Dybbuk
dybbuk In Jewish folklore, an evil spirit or doomed soul that possesses a person body and soul, speaking through the person’s mouth and causing such torment and anguish that another personality appears to manifest itself. Such evil spirits have existed in Judaism since the earliest times, but they were called evil ibbur (spirits) until the 17th century. At that time, the term “dybbuk” (also spelled dibbuk) was coined from the language of German and Polish Jews. It is an abbreviation of two phrases: dibbuk me-ru’ah (“a cleavage of an evil spirit”), and dibbuk min ha-hizonim (“dibbuk from the Demonic side” of man).
In early folklore, dybbukim were thought only to inhabit the bodies of sick persons. Possessive evil spirits appear in the Old Testament, in Samuel I, which describes the possession of Saul and how David exorcised the spirit by playing the harp. In the Book of Tobit, the angel Raphael instructs Tobit in the ways of Exorcisms. In the rabbinical literature of the first century, exorcisms called for the ashes of a red heifer, or the roots of certain herbs, burned under the victim, who was then surrounded with water. Other methods included incantations in the name of Solomon, repetition of the Divine Name, reading from Psalms, and the wearing of herbal amulets.
By the 16th century, the concept of possessive evil spirits changed. Many Jews believed the spirits were transmigrated souls that could not enter a new body because of their past sins, and so were forced to possess the body of a living sinner. The spirits were motivated to possess a body because they were tormented by other evil spirits if they did not. Some thought the dybbukim were the souls of people who were not properly buried, and thus became Demons.
The Kabbalah, a body of medieval esoteric and mystical writings of Judaism, contains many procedures and instructions for exorcising a dybbuk, which are still employed in modern times. The exorcism must be performed by a ba’al shem, a miracle-working rabbi. Depending on how the exorcism is done, the dybbuk either is redeemed or is cast into hell. It usually exits the body of its victim through the small toe, which shows a small, bloody hole as the point of departure.
FURTHER READING:
- Scholem, Gershom. Kabbalah. New York: New American Library, 1974.
SOURCE:
The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits– Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley – September 1, 2007