The Persistence of That Which Clings The Cultural Politics of the Dybbuk in Transnational Postmillennial Cinemas

The most well-known depiction of a dybbuk myth on screen is also its first: Michał Waszyński’s Yiddish cinema classic Der Dibuk/The Dybbuk (1937). The film, adapted from S. Ansky’s play Tsvishn Tsvey Veltn – der Dibuk/The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds (1916), takes place in a Pale of Settlement shtetl, and follows a poor young man, Khonen (Leon Liebgold), who makes a deal with Satan to become rich and attract the wealthy object of his affections, Leah (Lili Liliana). Khonen’s plan goes awry, however, and he dies suddenly only to return as a dybbuk, a Jewish spirit, that possesses Leah....