A richly researched and deeply spiritual work, Spirits, Ghosts, and Dybbuks: Afterlife Journeys in Yiddish Lore delves into the arcane realms of Jewish afterlife beliefs as vibrantly expressed through the imaginative worlds of Yiddish literature. In deftly demonstrating how the writings of I.L. Peretz, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and others synthesized classical Jewish eschatology with the emerging sociopolitical thought of early modernity, Simcha Paull Raphael explores the enduring legacy of Jewish speculation on death and the afterlife.
Drawing on decades of experience as a death educator, grief counselor, and rabbinic chaplain, Raphael weaves scholarly insight with spiritual depth to expertly guide readers on a literary journey into the yenne velt, ' the ever-present 'other world' beyond the veil. Regardless of one's background or belief, this fascinating work invites readers to reflect on enduring spiritual questions about death, the soul, and the possibility of life beyond the grave.
Originally published as a chapter in the groundbreaking Jewish Views of the Afterlife, this expanded and revised volume offers newly updated material, highlighting the rich intersection of Yiddish literature and Jewish afterlife tradition.
Originally from Montreal, Canada, Simcha Paull Raphael, Ph.D. is Founding Director of the DA'AT Institute for Death Awareness, Advocacy and Training. He received a Master of Arts in History and Philosophy of Religion from Concordia University, a doctorate in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and was ordained as a Rabbinic Chaplain by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. He has served as Adjunct Professor at LaSalle University, Temple University and in the Aleph Ordination Program. Currently, he works as a psychotherapist and spiritual director in the Philadelphia area, and is on Faculty of the Art of Dying Institute of the School of American Thanatology. He has published seven books on death and Judaism, including the groundbreaking "Jewish Views of the Afterlife" and a collection of poetry, "Echoes from the Ashes: Holocaust Poems of Life, Death and Re-Birth." Reb Simcha and his wife, Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael live in the Philadelphia area with their son Yigdal and daughter Hallel.
