Collaboration Case Study
Psalm 23
I recently interpreted a funeral, where the cantor sang the 23rd Psalm in Hebrew. The rabbi then repeated the Psalm in English. For the Hebrew, I tried not moving my mouth and signing the meaning/concepts of the psalm in ASL. For the English, I tried to follow the words choosing signs I had seen other deaf people use. [In Philadelphia, I know at least two Jewish Deaf people who know this Psalm by heart.!”.
About a week later, one of these two deaf people e-mailed herf eedback to me, stating she had not really liked either of my interpretations. For the ASL, she felt the signs had gotten lost due to no mouth movements. (Philadelphia is a very “oral” based signing community) and for the English, she had not liked my interpretation or sign choices.
I invited her to join me for lunch one day, so we could discuss further. When we met, we began by discussing what the prayer/psalm meant to each of us. I talked about the fact that this psalm was written by King David. It is one of 150 psalms in the ketuvim section of the Tanakh (TorahAVivi-im/Ketuvim). I mentioned the strong images I got, of a person “on vacation” with G-d, lying down in a meadow, near a stream…feeling like a sheep in a flock. .. feeling G-d’s guidance with a rod, to stay on the right path and not to stray off from the flock. Another image of walking through a valley, but not being afraid. More images… a big table in the field or valley heaped with food, many mean people staring at me while I eat in peace…Gd putting oil on my head, as is done to make someone a king…having so much to eat and drink that my cup overflows…walking for a long time, feeling like G-d is always there with me.
My friend shared her alternative understanding with me. She reminded me that this psalm is said at funerals and memorial services and to her the association with death was very strong. To her, the psalm was about facing death without fear, because of G-d’s presence. She felt that all the images were describing life after death, in a place where G-d is very close.
After this, I asked my friend to show me her way of signing the 23rd Psalm. She signed it twice, the first time at normal speed, the second time more slowly, so I could write down a word or SIGN GLOSS for each movement she made. I tried to write down indications of eye gaze, facial expression, body-shifts, sign locations (left or right) and which hand was being used as the “dominant” sign hand.
Next, I tried to sign her version back to her. I had to stop many, many times, until she was satisfied that I was not only making the signs correctly, but was also adding in facial expressions, placement, using the proper pacing, etc. As we worked, I questioned a few of her sign choices, which didn’t make sense to me. She changed a few signs to make them more conceptual and less an exact English equivalent. Finally, I put the psalm back together and signed it one last time.
We then briefly discussed how to sign this translation at various speeds. My friend usually “performs” this psalm on her own, whereas I am usually “keeping up” with a cantor’s song or a rabbi’s speech. She demonstrated her ability to sign the translation both slowly and quickly. She assured me that, with practice, I could do it too!
I found the whole experience very positive. In most situations as an interpreter, I work on my own translations. In this case, it was a pleasure to learn someone else’s translation, especially someone who is deaf and who has been working on this psalm for a long time. She not only has excellent sign choices, but has worked out ways to “put it together”, using both hands, space, and expression so that the end result is truly “poetic”.
My thanks to Betty Oshman for her willingness to collaborate with me. I hope this will be the first of many such discussions/collaborations. Till next time, write me at [email protected] or FAX 215-682-9642
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul;
He guideth me in straight paths for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil, For Thou art with me; Thy
rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou prepares” a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the
Lord forever.
