't anywhere near enough-to translate well, you have to have a sense of classical Hebrew diction and syntax, of the givens of day-to-day life in Second Temple Jerusalem, of the spiritual politics of the day that gave rise to a book like this. So there are, indeed, lots of translations out there. But there are way fewer than you'd think produced directly from the Hebrew from a position of informed contemplation of the original text and the worldview of its authors.
Who were the psalmists?
Well, that's one of the more vexing questions to consider. My working assumption, as put forward in detail in my book, Travels on the Road Not Taken (London, Ontario: Moonstone Books, 1997), is that the Psalter was the handbook of the kind of spirituality developed and fostered by the Levites in Second Temple Times . It was they who were the choristers of the Temple and there is ample biblical evidence to suggest that they promulgated just the kind of spirituality presented, sometimes open and more often than that subtly, in the poetry of the Psalms. But who exactly they were.and how many different poets are represented in the book-that's not something we can no any longer with certainty.
Is it possible that any of the psalmists were women?
It's possible, but there's no proof at all. When the way Hebrew grammar works makes the gender of a first-person clear, it always appears to be a man writing. But there are several passages in the Bible that say unambiguously that women were among the singers in the First Temple, so who knows if that wasn't the case as well in the Second Temple? And, of course, it's not impossible that the climate of gender politics of the day made it necessary for a woman to write as though she were a man to have her work taken seriously.
How do you hope your book will be used?
I'm hoping that people will start to use different psalms as their focus for meditation and contemplation before or after prayer. Each psalm presents a specific philosophical challenge and I've tried to make those clear in my comments to each psalm. So if the contemplation of a psalm provides the context for working through the issue presented to readers for their consideration and that effort allows readers to hone and sharpen their own spiritual philosophies.then only good can come from reading the Psalms for those people.
Do you read psalms as part of your own spiritual regimen?
I do. I read them not in order, but according to a specific schedule I've worked out for myself. But I don't feel obligated never to deviate from the program. There are psalms I read when I'm feeling especially ill at ease or unhappy, and others I read when I feel God's presence especially near.or distant.
Why is God's name printed in Hebrew letters in your book?
The four-letter name of God is never pronounced aloud by observant Jews. In spiritually charged contexts, like prayer, the pious say Adonai, which literally means "Lord." At less spiritually charged moments, they say Hashem, which means "the Name." Since Hebrew-readers have the experience whenever they open a Bible of substituting something else for God's four-letter name as an act of reverence rather than pronouncing it aloud, I realized there is no reason for English-readers not to have precisely the same experience of seeing the four-letter name and saying something else.
Why did you make your translation gender-neutral when the Hebrew text itself is not gender-neutral at all?
I wrestled with that issue for a long time. In the end, I tried to create a translation of the Psalms that would be used for devotional and spiritual ends, not the kind of translation that is solely technically accurate. In the end, it seems undeniable that the ancients thought of God in primarily masculine terms. Since our own theological beliefs are that God has no specific gender, it seems rational to create a translation intended for use by moderns that corresponds to how people in our day really do think of God. Therefore, all references to God have been made as little related to gender as possible.
Which is your favorite psalm? The 131 st.
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