Dybbuk

Morris M. Faierstein is an independent scholar. His previous books include Jewish Mystical Autobiographies: Book of Visions and Book of Secrets and The Early Modern Yiddish Bible: From the Mirkevet ha-Mishneh to Blitz and Witzenhausen.

"This book stands as a seminal work on the origins and development of the dybbuk concept, and it also offers complete English translations of primary source texts concerning dybbuk possessions and exorcisms, many of which have never before been fully translated into English." — Religious Studies Review"This book offers an excellent overview of the development of the dybbuk phenomenon in Jewish history, bringing to light new primary sources that expand on what has been published on the concept to date. Through superb translations of valuable literary accounts, Faierstein opens up novel, engaging, and highly entertaining narratives to English-speaking readers." — Andrea Gondos, author of Kabbalah in Print: The Study and Popularization of Jewish Mysticism in Early Modernity"This wonderful book collects and explores, for the first time, the full spectrum of Jewish sources on the dybbuk. The author seeks to understand why and how this phenomenon emerged in sixteenth-century Safed, examining earlier roots and tracing the reception history of the dybbuk into early Hasidism. The book's scope, the huge number of sources included (in translation, some for the first time), and the synchronic history of the dybbuk in Jewish writings are all significant strengths." — Ariel Evan Mayse, Stanford University

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Theoretical Origins of the Dybbuk Concept2. Dybbuk Possession in Safed in the Sixteenth Century3. The Published Dybbuk Accounts in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century4. The Dybbuk in the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century: The Age of the Ba'alei Shem5. Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov and HasidismConclusionsAppendix to Chapter 2Appendix to Chapter 3Appendix to Chapter 4Appendix to Chapter 5NotesBibliographyIndex