Dybbuk or the continuity of evil

October 9th, 2023

Originally, the term Dybbuk referred not to the daemon in Jewish folklore, but to the spirit of a person who, while alive, committed such evil acts and grave sins that even a Hell (or Gehenna) wouldn't take his soul for eternal punishment. And since there was no resting place for such a soul, it was hurled from one end of the world to the other by avenging and mocking angels. Such a spirit could escape this torment of never resting and belonging nowhere only by succeeding in entering the body of a living person. And not just any person — that would be too easy. It had to be the body of a person already doing and enjoying the transgressions against norms and laws of the natural world. Only that would make that person vulnerable to being possessed by the Dybbuk spirit. Once the Dybbuk was in possession of such a person, it could no longer be hurt by angels, since they don't get involved in matters of the material world. Anymore — that is. And then the Dybbuk could go to work, building on the foundation of evil already found in such a person and escalating the grave acts and evil sins of that person. Once the soul of such a person was mostly rotten to the core — it was easy to split it in two. Dybbuk would then latch onto the remaining tatters of the soul that still held the original goodness that is given to every one of us when we are born and leave the body for its final resting place in Hell. The rest of the putrid soul was then the home of a new Dybbuk. And the evil cycle would continue. Looking at current affairs, it seems that there is no shortage of Dybbuks working that cycle now.