The Dybbuk: Its Origins and History (Suny Western Esoteric Traditions)

Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Theoretical Origins of the Dybbuk Concept
	What Is a Dybbuk?
	“Rabbi Akiva and the Dead Man”
	The Concept of Gilgul
	The Concept of Ibbur
	From Tradition to Revelation
	The Maggid
		Joseph Karo
		The Second Maggid and the Daughter of Raphael Anav
	Isaac Luria and Yihudim
	Conclusions
2 Dybbuk Possession in Safed in the Sixteenth Century
	The Dybbuk Exorcised by Rabbi Joseph Karo
	Exorcisms in the Book of Visions
	Exorcisms by Hayyim Vital in the Book of Visions
		The Widow in Safed (Book of Visions 1.25 [73])
		The Daughter of Daniel Romano (Book of Visions 2.35 [97))
		The Possession of Hayyim Vital
	The Possession of the Nephew of Rabbi Joshua bin Nun
	Conclusions
3 The Published Dybbuk Accounts in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century
	The Dresnitz Letter
	The Falco Letter
	The Mayse Bukh Story
	Nishmat Hayyim
	Divrei Yosef
	Differences between the Dresnitz and Falco Letters
	Samuel Vital and the Dybbuk in Cairo (1666)
4 The Dybbuk in the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century: The Age of the Ba’alei Shem
	Introduction
5 Rabbi Israel Ba’al Shem Tov and Hasidism
Conclusions
	The Prehistory of the Dybbuk
	The Dybbuk in Safed
Appendix to Chapter 2
	A. Rabbi Joseph Karo, Safed, 1545
	B. Exorcisms by Hayyim Vital in the Book of Visions
		1. The Widow in Safed
			a. Book of Visions 1.25 (73)
			b. Text of the Yihud—Sha’ar Ruah ha-Kodesh. Tel Aviv, 1963, 88d–90d
		2. The Daughter of Daniel Romano (Book of Visions 2.35 [97])
	C. The Nephew of Joshua bin Nun
		1. Sefer Meirat Eyna’im, Shlomo ben Gabbai, Constantinople, 1666, 17a
		2. Joseph Sambari, Divrei Yosef, ed. S. Shtober (Jerusalem: Machon Ben Zvi, 1994), 350–519
Appendix to Chapter 3
	A. The Widow in Safed
		1. J. S. Delmedigo, Ta’alumot Hokhmah, Basel, 1629, 49b–50b
		2. Joseph Sambari, Divrei Yosef (Shtober ed.), 351–54
	B. The Falco Letter
		1. Falco Letter—A Spirit Entered a Woman in Safed—1571
		2. The Mayse Bukh. Basel 1602, story number 152
			A. Mayse Bukh, Basel 1602, story number 152
			B. Menashe ben Israel, Nishmat Hayyim, Amsterdam, 1652, 111a–11b
			C. Sambari, Divrei Yosef (Shtober ed.), 324–25
		3. Shmuel Vital, Sha’ar ha-Gilgulim (Jerusalem, 1963), 186a–87b
Appendix to Chapter 4
	1. The Dybbuk in Prague (c. 1690)
	2. Nikolsburg
		[Title Page]
		[Printer’s Introduction. Verso of title page.]
		[Preface]
		[Circumstances for the entry of the Spirit: urinating on unusable ritual fringes (zizit pasul) and spitting on a garbage pile; Shepish, c. 1690.]
		[The symptoms.]
		[Travels to ba’alei shem throughout Poland. A meeting with the ba’al shem of Brisk (of Kawai).]
		[Wanderings through Poland with the father for three years, return home, sent from Poland.]
		[Prague and nearby Bohemian Leiben]
		[Nikolsburg, Friday of Shabbat Shuvah (Friday, 9 Tishrei 456 (1696), Wolf Fishoff instead of Oppenheim.]
		[Sent to Hungary with an escort.]
		[Mattersdorf. Self-harm: hitting himself with a stone, banging his head against a wall, putting sand in his mouth.]
		[Pressburg (Stayed with a Gentile for ten days).]
		[Stampa: Confrontation with the gentile scholars and the local noblewoman. The attempt to exorcise him by R. Meir Eisenstadt.]
		[Return to Nikolsburg. In the almshouse of Leibele Bashkes, may his Creator protect him. The monologue of the Spirit. The alphabetical confession.]
		[The continuation of the Spirit’s monologue. Torments at the hands of the angels of destruction and the hollow of the sling.]
		[Continuation of the Spirit’s monologue. His transmigration into various objects. (A raw apple, a pig, a millstone, an adulterous married woman.)]
		[Continuation of the Spirit’s monologue. Confession with the tunes of various piyyutim. Giving “explanations.”]
		[Behavior on the Sabbath in contrast to Sunday and Christian holidays. Meeting with Wolf Fischoff and his wife.]
		[Continuation of his practices on the Sabbath: Confession during the time of the Torah reading. Meeting with Simeon Wadishlif, of blessed memory.]
		[Practices on Sabbath eve.]
		[Meeting with Hirsch Segal.]
		[Moshe Prager: In Brod, return to Nikolsburg.]
		[The arrival of Prager to Nikolsburg: The appointment by David Oppenheim and the receipt of a book of magic.]
		[The eve of Rosh Hodesh Shevat, 29 Tevet, January 4, in the morning at the almshouse: the first meeting with Prager.]
		[The first warning: Thursday, 8 Shevat, January 12, in the almshouse. Promises of actions to do tikkun. Fear of the adjurations.]
		[Monday, 12 Shevat, January 16. Drasenhofen in Austria. Meeting with apothecary, physician, governor.]
		[Shabbat, 10 Shevat, January 14 (after the first warning). Intensification of the violence—banging his head against the wall, throwing himself into the river.]
		[Thursday, 15 Shevat, January 19: The second warning and afterwards. From the almshouse to the old synagogue.]
		[Tuesday, 20 Shevat, January 24. The third warning in the almshouse. A request to defer it until Thursday.]
		[Wednesday, 21 Shevat, January 25. Monologue by the youth about events since Rosh Hodesh Shevat.]
		[Thursday, 22 Shevat, January 26. The first adjuration, the new synagogue. Sabbath, 24 Shevat, January 28, aggravation.]
		[Friday–Sabbath, 23–24 Shevat, January 27–28. In the almshouse (the day after the first adjuration.)]
		[Sunday, 25 Shevat, January 29. In the new synagogue, warning, and prayer.]
		[Monday, 26 Shevat, January 30. The second adjuration (The transfer from the morning until afternoon, and from the new synagogue to the old one.)]
		[Monday, 26 Shevat, January 30, at night in the almshouse. The occurrences before the departure of the Spirit.]
		[Tuesday, 27 Shevat, January 31, before morning in the almshouse. The departure of the Spirit.]
		[Tuesday, 27 Shevat, January 31, in the almshouse. The behavior of the youth and the community after the departure of the Spirit.]
		[During the month after the departure of the Spirit (until Wednesday, 26 Adar I, February 29). The completion of the conditions that had been promised to the Spirit.]
		[After the departure of the Spirit (Tuesday, 27 Shevat, January 31) from the almshouse to guarding in the Bet Midrash for eight days.]
		[The next night (Wednesday, 28 Shevat, at night) the appearance of the Spirit to the emissary, Naphtali ben Moshe Dach of Vienna.]
		[Wednesday, 28 Shevat, February 2. The decision concerning the abrogation of his excommunication by Prager on Thursday and Friday.]
		[Monday night (Thursday, 29 Shevat?) in the study house: The appearance of the Spirit to the youth.]
		[The situation of the youth worsened: Fever and constipation.]
		[The conclusion of the affair. Becoming healthy and Torah study.]
		[Epilogue: The moral lesson—reward and punishment.]
		[Conclusion of the printer.]
Appendix to Chapter 5
	Shivhei ha-Besht
		Introduction
		1. The Dybbuk and the Woman
		2. The Dybbuk and the Madman
Notes
Bibliography
Index