{{Short description|Malicious possessing spirit in Jewish religion}} {{Other uses}} {{Title language|yi-Latn}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} [[Image:Dybbuk.jpg|thumb|300px|{{lang|yi-Latn|Dybbuk}}, by Ephraim Moshe Lilien (1874–1925).]] In Jewish mythology, a '''{{lang|yi-Latn|dybbuk}}''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɪ|b|ə|k}}; {{langx|yi|דיבוק}}, from the Hebrew verb {{Script/Hebrew|דָּבַק}} {{lang|he-Latn|dāḇaq}}, meaning 'adhere' or 'cling') is a malicious possessing spirit believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person.<ref>{{cite book|last=Trachtenberg|first=Joshua|author-link=Joshua Trachtenberg|orig-date=Originally published 1939|chapter=Glossary of Hebrew Terms|chapter-url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/jms/jms43.htm|title=Jewish Magic and Superstition|publication-place=Philadelphia|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|publication-date=2004|page=333|isbn=978-0812218626|access-date=Jan 10, 2023|quote=''Dibbuk'' – spirit of deceased person which has entered body of living person.}}</ref> It supposedly leaves the host body once it has accomplished its goal, sometimes after being exorcised.<ref name="Falk">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z10-Xz9Kno4C&pg=PA538 |title=A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews |author=Avner Falk |page=538 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press |date=1996 |isbn=978-0838636602 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |contribution=Dybbuk |contribution-url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/174964/dybbuk |title=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2009-06-10 }}</ref><ref name="EJ">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0005_0_05197.html |title=Dibbuk |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Judaica |author=Gershom Scholem |author-link=Gershom Scholem }}</ref>
==Etymology== {{lang|yi-Latn|Dybbuk}} comes from the Hebrew word {{Script/Hebrew|דִּיבּוּק}} {{lang|he-Latn|dibūq}}, meaning 'a case of attachment', which is a nominal form derived from the verb {{Script/Hebrew|דָּבַק}} {{lang|he-Latn|dāḇaq}} 'to adhere' or 'cling'.<ref>See [https://books.google.com/books?id=EZCgpaTgLm0C&dq=%22qittul%22+pattern&pg=PA187 A. Sáenz-Badillos & J. Elwolde, ''A History of the Hebrew Language'', 1996, p. 187] on the ''qiṭṭūl'' pattern.</ref>
==History== The term first appears in a number of 16th-century writings.<ref name="Falk" /><ref name="Goldish">[https://books.google.com/books?id=CF1C84xHeucC&dq=dybbuk&pg=PA41 ''Spirit Possession in Judaism: Cases and Contexts from the Middle Ages to the Present, by Matt Goldish'', p. 41, Wayne State University Press, 2003]</ref> However, it was ignored by mainstream scholarship until S. An-sky's 1920 play ''The Dybbuk'' popularised the concept in literary circles.<ref name="Goldish" /> Earlier accounts of possession, such as that given by Josephus, were of demonic possession rather than that of ghosts.<ref name="Schwartz">[https://books.google.com/books?id=60iVk1p8Y9IC&dq=dybbuk&pg=PA229 ''Tree of Souls:The Mythology of Judaism'', by Howard Schwartz, pp. 229–230, Oxford University Press, 2004]</ref> These accounts advocated orthodoxy among the populace as a preventative measure.<ref name="Falk" /> {{lang|pl|Michał Waszyński|italic=no}}'s 1937 film ''The Dybbuk'', based on the Yiddish play by S. An-sky, is considered one of the classics of Yiddish filmmaking.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Dybbuk |url=http://www.jewishfilm.org/Catalogue/films/dybbuk.html |accessdate=29 October 2014 |publisher=The National Center for Jewish Film}}</ref>
Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar rebbe (1887–1979), is reported to have supposedly advised an individual said to be possessed to consult a psychiatrist.<ref name="Schwartz" />
Traditionally, dybbuks tended to be male spirits. According to Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, women could not become dybbuks because their souls did not participate in ''gilgul''.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Faierstein |first=Morris M. |title=The Dybbuk: The Origins and History of a Concept |date=2017 |work=olam he-zeh v'olam ha-ba |pages=135–150 |editor-last=Greenspoon |editor-first=Leonard J. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9w0gb.14 |access-date=2024-10-12 |series=This World and the World to Come in Jewish Belief and Practice |publisher=Purdue University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctvh9w0gb.14 |jstor=j.ctvh9w0gb.14 |isbn=978-1-55753-792-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Sometimes these spirits were said to possess women on the eve of their weddings, typically in a sexual fashion by entering the women through their vaginas, which is seen in An-sky's play.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Levin|first=Sala|title=Jewish Word: Dybbuk| url=https://momentmag.com/jewish-word-dybbuk/|website=Moment Magazine|date=28 October 2021 |language=en}}</ref> However, men and boys could be possessed as well.<ref name=":0" />
In psychological literature, the {{lang|yi-Latn|dybbuk}} has been described as a hysterical syndrome.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Billu | first1 = Y | last2 = Beit-Hallahmi | first2 = B | year = 1989 | title = Dybbuk-Possession as a hysterical symptom: Psychodynamic and socio-cultural factors | journal = Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Science | volume = 26 | issue = 3| pages = 138–149 | pmid = 2606645 }}</ref>
== Expulsion == In traditional Jewish communities, the concept of the dybbuk served as a socially acceptable way of expressing unacceptable urges, including sexual ones.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Falk |first=Avner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z10-Xz9Kno4C&pg=PA538 |title=A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews |date=1996 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press |isbn=978-0-8386-3660-2 |language=en}}</ref> Within Jewish mysticism and folklore, particularly in Kabbalistic traditions, protective practices were also used to ward off these malevolent spirits. One such practice involves affixing a mezuzah—a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Torah verses—to the doorposts of a home. While the mezuzah primarily serves as a reminder of faith and adherence to God's commandments, it is also viewed as a protective amulet against harmful spirits, including dybbuks. The ''Zohar'', a foundational Kabbalistic text, suggests that a properly affixed mezuzah can prevent such entities from entering a home.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Protective Power of Mezuzah |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/310889/jewish/The-Protective-Power-of-Mezuzah.htm |website=Chabad.org |access-date=2024-11-09}}</ref> Additionally, Jewish folklore includes accounts where neglected or improperly maintained mezuzot were believed to make homes susceptible to dybbuk possession.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dybbuk Shmibbuk |url=https://templeofmiriam.com/blog/dybbuk-shmibbuk |website=Temple of Miriam |access-date=2024-11-09}}</ref> These perspectives emphasize the mezuzah's dual role in Jewish life: as both a symbol of faith and a spiritual safeguard.
== Dybbuk in popular culture == * Hanna Rovina played a role of leah in the 1920 play ''The Dybbuk''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dybbuk Hanna rovina |url= https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/rovina-hanna |website=Jewish Women's Archive}}</ref>
* The novel ''Satan in Goray'' by Isaac Bashevis Singer, which portrays the appearance of a dybbuk in the fictional Jewish town of Goray, serves as an early literary version of the well-known motif in Jewish mythology. * The film ''A Serious Man'' (2009), directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, starts with a preamble about a dybbuk who visits a poor family living in a stetl. The dybbuk in the film may or may not be a rabbi who is either alive or dead. After being stabbed by the wife of the man who encountered the rabbi and invited him for a meal, the dybbuk walks out of their house and disappears into the snowy night. Whether he was or was not a dybbuk remains unanswered. * The film ''The Possession'' (2012), directed by Ole Bornedal, is a supernatural horror film centered around the concept of a dybbuk. The story follows a young girl who becomes increasingly possessed by an evil spirit after discovering an antique dybbuk box at a yard sale. * The Polish film ''Demon'' is typically interpreted as a story about dybbuk possession. * The young adult novel ''The City Beautiful'' (2021) by Aden Polydoros features a gay teenager possessed by a dybbuk in 19th century Chicago. * The novella ''To Clutch a Razor'' (2025) by Veronica Roth features a chapter in which a young woman found wandering in the woods is possessed by a dybbuk. * The video game ''Mewgenics'' (2026) by Edmund McMillen features a boss fight against a feline Dybbuk that possesses one of the player's cats when its HP reaches one point and the other cats will have to knock their ally out to exorcise it. * The novel ''Odessa'' (2026) by Gabrielle Sher features a Dybbuk that possesses a corpse that was not properly watched before burial.
== See also == * {{lang|yi-Latn|Dybbuk|nocat=y}} box * Golem * Kabbalah * ''Shedim'' * Zombie
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|first=J. H.|last=Chajes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VRDtHsJEkhcC|title=Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=2011|isbn= 978-0812221701}} * {{cite book|first=Rachel|last=Elior|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYkRAQAAIAAJ|title=Dybbuks and Jewish Women in Social History, Mysticism and Folklore|publisher=Urim Publications|date= 2008|isbn= 978-9655240078}} * {{cite book|first=Fernando|last=Peñalosa|title=The Dybbuk: Text, Subtext, and Context|date= 2012|publisher= CreateSpace Publishing|isbn=978-1478357803}} * {{cite book|first=Fernando|last=Peñalosa|title=Parodies of An-sky's "The Dybbuk"|date=2012|publisher= CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|isbn= 978-1477647721}} * {{cite web|first=Yosl|last=Cutler|authorlink=Yosl Cutler|url=https://ingeveb.org/texts-and-translations/the-dybbuk-in-the-form-of-a-crisis|title=The Dybbuk in the Form of a Crisis|website=In Geveb|date=March 2017|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20230306234049/https://ingeveb.org/texts-and-translations/the-dybbuk-in-the-form-of-a-crisis|archivedate=6 March 2023}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100305145702/http://jhom.com/personalities/ansky/dybbuk.htm "The Dybbuk" by Ansky] ''Jewish Heritage Online Magazine'' * [http://www.ghostvillage.com/legends/2003/legends32_11292003.shtml "Dybbuk – Spiritual Possession and Jewish Folklore"] by Jeff Belanger, Ghostvillage.com * [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/174964/dybbuk "Dybbuk"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''
{{Authority control}}
Category:Ghosts Category:Jewish folklore Category:Jewish legendary creatures Category:Jewish mysticism Category:Supernatural legends Category:Yiddish words and phrases Category:Yiddish-language folklore Category:Spirit possession Category:Souls