Dybbuk

In Jewish mythology, a dybbuk (/ˈdɪbək/; Yiddish: דיבוק, from the Hebrew verb דָּבַק dāḇaq meaning 'adhere' or 'cling') is a malicious possessing spirit believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person.[1] It supposedly leaves the host body once it has accomplished its goal, sometimes after being exorcised.[2][3][4]

Dybbuk, by Ephraim Moshe Lilien (1874–1925).

Etymology

Dybbuk comes from the Hebrew word דִּיבּוּק dibūq, meaning 'a case of attachment', which is a nominal form derived from the verb דָּבַק dāḇaq 'to adhere' or 'cling'.[5]

History

The term first appears in a number of 16th-century writings,[2][6] though it was ignored by mainstream scholarship until S. Ansky's 1920 play The Dybbuk popularised the concept in literary circles.[6] Earlier accounts of possession (such as that given by Josephus) were of demonic possession rather than that of ghosts.[7] These accounts advocated orthodoxy among the populace[2] as a preventative measure. Michał Waszyński's 1937 film The Dybbuk, based on the Yiddish play by S. Ansky, is considered one of the classics of Yiddish filmmaking.[8]

Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar rebbe (1887–1979), is reported to have supposedly advised an individual said to be possessed to consult a psychiatrist.[7]

Traditionally, dybbuks tended to be male spirits who possessed women on the eve of their weddings, typically in a sexual fashion by entering the women through their vaginas, which is seen in Ansky's play.[9]

In psychological literature, the dybbuk has been described as a hysterical syndrome.[10]

See also

References

  1. Trachtenberg, Joshua (2004) [Originally published 1939]. "Glossary of Hebrew Terms". Jewish Magic and Superstition. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 333. ISBN 978-0812218626. Retrieved 10 January 2023. Dibbuk – spirit of deceased person which has entered body of living person.
  2. Avner Falk (1996). A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 538. ISBN 978-0838636602.
  3. "Dybbuk", Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 10 June 2009
  4. Gershom Scholem. "Dibbuk". Encyclopaedia Judaica.
  5. See A. Sáenz-Badillos & J. Elwolde, A History of the Hebrew Language, 1996, p. 187 on the qiṭṭūl pattern.
  6. Spirit Possession in Judaism: Cases and Contexts from the Middle Ages to the Present, by Matt Goldish, p. 41, Wayne State University Press, 2003
  7. Tree of Souls:The Mythology of Judaism, by Howard Schwartz, pp. 229–230, Oxford University Press, 2004
  8. "The Dybbuk". The National Center for Jewish Film. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  9. Levin, Sala (28 October 2021). "Jewish Word: Dybbuk". Moment Magazine.
  10. Billu, Y; Beit-Hallahmi, B (1989). "Dybbuk-Possession as a hysterical symptom: Psychodynamic and socio-cultural factors". Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Science. 26 (3): 138–149. PMID 2606645.

Further reading

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