Dybbuks - Do They Exist?

Her voice changed to a slightly deeper tone, and she began speaking in a heavy Arabic accent. Amid her speech, she mentioned several items that had disappeared and precisely indicated where they were located. Among other things, she told the guest that her son's missing shoe was under the bed. And so it was. Out of fear, she (the guest) stood by the exit door, ready to escape if necessary.

 

And then, the homeowner arrived and began apologizing for not notifying the guests earlier about this recurring incident with his wife, which soon passes. Indeed, after a short while, the woman recovered, stood up, and returned to her regular duties, without knowing or remembering anything of what had occurred to her. This is as far as the listener recounted, who until that lecture knew nothing about the dybbuk phenomenon. Now let us proceed to more detailed and explained facts. We will start with the words of the famous righteous Rabbi Shalom Mordechai Shvadron, of blessed memory, who wrote what he heard from his mentor and teacher, the righteous Torah scholar Rabbi Eliyahu Dushnitzer, of blessed memory (a righteous and holy man, about whom after his passing, the 'Chazon Ish' commented that he was one of the 36 righteous people) and this is Rabbi Shalom Shvadron's statement (in the book 'Lev Eliyahu', page 23):

 

And so said to me my mentor Rabbi Eliyahu Dushnitzer: 'This story you can and should tell to many. And you can note, that I told you it exactly as I heard from the distinguished Torah scholar in Israel, our mentor Rabbi Elazar Moshe, of blessed memory, from Pinsk. And indeed you know me, that I am not lying, God forbid, nor am I exaggerating or adding at all to this, only repeating word for word what I heard from the aforementioned Torah scholar Rabbi Elazar Moshe.

 

And here's the story: There was a man in the city of Kelm, a merchant and a learned man (Torah scholar), named Reb Neta. He had an only daughter, whom he married off to a distinguished yeshiva student and Torah scholar. The father gave them a dowry of several thousand rubles, as well as a few years to be supported at his table. And so the son-in-law sat and occupied himself with Torah study for some years. When the agreed time was over, and the couple left his table, the daughter began to question how they would make a living. The husband responded that he could not part from Torah to engage in commerce and throw all his Torah study to the sea...

 

Until his wife suggested a solution: We will take the dowry money and open a shop, and I will stand there all day, except for two hours a day that you will stand there, and for the rest of the time, you can continue learning your Torah as before... He agreed, and they did so. In the first three months, he indeed acted this way, but then the two hours became four hours, and then eight until he was completely engulfed in the commerce... He didn't have any time even to open a Gemara... And it came to be, on a Saturday night after Shabbat, in the middle of the night, while outside there was a big snowstorm.

 

(I am recounting as I heard word for word from my mentor and teacher, of blessed memory). The wife went outside to pour out a barrel of unclean water, and upon returning, it seemed as though she was choking and couldn't speak... Her husband immediately ran and summoned a doctor to their home, who didn't know what to do, and the next day he went with her and consulted many doctors, and they even traveled to Vienna, but to no avail. Rumors began circulating in the village: perhaps this is a dybbuk... They traveled to the town of Stutchin, because there was a kabbalist known as Reb Mendel, of blessed memory, whom people visited for such matters.

 

When they came before him, he asked the dybbuk something, and they heard a voice answering. (When the dybbuk speaks, the patient's stomach rises, but the lips do not move, and the voice comes out - these are the words of my mentor and teacher, of blessed memory). Then all the listeners were startled, and said: Ah! Here's the dybbuk... But the righteous Reb Mendel said he still didn't know if that's the case, and so he asked him: Who goes with you (meaning: with the possessed soul)? And he said: 'Five angels of destruction.' He asked him: What are their names? And he replied: such-and-such... Then Reb Mendel said he spoke the truth, and this is a real dybbuk.

 

He began asking him questions, like who he is, etc. And he answered that he lived some decades ago (I don't remember exactly how many he said), was a young man in Brest, and then traveled to Africa, where friends corrupted him, and he transgressed the entire Torah. Once, while riding in a carriage, he fell from it and was killed. And thus he has been wandering the world ever since. Reb Mendel asked him why he didn't repent before his death. He answered that due to fear and panic at the time of his fall from the carriage, he forgot to think of repentance. Then he asked him, what do you have against this woman to cause her such terrible suffering?

 

He started laughing loudly and said: The mother of this young woman and the mother of her husband (both already deceased) pleaded from above in heaven, for me to enter her and cause her suffering, because otherwise she would not have a chance in this world or the next because she took her husband away from Torah study! Upon hearing this, Reb Mendel told the husband to promise to return to Torah, and he promised, and Reb Neta also promised to study Mishna for the elevation of the soul of the possessed young man, and also donated an amount for candles to be lit in the synagogue on his behalf.

 

Later, Reb Mendel gathered ten men in his room to say Tehillim, and he stood behind them and said what he said. He seated the woman on a chair in the middle of the room, and suddenly she rolled off the chair, fell to the ground, and a mighty voice came from her, "Shema Yisrael," etc. Afterwards, the little fingernail on one hand broke off, and a windowpane shattered, and she became silent... Thus far my mentor and teacher Rabbi Eliyahu the Kohen Dushnitzer recounted to me. And he repeated his words and said: You can tell this story in my name, that you know me and that I do not lie, God forbid, nor do I exaggerate, only reported exactly as I heard from the Torah scholar Rabbi Elazar Moshe, of blessed memory. And my mentor and teacher, of blessed memory, added:

 

Recently, I heard that the aforementioned couple, who are now elderly, have come to the Land of Israel and live in Tel Aviv, and they have a large family here, sons and grandchildren. You also know them, but I will not tell you their names because it could harm their matchmaking... I traveled on a Saturday night from Petah Tikva to Tel Aviv and sat in their home, and they themselves told me the entire story as I heard from the Torah scholar Rabbi Elazar Moshe, and as I reported to you. Thus, the words of my mentor and teacher Rabbi Eliyahu Dushnitzer, of blessed memory.'' And Reb Shalom adds and writes that he also heard the account from Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian, who heard it from Reb Neta (the woman's father) in Kelm near the hedge of the Talmud Torah yard. And Rabbi Eliyahu added that the dybbuk would sometimes cry out (at Reb Mendel's place) with a loud voice causing tremendous fear, that all the listeners would be terrified and tremble, saying that the angels of destruction awaited his exit from the woman's body to tear him to pieces. (For the angels of destruction do not have permission to touch the soul of the wicked, as long as he is inside a living body).

 

And after a few moments, he would begin to speak gibberish and obscene language in a vile manner, to the point where all the listeners would block their ears so as not to hear the vile talk. They would ask him: is it possible?! A few moments ago, you cried out in great fear, "save me!" and now you speak obscene and mocking words?! And he replied to them in this manner: "You should know, that if one does not repent, and does not cleanse oneself from sin, then the soul above longs for evil just as it did below..." -

 

These were the words of the dybbuk. And Reb Shalom concludes by saying that Rabbi Eliyahu, of blessed memory, said from this incident we can learn about the tremendous and terrible power of desire. For even the terrifying fright of five angels of destruction that he saw and feared so much, even so, he cannot restrain from expressing his desire into action by speaking foul and mocking words he was accustomed to in his life, may Hashem safeguard and deliver us from sin. Another incident that occurred during the time of the Chafetz Chaim in 1909, and as it was customary for the righteous Torah scholar Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman to recount yearly on the holiday of Purim, what his eyes have seen.

 

Here are his words verbatim: 'On the road from Aishishok to Vilna, two miles from Aishishok, there is a village called Streltsi and near it a village called Fasli, where a Jewish man named Nahum lives. And behold, in 1909, on Thursday, the fourth of Adar, Nahum came with his 14-year-old daughter to Radin to the Chafetz Chaim. His daughter was ill, and the father said she had a dybbuk (meaning that some spirit of a deceased person had entered her). The father told me how the spirit entered his daughter. Thus, he told me: After Chanukah in the month of Tevet (meaning about two months prior) ...

 

a horse fell dead in our barn. Immediately upon hearing this, we, the household members, ran out in alarm, and this daughter of mine also went out. Upon her return from the barn, she was covered in sweat and entered the house to drink cold water... From that time on, she became ill. Initially, she would sometimes be gripped by strong convulsions and then would fall like a stone, dumb and without any sensation. When this happened to her, she was completely unaware of what was happening to her, only that she was left weak from the suffering. Then a voice would be heard from her, and then it would speak. The voice told me that it (the spirit that entered my daughter) was a 12-year-old girl with elderly parents, and her dire condition led her to convert.

 

She was then in a small town, and the Jewish children ran after her, calling her a convert, and she went with non-Jews who hated Israel and strangled two Jewish children. Five years later, when she was 17, she died, and she was judged in the heavenly court. The spirit explained to me how she has been wandering the world since that time and continued saying that initially (after her death) her spirit entered the statue of her grave. Then the statue was destroyed, and she entered a tree.

 

And the tree was chopped down... and eventually, she entered a stone that was in the barn where the horse stood. The horse touched the stone and immediately died... And from the horse, the spirit entered the cup of water... The spirit added: when all of you hurried into the barn, I saw you all. And I also saw her, that is your daughter, and I didn't want to look at her at all. The spirit continued and said that this coming Passover will mark five years since her death, with five remaining years.

 

 And I asked her: But why do you torment my daughter? And the spirit answered me in a very sad voice: Reb Nahum, you don’t know it’s bad for me?! I continued to ask: It is bad for you because you are a sinner, but what is my daughter’s fault?! And she answered: She is also a sinner! I added to ask: How so? She replied: A girl like her, when she drinks water, she needs to say a blessing. If she had blessed, I could not have entered her! (All this the father Nahum shared with Rabbi Elchanan).

 

Regarding the unfolding events in Radin the very day after the father's arrival, Rabbi Elchanan recounts: On Friday evening, I was studying with Rabbi Naftali Trop and Rabbi Yosef Kuller (the Rabbi of Ponovezh) in the upper room where the sacred studies are conducted. While we were studying, the Chafetz Chaim came and asked us to go see the girl that had been entered by the spirit. As instructed by our Rabbi, we three went to the house of Rabbi Itzhak Zvi the sexton. Upon arriving, there were many people there... I asked her (Rabbi Elchanan asked the spirit), Who are you? And she answered: A person.

 

And I continued to ask: Where are you from? And she replied: From the filth... [The spirit then stopped speaking, or Rabbi Elchanan stopped the questioning.] On the holy Shabbat night, Rabbi Eliyahu Dushnitzer and Rabbi Yerucham were present with the girl. Later, Rabbi Eliyahu recounted to me what they spoke with the spirit.