Dybbuks and Jewish Women in Social History, Mysticism and Folklore

How and why a person comes to be possessed by a dybbuk (the possession of a living body by the soul of a deceased person), and what consequences ensue from such possession, form the subject of this book. While possession by a dybbuk may have been understood as punishment for a terrible sin, it may also be seen as a mechanism used by desperate individuals often women who had no other means of escape from the demands and expectations of an all-encompassing patriarchal social order.