The Lasting Influence of “The Dybbuk”

Discussion Admission: $15 YIVO members & students: $10 This event has been postponed until further notice.

S. An-ski’s play, The Dybbuk: Between Two Worlds, was first performed in 1920 and has since become the most celebrated work of Yiddish and Hebrew theater. Inspired by an ethnographic expedition An-ski embarked on before World War I, the play is set in a traditional shtetl and explores themes of love, death, ghosts, and possession. Originally written in Russian and produced and popularized in Yiddish, The Dybbuk occupies a space between traditional Jewish life and modernity, persuasively weaving Jewish folklore, legends, and customs into a modern secular work of high art. 

The Dybbuk has been translated into and produced in a host of languages, and has been adapted for countless films, operas, and ballets. Having left an indelible imprint on the Jewish imagination, The Dybbuk is arguably one of the most influential works of the modern Jewish canon. Join us for a discussion of the lasting influence of An-ski’s masterwork with literary scholar Ilan Stavans, actor/director/translator Allen Lewis Rickman, and YIVO’s Executive Director Jonathan Brent.