The Dybbuk in Jewish Folklore
- Date of account
- Early modern Jewish tradition, especially documented from the sixteenth century onward; origins disputed
- Location
- Jewish communities of the Ottoman Middle East and broader Jewish world
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
A dybbuk is a restless or displaced human spirit believed in Jewish folklore to enter or attach to a living person, producing speech, behavioral change and demands for ritual release. Accounts circulated across Jewish communities, including those under Ottoman rule, and were recorded in responsa, miracle stories, ethnographies and modern literary adaptations. The tradition is relevant to apparition research because it shifts the encounter from visible ghost to spirit-mediated testimony. Historians debate when the concept became distinct and how much continuity exists with earlier possession beliefs.
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