The Dybbuk

The Dybbuk, expressionistic drama in four acts by S. Ansky, performed in 1920 in Yiddish as Der Dibek and published the following year. Originally titled Tsvishn Tsvey Veltn (“Between Two Worlds”), the play was based on the mystical concept from Ḥasidic Jewish folklore of the dybbuk, a disembodied human spirit that, because of former sins, wanders restlessly until it finds a haven in the body of a living person. The play was translated into several languages.

The plot centres on a young woman, Leah, who on the day of her wedding is possessed by a dybbuk. This proves to be none other than the spirit of Channon, a young Ḥasidic scholar who had loved her and who had died upon learning of her betrothal to another man. The dybbuk, which can be expelled only by exorcism, at first refuses to leave Leah but is eventually persuaded to do so. In the end Leah dies, and her soul and Channon’s rise and are united forever.