dybbuk

In Jewish folklore, a dybbuk is a malicious possessing spirit, believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person.^[1]

Dybbuks are said to have escaped from Gehenna (a Hebrew term loosely analogous to the concept of hell) or to have been turned away from Gehenna for serious transgressions, such as suicide, for which the soul is denied entry. The word "dybbuk" is derived from the Hebrew דיבוק, meaning "attachment"; the dybbuk attaches itself to the body of a living person and inhabits the flesh. According to belief, a soul that has been unable to fulfill its function during its lifetime is given another opportunity to do so in dybbuk form. It supposedly leaves the host body once it has accomplished its goal, sometimes after being helped.^[2]

See also

• The Dybbuk (play)
• The Dybbuk (film), the 1937 film based on the play.
• The Unborn, the 2009 film featuring the dybbuk.
• Jewish mythology
• Kabbalah
• Ibbur
• Gilgul neshamot
• Qliphoth

Dybbuks in Fiction

• Amy Wolff Sorter's 2007 novel Soul Obsession is a modern-day story about a dybbuk and exorcism.
• Peter S. Beagle's short story "Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel" concerns a dybbuk.
• The Coen brothers 2009 film A Serious Man begins with a folk tale about a Jewish couple in 19th century Poland who encounter a rabbi who may or may not be a dybbuk.
• In the 2009 film The Unborn, the protagonist is plagued by a dybbuk in the form of her unborn twin brother.
• "Dybbuk" song by Gackt.
• Dybbuks are monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. They are a variety of invisible, intangible demons that possess corpses.
• Dybbuks are monsters in the MMORPG Gemstone IV.
• Fleischman, Sid. The Entertainer and the Dybbuk. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.
• 'Dybbuk' - the name the mortal boy Benjamin calls Armand in the Anne Rice novel 'The Vampire Armand' before learning his real name
• Sylvia Plath mentions the dybbuk in Chapter 9 of The Bell Jar.
• Dybbuks appear in Tim Powers' novel, Three Days to Never
• In the "Monster In The Garage" episode of Rugrats, Grandpa Boris tells the children a story about a young hero who defeats a Dybbuk with his "Klobbermeister".
• In the episode 71, "The Devil to Pay" of The Real Ghostbusters 80s series, the monster fought by the Ghostbusters crew is described as being a dybbuk.

References

External links

• Dybbuk by Ilil Arbel, Ph.D.
• Dybbuk - Spiritual Possession and Jewish Folklore