08 The Rabbi and the Dybbuk

On December 9th, 1920 the Vilne Trupe debuted the very first production of Sh. Ansky’s Der Dibek, perhaps the best-known Yiddish play of all time. One hundred years later, in 2020, the theater workshop students of the YIVO Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish created these videos to celebrate the great date. INTRO: At this point in the story, Leye’s true love, Khonen, has died. Her father forces her to marry another, but under the wedding canopy, Khonen’s spirit enters her body, and she is possessed by the dybbuk. Her father takes her to the Miropoler rabbi in hopes of driving the dybbuk out. (Noah Mitchel as the Miropoler; Caroline Emig as Leye ; and Uri Schreter as the Dybbuk)