Interpreter As Cultural Mediator
This month I would like to talk about the role of Interpreter as Cultural Mediator. This topic has come up several times this summer at various workshops I have attended.
I feel that the basic question deals with how much of the interpreter’s role is to explain what is happening during a Jewish Service? How much should the interpreter reflect his/her own “interpretation” of a given prayer versus the rabbi/synagogue’s view of a prayer versus the surface level representation of the WORDS?
As usual, I think the answer is probably, “It depends.. Many Deaf Jews are knowledgeable about religion and prayer. They have studied the meaning of the prayers and merely want a literal representation of the Hebrew or English. They want the interpreter merely to help them keep their place in the prayer book so they can follow along. They might prefer all “explanation” of the prayers to come from the rabbi or service leader, who may flavor the service with small bits of commentary between prayers.
Other Deaf people who attend Jewish Religious Services may not even be Jewish. They may be completely unfamiliar with the order and significance of the various parts of the service and the various customs and rituals involved. They may be very happy for the interpreter to guide them through the experience. Still the issue remains, whether this is within the realm of an interpreter’s job (as opposed to a “friend” who accompanies them).
Most Deaf Jews probably fall somewhere in between these two extremes. Their preferences and needs will vary on a case by case basis.
Here is a specific example that I was wrestling with recently: On Friday nights in synagogue, a blessing is said over the wine, called the Kiddush. Prior to saying the blessing, the leader will quote from a paragraph in the Book of Genes (Gen. 1 :31; 2:1-3). Should the interpreter merely sign this quote OR start off by signing . . . . .”the Torah has five books, the first book is called Genesis, at the beginning of this book of Genesis is the story of the creation of the world. As you may remember, the creation took six days. On the first day …. second day . . . .third day . . . fourth day. . . fifth day . . . sixth day. . . . etc. Now this quote refers to the seventh day, when G-d reviewed all G-d had done . . .”
What do you think? As usual, I hope I have gotten you thinking! Please send me your thoughts, via e-mail to [email protected]. Even if you are reading this article several months after it was published, it is never too late to share your opinions. Till next month . . .
