Word: dybbuk
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...Dybbuk (Ludwig Prywes). In Yiddish folklore, a dybbuk (pronounced dee-book) is a disembodied soul, denied peace in after life because of some earthly transgression, seeking refuge in the body of one it has loved. Twenty years ago, the late Playwright Solomon Rappaport, writing as S. Ansky, wove the myth of the dybbuk into a Jewish folk play. The Dybbuk has since become the most famous item in Yiddish drama, even more widely known than The Golem (TIME, March 29). Every major city in the world has seen it staged; it has been translated into 17 tongues, including Esperanto. Rappaport...
What they saw was a laboriously reverent folk story of a people held in ritualistic bondage, governed in every phase of relationship by shibboleths, superstition, fear. Produced in Poland with native players as passionately sincere as if their own souls were involved. The Dybbuk presents a painstaking picture of the weary search for eternal peace by a people for whom the earth holds little, affords an insight into the absurd involvements that are the accretions of simple faith...
According to ancient Hebrew lore a dybbuk is the restless spirit of one who has died committing a sin. Such a spirit, it once was believed, could return to earth, take heathenish possession of an innocent mortal. In the opera last week it was the tortured Hanan who bewitched Leah. To exorcise his spell she was led before an ancient rabbi to whom Sender admitted his treachery, gladly consented to renounce half his riches. Persistent prayers were said over Leah, who dropped lifeless when Hanan's spirit left her. Finale came with their love duet, frankly lyrical, typically Italian...
...Musical Russia. Lovers of the theatre pointed to the beggar's dance directed by Russian Maria Yakovleva, to the second-act climax played with sure-fire effect by the Detroit Symphony men. Conductor for the occasion was dynamic Franco Ghione, who had traveled from Italy especially for The Dybbuk, seemed to have the score completely at his finger tips. Conventional was the pale-faced Hanan, interpreted by Frederick Jagel, Brooklyn-born tenor from the Metropolitan Opera. Highest-priced singer was Rosa Raisa, whose Jewish blood helped her to look the part of Leah. Even so, her top notes were...
...subsequent performances Impresario Wronski has drilled choruses, directed orchestras, helped build scenery, scoffed at scoffers until now he can command a substantial backing from the citizens of Detroit. Last week he was so excited that he almost swallowed his cigar backstage. After Detroit he took The Dybbuk to Chicago, scheduled it for five performances this week in Manhattan's Carnegie Hall...