Description
Book SynopsisAdopting 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.
Trade Review"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 *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. The Emergence of Dybbuk Possession
2. The Dead and the Possessed
3. The Task of the Exorcist
4. Dybbuk Possession and Women's Religiosity
5. Skeptics and Storytellers
Arrival
Appendix: Spirit Possession Narratives from Early Modern Jewish Sources
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
