Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism

J. H. Chajes

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2003

Between Worlds

Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism

J. H. Chajes

In the series Jewish Culture and Contexts

https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812201550

Overview
Contents

About this book

Adopting a comparative historical approach, J. H. Chajes uncovers a strain of Jewish belief to which scant attention has been paid. Between Worlds provides fascinating descriptions of cases of possession as well as analysis of the magical techniques deployed by rabbinic exorcists to expel the ghostly intruders.

Author / Editor information

J. H. Chajes teaches Jewish history at the University of Haifa.

Reviews

"An exciting, persuasive, and well-written study and another key addition to a subject central to early modern religions."—Jewish Quarterly Review

"Chajes's excellent new book . . . succeeds in demystifying the subject of Jewish spirit (i.e., "dybbuk") possession by placing it within a broader cross-cultural and historical context, a s sophisticated methodological approach he calls a 'historical anthropology of spirit possession.' . . . His work is both a history and a phenomenology of Jewish spirit possession during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."—Choice

"This is a major contribution, not only to early modern Jewish studies but to the subject of spirit possession broadly conceived in the Christian world."—Edward Peters, University of Pennsylvania

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. The Emergence o/Dybbuk Possession Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
Chapter 2. The Emergence o/Dybbuk Possession Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
Chapter 3. The Task of the Exorcist Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
Chapter 4. Dybbuk Possession and Women's Religiosity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Chapter 5. Skeptics and Storytellers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
Arrival Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Appendix: Spirit Possession Narratives from Early Modern Jewish Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 288
Keywords: Religion; Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Jewish Studies; Religious Studies

eBook

Published: March 7, 2012
ISBN: 9780812201550