Dibbuk

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As Dybbuk (also Dybbuk or Dybbuk called; Pl. Dibbukim ; Hebrew דיבוק = "attachment."; See also Dybbuk chaverim =, League of Friends') is in Jewish folklore an often evil spirit of the dead called, entering the body of a living and causes irrational behavior in this.

Popular piety

Hanna Rovina as "possessed" Lea in a dibbuk performance in Moscow around 1920

The soul of the dead could not separate itself from earthly existence due to its failings and is looking for a living body to occupy it. The effects of the dibbuk therefore correspond to obsession , which is also reflected in its name, which means "clasping" or "attachment". The name is derived from dibbuk me-ru'ah ra'a " being gripped by an evil spirit" or dibbuk min ha-hizonim "dibbuk from outside".

According to popular belief, the dibbuk does not have a metaphorical but a concrete meaning. The evil spirit that enters a living person clings to his soul, causes insanity, speaks through his mouth and represents a separate and strange person. He resembles the demons and spirits that are used in the Catholic Church in exorcism are to be driven out. It is believed that a soul that could not fulfill its function during its lifetime is given another option in the form of a dibbuk. This notion merged in the 16th century with the teachings of Gilgul and Ibbur (“transmigration of souls” and “reincarnation”) from the Lurian Kabbalah and was particularly widespread in the Eastern Jewish region.

The dibbuk is usually driven out by a Hasidic mystic and ten other members of the community ( minyan ) who are dressed in shrouds. Incense is burned, prayers are sung and the shofar is blown.

Other research approaches

The phenomena associated with belief in and the stories about the dibbukim are often referred to in modern medicine and psychology as cases of hysteria and sometimes outbreaks of schizophrenia .

The dibbuk phenomenon has recently also been picked up by gender research . The dibbuk belief seems to be related to female religiosity. According to the accounts, the majority of those possessed by a dibbuk were women; the dibbukim themselves, however, were 95 percent male. Only a small fraction of the male dibbukim selected same-sex victims.

Artistic arrangements

The dibbuk theme often appears in literature after 1560. In the early 20th century, the drama The Dibbuk by Salomon An-ski enjoyed great success. This drama is considered a classic of the dibbuk performance and the basis for further artistic adaptations. It was filmed in Yiddish in Poland in 1937 and in Israel in 1968 and 1998.

The Nobel Prize for Literature, Isaac B. Singer, has woven dibbuk motifs into his stories on various occasions. His first novel, published in Poland, is based on a dibbuk tale. The story of the Dibbuk of Goraj ( Satan in Goraj ) takes place in 17th century Poland.

A more recent Dibbuk interpretation comes from Romain Gary . His comic novel The Dance of Genghis Cohn is based as a whole on the dibbuk motif, in the figure of a murdered Jew who lived in and ultimately dominated his German SS murderer in the post-war period .

Even Michael Wex has, like Gary, 2010 in his novel The Frumkiss family business , the Dybbuk here in the extinct bird dodo shown as a representative of the destroyed Yiddish designed Judaism with black humor. Less accusatory in tone than Gary, who targets the German conditions of the 1960s, the reintegration of the Nazi murderers many thousands of times without punishment, for Wex television is the only place where the undead are allowed to express themselves. The viewers of Jewish origin feel recognized in their otherness. For Caspar Battegay, in this dibbuk figure, a Jew makes fun of himself as a Jew, playfully reflects his identity.

It is striking how often the dibbuk inspired musical arrangements. Several operas on the Dibbukt theme appeared in the 20th century. By Leonard Bernstein in 1974 a ballet piece was listed under the same name in New York. Also is a dibbuk antagonist in The Unborn from 2009.

Representations

literature
Movie
  • The Dibuk (Yiddish: דער דיבוק), a film by Michał Waszyński based on the drama by Anski, Poland 1937.
  • The Dybbuk, TV movie by Sidney Lumet, 1960
  • Ha-Dybbuk, Hebrew, film by Ilan Eldad, Israel 1968.
  • The Dybbuk of the Holy Apple Field (Hebrew: Ha-Dybbuk B'sde Hatapuchim Hakdoshim), film by Yossi Somer based on the drama by Anski, Israel 1998.
  • The Unborn , horror film with a dibbuk motif, 2009
  • A Serious Man , the Coen Brothers' film (2009) begins with a dibbuk scene (the character is ambiguous).
  • The Possession , 2012, directed by Ole Bornedal
  • Paranormal Witness (Season 2, Episode 4), American TV series, 2011, directed by Gillian Pachter
  • Dibbuk - A Wedding in Poland (2015), directed by Marcin Wrona
music
  • Lodivico Rocca : Il Dibuk , opera, first performance at Scala Milan in 1934.
  • David Tamkin : The Dybbuk , Opera, 1933, first performed at New York City Opera in 1951.
  • Max Ettinger : Der Dybuk , ballet music, 1947, no performance until 2017.
  • Karl Heinz Füssl : Dybuk , Opera, 1970, premiere at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.
  • Leonard Bernstein : Dybbuk , ballet, premiere at New York State Theater 1974.

literature

  • Rachel Elior: The Dybbuk and Jewish Women . Jerusalem and New York 2008, ISBN 978-965-524-007-8 .
  • Matt Goldish (Ed.): Spirit possession in Judaism. Cases and contexts from the Middle Ages to the present . Detroit 2003, ISBN 0-8143-3003-7 .
  • Salcia Landmann : Exorcisms in the Jewish Tradition . In: Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte , (28) 1976, pp. 357–366.
  • Leander Petzoldt : Small lexicon of demons and elementals . 3rd edition Munich 2003, pages 45-46.
  • Gershom Scholem :  Dibbuk (Dybbuk). In: Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd Edition. Volume 5, Detroit / New York a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-0-02-865933-6 , pp. 643-644 (English).
  • Shelly Zer-Zion: Dibbuk. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 2: Co-Ha. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02502-9 , pp. 134-138.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gershom Scholem: Dibbuk , 2007, p. 643.
  2. ↑ See for example Naomi Seidman: The Ghost of Queer Loves Past. Ansky's “Dybbuk” and the Sexual Transformation of Ashkeneiaz . In: Daniel Boyarin (Ed.): Queer theory and the Jewish question ; New York 2003; Pp. 228-245. Rachel Elior: The Dybbuk and Jewish Women ; New York 2008.
  3. ^ First German publication: Between two worlds. The dybuk. Berlin / Vienna 1922.
  4. ^ Verlag Alfred A. Knopf Canada, Toronto ISBN 0-307-39776-9 ; again in 2011 as TB
  5. ^ Battegay, Judentum und Popkultur , Transcript, Bielefeld 2012 ISBN 978-3-8376-2047-4 p. 143

Web links

Wiktionary: Dibbuk  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations