Dybbuks and Jewish Women in Social History, Mysticism and Folklore

Rachel Elior

sept 2008 · Urim Publications

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How and why a person comes to be possessed by a dybbuk—the possession of a living body by the soul of a deceased person—and what consequences ensue from such possession, form the subject of this book. Though possession by a dybbuk has traditionally been understood as punishment for a terrible sin, it can also be seen as a mechanism used by desperate individuals—often women—who had no other means of escape from the demands and expectations of an all-encompassing patriarchal social order. Dybbuks and Jewish Women examines these and other aspects of dybbuk possession from historical and phenomenological perspectives, with particular attention to the gender significance of the subject.

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Rachel Elior is the John and Golda Cohen Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Jewish Mystical Thought, as well as the chair of the department of Jewish thought, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has been a research fellow and visiting professor at Oberlin College, Princeton University, University College London, and the University of Michigan, among others. She is the author of numerous works on Jewish mysticism and Hasidism, including The Parodoxical Ascent to God. She is a recipient of the Gershom Sholem Prize for the Study of Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism, awarded by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.