A Conversation with the Author
There are so many translations of the psalms – what led you to want to translate them anew? Why this book now?
We live in such spiritually uneasy times; perhaps more so than ever before, men and women of many different faiths are turning to the psalms for solace. But those who depend upon English translations have lacked one that is both authentic and yet graceful, true to the Hebrew but able to speak to our hearts, minds, and souls. To date, most modern translations have been done by scholars whose goal was accuracy, not sensitivity to the poetic or spiritual beauty of the translation itself, as my mentor, the late biblical scholar David L. Lieber, explained. In our Jewish world, many prayer-books have, from time to time, intentionally mis-translated the Hebrew so as not to confront congregations with difficult theologies.
My goal in translating them yet again was therefore to honor the real meaning of the original Hebrew, and at the same time do so in an English that is soulful, beautiful, and encouraging of contemplation and prayer.
What do you mean by “pray” or “meditate” them?
In the book, I describe the process of “Holy Reading,” a way of entering in an intimately personal way into the psalms. Many of the psalms are bold collective statements, meant for joyous public singing; so many others, though, are songs of the heart to God, songs of the soul, that express deep inner emotions and truths.
So instead of rushing through these more contemplative, personal psalms – as we all too often do in synagogue services -- the book encourages readers to linger with a line, a phrase, an image, to take their time, to befriend phrases or words that speak to them and hang out with them for a while.
What about the sexist language of the psalms? What about the portrayal of God?
The Israeli poet Yona Wallach called the Hebrew language a “sex-maniac” – every noun, every verb, has to be either in the masculine or the feminine. You can’t call anyone a “Ruler” or “Sovereign” in Hebrew -- one is either a “King” or a “Queen.” And it’s the nature of the Hebrew language that gave rise to a very masculinized version of the Divine. I think it’s unfortunate to perpetrate that in English, especially in our linguistically sensitive era that has long sought a more inclusive understanding of God. So I eliminated the gender bias of the Hebrew, including the use of masculine pronouns to refer to God.
But even the idea of God as “Monarch” or “Ruler” may be foreign to us – even if the jurisdiction is the whole universe! I think that our difficulty is that what we’re imagining in our mind’s eye is an Old-Man-With-A-Long-Beard-On-A-Throne -- Michelangelo’s Moses. For the psalmist, though, saying that God is the “ruler of the universe” is the way of expressing a belief in a principle of ultimate order. Despite the chaos on earth -- despite storms, war, or social upheaval -- order will be restored, justice will reign, and the an ethical world will stand firm.
Are there other ways the psalmist sees God, besides as Ruler?
Oh yes – and it’s because the psalmist’s God is so utterly multi-faceted that the psalms can speak to us!
In some psalms, God is a companion, the One who abides with us when we are most alone…the protector, sheltering us from danger…the teacher showing us to make each of our days matter.
God is the creator who brings into being a vivid, varied universe that includes everything from the sun, moon, and stars of the sky to the lowly little shrew mouse scampering along cliffs of rock.
God is a guardian of justice who demands that the judges on earth refuse to show bias toward the powerful and rich and who indefatigably stands up for the disenfranchised and the weak, chastising anyone who would take advantage of them.
God is the shepherd who enables us to walk through “the valley of the shadow of death” and not be afraid….
Some of my favorites are the ones many of us never really notice: The psalmist sees God is like a mama bird feeding her newborn babies when they cry out; a hitchhiker, dashing across the sky on a chariot of clouds, and last but not least, a bit of a funster, frolicking with Leviathan across the wide ocean!
Who wrote the psalms? I heard that King David wrote most of the psalms – is it true?
David, the “sweet singer of Israel,” may indeed have written more than one psalm; certainly the psalms’ wide range of themes can also be found in the rich, complex, multi-faceted life he himself led. But the psalms were in all likelihood written by many poets over many centuries – as early as the tenth century BCE all the way up to the fourth or fifth BCE, and many may have been composed by the Levites, who sung them to music in the Jerusalem Temple.
hat makes the psalms powerful?
My aunt used to say, “What comes from the heart goes to the heart.” What makes many of the psalms so powerful is that they speak the language of the heart. Feelings aren’t masked in elaborate poetic dress. Instead, ranging over a wide emotional and spiritual terrain, the psalms speak forthrightly: some cry, plea, voice naked fear or utter terror; others express ecstatic delight in the variety of God’s creation, awe toward the nature of God’s world, and a celebration of God’s gifts to and love for Israel. That’s why they are easy to relate to and serve as such powerful vehicles for prayer.
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