How the Movie Der Dybbuk Uses Hoshanas as Foreshadowing

As we have just finished celebrating the holidays of Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret, I was reflecting on how the iconic Sukkot ritual of Hoshanot is protrayed in the movie Der Dybbuk. When I first had the opportunity to watch the Der Dybbuk, I was initially struck with how proper and correct its portrayal of Jewish ritual felt to me. All of the cinematic portrayals of Judaism in American media that I was exposed to felt inauthentic. Either the writers don't really understand Jewish ritual or they are trying to simplify and explain it to their audience. 

Der Dybbuk was written for an audience that was already familiar with Jewish ritual. The writers and director were able to just place a scene of Hoshanot, a Sukkot ritual that is often overshadowed in depictions of the holiday by the Sukkah and the Arba Minim, with the full confidence that their audience would understand what was happening. 

The opening act of the movie introduces Nisn (chonon's father) and Sender (Leah's father) while they visit their Rebbe during the holiday of Sukkot. In the first scene of the movie both Nisn and Sender keep missing opportunities to get their Rebbe's approval for a vow they have both accepted. We, the audience do not yet know exactly what this vow entails. Sender commits to trying again the next day, which is Hoshana Rabba. 

The next scene opens in the synagogue while the Chazan is reciting Hallel. We hear the Chazan chanting last verses of Psalm 115. 

There are two scenes that take place within the synagogue during the opening act of the movie. The first scene contains a small portion of the Hallel. Specifically, we hear the Chazan recite: 

השמים שמים ליי והארץ נתן לבני אדם

"The heavens belong to God, but the earth, he gave to mankind."

לא המתים יהללו יה ולא כל ירדי דומה

"The dead cannot praise God, nor any who go down in silence" 

The inability for the dead to praise and worship God is a common motif in the Hebrew Bible. In addition to it literally meaning the dead cannot worship God, this statement comes with other implications. The dead cannot offer praise because they cannot speak. Perhaps the dead enter a domain of existence that prevents them from offer praise to God. For a viewer who is already familiar with the story of the Dybbuk, this line is ominous. The Dybbuk is a dead person who has stolen the ability to speak from a living person. In some ways this line is a prayer beseaching God to keep the dead quiet and at peace. It is also a warning that any dead person who does attempt to speak will not be doing anything righteous with that power. All this forboding information is contained within this short line.

The first verse the Chazan recites is also foreshadowing the final act of the movie. After being presented with Leah possessed by a dybbuk, Rav Azriel of Miropol holds two Din Torahs. The first Din Torah is to nullify the vow that Sender and Nisn made which is drawing Chonon and Leah's souls together. The second Din Torah is to force Chonon to leave Leah's body by putting his soul in Cherem. (Although not exactly addressing the ideology behind dybbuk trials, I recommend Historia Civilis' video on animal trials for a background on using trials to combat evil forces.) During the first Din Torah, the meshulach informs Rav Azriel that Nisn did not accept the nullification of the vow. Rav Azriel responds that if the heavenly worlds tried to maintain the vow, he would overturn their decision. In this instance he is drawing from an established tradition in Jewish theology that rabbinic courts on earth have more authority over interpreting the Torah law than God does. The verse in Psalm 115 states, "but the earth, he gave to mankind." The implication is he gave the earth to mankind to govern. This verse can be read as an affirmation of the tradition of mortal rabbinic decisions overriding divine understanding of Torah law.  

Another potential reading of first verse is the spirits/souls of the dead belong in heaven and the living human beings belong on earth. Though verse literally says, "The heavens belong to God," you can broaden God to include all divine and spiritual entities. There are ideas within Jewish mysticism that understand each human soul to be a small part of God. These souls, after they are freed from their human shells upon death, must return back to heaven and should not linger on earth. If one soul does linger on earth it can cause become a dybbuk. By declearing the heavens to be the realm of the divine, this verse can also be read a plea to prevent the conditions, that can create a dybbuk, from forming. 

After this short section of Hallel the scene shifts to the street outside of the synagogue. We see the meshulach figure appear outside and make his way into the synagogue. When he enters the synagogue, the congregation is up to the Hoshanas. Specifically, the Chazan is reciting אבן שתיה, which is the second round of Hoshanas that are recited on Hoshana Rabba. Each round of the Hoshanas has a theme or topic, and אבן שתיה describes the temple in Jerusalem. The section is a plea to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. 

While the Chazan recites the Hoshanas, Sender and Nisn discuss the details of their vow with someone who was standing next to them. This scene is where we the audience finally learn of the details of the vow and its dangerous implications. Interlaced within the dialogue describing the vow, we hear the Chazan chanting the Hoshanas. 

The word הושענא, which is the refrain of the entire Hoshana ceremony, means 'please save.' The whole ceremony is meant to beseach God for salvation. The ceremony is based upon a ceremony that was performed in the temple in Jerusalem which was meant to ask God for a good rain season in the winter. The success of the crops in Palestine were reliant upon a good rain season. In exile, the prayer has expanded to ask for all manner of divine salvation and blessing. In the Jewish tradition, rain is a symbol of God's blessings in general. 

The cries of 'please save' us echoing in the background of Sender and Nisn's doomed vow are a warning that the vow will require salvation. The Hoshana prayer becomes of foreboding chant for the clamity of the dybbuk that is to come. 

As I mentioned above, the specific section of the Hoshanas that the Chazan recites describes the temple in Jerusalem and serves as plea to rebuild it. The symbolism of the temple as the holiest place on earth represents the holiest acts a person can do, which are love,sex, and marriage. Chonon ends up corrupting the holiness of these acts and causes a disaster. 

Through Chonon's conversations with his friend Henoch, we the audience learn that Chonon has a somewhat Sabbatean ideology. He believes that holiness can be found in the most impure of places. He concludes that his love for Leah must be channeled through a Satanic lust in order for him to secure his marriage to her. When he reaches out to the Satanic forces for help, they grant his wish to be with Leah, but he becomes bound to her as a dybbuk and not through a marriage. 

Marriage and love are very holy things within the Jewish tradition. The Song of Solomon, which is sung throughout the movie, is considered one of the most holy texts within the Hebrew Bible. The most holy acts are also the most dangerous and can be easily corrupted if done improperly. In the opening scene of the movie, Rav Azriel of Miropol, holds his Hasidic court. He delivers a drasha in which he explains the great risk the high priest takes when he enters the holiest chamber of the temple on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, and recites the holiest name of God. If the high priest had improper intentions when performing the ceremony, he could cause great destruction. Through this speech, Rav Azriel describes the main theme of the movie, the holiest acts are both the easiest to corrupt and when corrupted have grave consequences. 

When the movie juxtaposes the Hoshana about the temple in Jerusalem with Sender and Nisn's vow to marry their children, it is infroming us the audience that the holiness of the temple is representing the holiness of love, sex, and marriage. The resulting calamity of the vow will defile the temple; Chonon's sacred love for Leah will become a dangerous lust that consumes him and transforms him into a dybbuk. 

I may come back to offer more thoughts about Chonon's lust itself, Leah's autonomy and relationship with Chonon, the various homosocial pairings of Sender and Nisn and Chonon and Henoch. There is also a good chance that it may take me a few years before I revisit this. 

My Favorite Biblical Hebrew Imperative

I've decided that I need to practice writing more casually. I was reminded of my favorite biblical Hebrew imperative word, since it shows up in פרשת וירא. 

Most of the language of the Hebrew Bible is written in some kind of formal register. Often you can tell the difference between the style narratives, such as the events of plagues in וארא and בא, and the style of legal codes, such as in משפטים. 

In many of the stories in בראשית, the narration of stories is in one register, but the dialogue of the charaters is in poetic verse. The story of גן עדן in the second chapter of בראשית is the perfect example of this. Most biblical stories do not write the dialogue of the characters in poetic verse. Sometimes it seems that the dialogue is written in a jargon register. The narrative tries to highlight that the characters are speaking and that they speak differently than how the narrator speaks in the story. 

This is where my favorite imeprative comes into play. The imperative form in bilblical Hebrew is almost always used in dialogue. When a character uses the imperative, it signifies that they are speaking differently from the narrator.  My favorite imperative is גש, גשה or גשי. These are used as commands for someone to move somewhere. They aren't moving very far. If you want to tell someone to move a few steps to the left, it seems like you would use גש. Whereas if you wanted to tell someone to go to a different location, you would say בא. The word גש appears in its imperfect form, when used by the narrator. There are plenty of examples of ויגש, in context they usually refer to someone approaching something. 

Many of the imperative phrases that us גש are very short and quick to say. I suspect that brevity is a signifier of more colloquial speech, or at the very least, the language of commands. 

In וירא, we have (Genesis 19:9):

וַיֹּאמְרוּ גֶּשׁ־הָלְאָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָאֶחָד בָּא־לָגוּר וַיִּשְׁפֹּט שָׁפוֹט עַתָּה נָרַע לְךָ מֵהֶם וַיִּפְצְרוּ בָאִישׁ בְּלוֹט מְאֹד וַיִּגְּשׁוּ לִשְׁבֹּר הַדָּלֶת׃

The word גש means to move a little bit and הלאה means the direction away from here. The phrase really rolls off of the tongue. It is a very short phrase, גש הלאה. It feels like something that you could shout, its a command for someone to back off. The mob is commanding Lot to back away from the door to his house to let them in. 

Another example of גש as a quick command word appears in II Samuel 1:15.

וַיִּקְרָא דָוִד לְאַחַד מֵהַנְּעָרִים וַיֹּאמֶר גַּשׁ פְּגַע־בּוֹ וַיַּכֵּהוּ וַיָּמֹת׃

Here, David is commanding one of his servants to execute the Amalekite man who claimed to have killed Saul. The language he uses to command the execution includes the word גש, since the servant is only traveling within David's vacinity to where the Amalekite man. The the instruction for the kill is פגע בו, which is the imperative, strike him. The command is phrase itself is very short. It's only three syllables (I don't count the שוא as a syllable), just like גש הלאה from before. It's a quick and deadly command. 

The last example of this kind of brief command language comes from Ruth 2:14:

וַיֹּאמֶר לָה בֹעַז לְעֵת הָאֹכֶל גֹּשִׁי הֲלֹם וְאָכַלְתְּ מִן־הַלֶּחֶם וְטָבַלְתְּ פִּתֵּךְ בַּחֹמֶץ וַתֵּשֶׁב מִצַּד הַקּוֹצְרִים וַיִּצְבָּט־לָהּ קָלִי וַתֹּאכַל וַתִּשְׂבַּע וַתֹּתַר׃

In the context, Boaz is being kind to Ruth and he invites her to join the fieldworkers for their meal. It is a very different context from the story of Lot, where the violent mob is yelling at him, or for David when he commands someone's summary execution. The exact language of a command can be mirrored between stressful and calm contexts. Boaz says גושי הלום, (which is also three sylables) which means come here, it's the opposite command of גש הלאה. 

There are other imperative forms of גש that show up in more poetic contexts. In the blessing story of Isaac, Jacob, and Esau, Isaac speaks in a poetic register. Twice he uses the words גשה נא and once הגישה נא when he asks his sons to approach him. 

There is a rather emotionally charged example of גשה used in one of Isaiah (two electric boogaloo)'s prophecies (49:14-21):

וַתֹּאמֶר צִיּוֹן עֲזָבַנִי יְהוָה וַאדֹנָי שְׁכֵחָנִי׃ הֲתִשְׁכַּח אִשָּׁה עוּלָהּ מֵרַחֵם בֶּן־בִּטְנָהּ גַּם־אֵלֶּה תִשְׁכַּחְנָה וְאָנֹכִי לֹא אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ׃ הֵן עַל־כַּפַּיִם חַקֹּתִיךְ חוֹמֹתַיִךְ נֶגְדִּי תָּמִיד׃ מִהֲרוּ בָּנָיִךְ מְהָרְסַיִךְ וּמַחֲרִבַיִךְ מִמֵּךְ יֵצֵאוּ׃ שְׂאִי־סָבִיב עֵינַיִךְ וּרְאִי כֻּלָּם נִקְבְּצוּ בָאוּ־לָךְ חַי־אָנִי נְאֻם־יְהוָה כִּי כֻלָּם כָּעֲדִי תִלְבָּשִׁי וּתְקַשְּׁרִים כַּכַּלָּה׃ כִּי חָרְבֹתַיִךְ וְשֹׁמְמֹתַיִךְ וְאֶרֶץ הֲרִסֻתֵיךְ כִּי עַתָּה תֵּצְרִי מִיּוֹשֵׁב וְרָחֲקוּ מְבַלְּעָיִךְ׃ עוֹד יֹאמְרוּ בְאָזְנַיִךְ בְּנֵי שִׁכֻּלָיִךְ צַר־לִי הַמָּקוֹם גְּשָׁה־לִּי וְאֵשֵׁבָה׃ וְאָמַרְתְּ בִּלְבָבֵךְ מִי יָלַד־לִי אֶת־אֵלֶּה וַאֲנִי שְׁכוּלָה וְגַלְמוּדָה גֹּלָה וְסוּרָה וְאֵלֶּה מִי גִדֵּל הֵן אֲנִי נִשְׁאַרְתִּי לְבַדִּי אֵלֶּה אֵיפֹה הֵם׃

This passage describes how Zion has lost all her children, and how she will feel when God brings her children back home. The section makes use of a great Hebrew word for which there really isn't an exact equivalent in modern English. We have words for people who are have lost loved ones and are forever grieving. A widow or widower is someone who's spouse has died. Biblical Hebrew has such a word for a woman whose children have all died. She expects to grieve for her lost children for the rest of her life. Zion is described as such a woman in this passage. 

In order to illustrate the overwhelming return of the children Zion thought were dead, Isaiah (two electric boogaloo) describes a tiny snapshot of what a room suddenly filled with children would sound like. "There isn't room for me move over so I can sit." 

Songs of Volozhin

In around 2021, when I first got my hands on a copy of Abraham Zvi Idelson's Thesaurus of Jewish Music, I noticed a few melodies in the volume on Eastern European Jewish Folk music that were attributed to Volozhin. As I was studying in Yeshiva at the time, this of course piqued my interest. Many yeshivas are proud of their musical herritage, but few melodies seem to reliably originate in Volozhin. Beneath these melodies in Idelson's thesaurus, I noticed the citation Reshumoth V. 

What was Reshumot?  

Following WWI, Chaim Nachman Bialik, Alter Druyanov, and Yehoshua Chana Ravnitzky created a journal for Jewish enthnographic study, which they called Reshumot. Over the course of the 1920s they published at least six volumes. (After the creation of the state of Israel, the Reshumot journal was revived under a new generation of ethnographic and folklore scholars.)

In volume five of Reshumot, published in 1927, there is an article by Yitzchak Rivkind titled "From the Collections of the Volozhiner." This article has two parts, the first describes the closure of the Volozhin Yeshiva and theater art that was created in response to the closure. The second part is about the Songs of Volozhin. It contains four music scores of songs that were sung in the yeshiva along with some background information. 

The first song in this article is a tune for Chasal Siddur Pesach. The commentary describes how it was a regular practice for the Rosh Yeshiva to host yeshiva students at his house for the Pesach Seder. This version of Chasal Siddur Pesach was sung at these sedarim and it was very popular among the members of the Yeshiva. The author, Yitzchak Rivkind, believed that Rav Itzele Volozhiner either composed the tune or at least adapted the tune for Chasal Siddur Pesach. 

The second song is called Al Tirah Yisrael. It is an original song for which both the tune and the words were written by Rav Itzele Volozhiner. Rivkind suspects that he wrote this song after advocating for the Yeshiva to the Russian government. The song itself tells the Jewish people not to be afraid because of their vulnerable position as a persecuted minority. Instead they should celebrate the Torah and rely upon God. 

There are two more songs at the end of the article that have no commentary associated with them. One of them is called Gut Yom Tov, and is a tune with a repeating refrain of "gut yom tov." The last song is titled The Volozhiner Dance. 

I have scanned the portion of the article on the songs of Volozhin. 

Yitzchak Rivkind, "From the Collections of Volozhin: The Songs of Volozhin," Reshumot vol. 5 (1927): 376–382.

I have also transcribed the four scores and uploaded them to musescore. 

https://musescore.com/user/81422653/sets/12656116

I want to try to do more of these music transcriptions at some point in the future. There are a fair amount of hard to find collections of religious Jewish folk music that might benefit from this transcription.