VOA标准英语2010-Nazi Germany's Last Surviving Rabbi Marks

Leo Trepp sees modern message of freedom in ritual

Lonny Shavelson | San Rafael, California 02 April 2010

This is the 74th year Trepp is conducting a Passover seder.

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This week, Jews began the holiday of Passover with seders, ritual dinners with family and friends, to commemorate¹ the freeing of ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt some 3,000 years ago.

In San Rafael, California, a man with first-hand experience of Jewish enslavement and liberation led a seder for his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

At 97, Leo Trepp is the last known living rabbi who led German-Jewish communities through the Nazi² Holocaust³ of World War II.

His voice is strong and clear as he chants the Hebrew prayers and leads the singing. This is the 74th year Trepp is conducting a Passover seder. His first was in 1936. He was 23, newly ordained⁴, in Oldenburg, Germany, a region then controlled by the Nazis⁵.

Leo Trepp, who led congregations in Nazi Germany, sees a modern message of freedom in Passover ritual.

A spiritual leader in a time of suffering

He recalls what the community had to endure. "Jews sent away to concentration camps. Jews dying. It was a very rewarding rabbinate because the Jews needed me."

Within two years of ordination⁶, Rabbi Trepp was the leader of 15 congregations. Until November 9, 1938, Krystalnacht - the night of broken glass - and the burning down of all of his synagogues. He was arrested, and the next day taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

"We were called out at 4 o'clock in the morning," he says. "The head of the camp, he said, 'You are the dregs of humanity. I don't see why you should live.' The machine guns on the towers around the camp were all directed toward us. And the only thing that came to me is, 'Dear God, if you want me to die for you at this moment, I'm ready. I'm ready.' And then in the strangest of ways, God was with me. I know God was there. In the concentration camp with me. And it was the worst place for it. That's why it was the best."

The chief rabbi of England pleaded with the Nazis for Trepp's freedom, and it was granted. That freedom may be what feeds his ability to find something positive in even the most devastatingly⁷ bleak⁸ circumstances. "I have to feel, for instance, that my mother went to her death [in a] concentration camp knowing that she did something for God."

In every generation, a struggle for freedom

After his release from Sachsenhausen, Trepp went to England, and then to California. That was 70 years ago, and he's since founded three synagogues in the United States.

Today, the rabbi doesn't see the Jews' slaughter⁹ in concentration camps, or the enslavement in ancient Egypt, as past history. He says they're omens¹⁰ of the future. The Passover readings, he notes, say that in every generation, people have tried to annihilate¹¹ the Jews.

"It's happened over and over and over again. And you'd better not only be prepared, but have the inner strength to endure it. And we shall fight against it."

Because, says the rabbi, every holocaust has been followed by an ever-deepening freedom. "And freedom is the most significant element in Jewish life."

Rabbi Trepp breaks the matzoh, the unleavened bread that symbolizes¹² the Jewish exodus¹³ from Egypt, and says the words of hope Jews have recited for generations, with a modern addition: "This year we are here. Next year, we'll be in the land of Israel. This year there are many people who are enslaved and impoverished¹⁴. Next year, may all human beings be free."

Everyone at the table responds, "Amen."

 

1 commemorate   

vt.纪念，庆祝

参考例句：

• This building was built to commemorate the Fire of London.这栋大楼是为纪念“伦敦大火”而兴建的。
• We commemorate the founding of our nation with a public holiday.我们放假一日以庆祝国庆。

2 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

3 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

4 ordained   

v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定

参考例句：

• He was ordained in 1984. 他在一九八四年被任命为牧师。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was ordained priest. 他被任命为牧师。 来自辞典例句

5 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 ordination   

n.授任圣职

参考例句：

• His ordination gives him the right to conduct a marriage or a funeral.他的晋升圣职使他有权主持婚礼或葬礼。
• The vatican said the ordination places the city's catholics in a "very delicate and difficult decision."教廷说，这个任命使得这个城市的天主教徒不得不做出“非常棘手和困难的决定”。

7 devastatingly   

adv. 破坏性地，毁灭性地，极其

参考例句：

• She was utterly feminine and devastatingly attractive in an unstudied way. 她温存无比，魅力四射而又绝不矫揉造作。
• I refuted him devastatingly from point to point. 我对他逐项痛加驳斥。

8 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

9 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

10 omens   

n.前兆，预兆( omen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The omens for the game are still not propitious. 这场比赛仍不被看好。 来自辞典例句
• Such omens betide no good. 这种征兆预示情况不妙。 来自辞典例句

11 annihilate   

v.使无效；毁灭；取消

参考例句：

• Archer crumpled up the yellow sheet as if the gesture could annihilate the news it contained.阿切尔把这张黄纸揉皱，好象用这个动作就会抹掉里面的消息似的。
• We should bear in mind that we have to annihilate the enemy.我们要把歼敌的重任时刻记在心上。

12 symbolizes   

v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The use of light and dark symbolizes good and evil. 用光明与黑暗来象征善与恶。
• She likes olive because It'symbolizes peace. 她喜欢橄榄色因为它象征着和平。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

14 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》