Death

The pious desire to die conscious to the last moment, so that with the last breath they shall testify to the Unity of God. They prepare for death by reciting the Confession, the Shema, and the sentence, "The Lord He is God." A watcher attends the dying. The corpse is attended by relatives and friends who recite Psalms till the washing of the body and the funeral service. See: Mourning.

Dibbuk

"Affixing." The superstitious belief that the soul of a sinner after death seeks shelter in the body of a living person in order to escape the attacks of demons. Stories of such transference and of exorcism of spirits are first met with in Jewish literature in the latter half of the 17th cent.

Drama

The Jews, as depicted by Josephus, were bitterly opposed to dramatic representation, gladiatorial contests, and all the artistic culture of the Greeks and Romans. Jewish actors are, however, mentioned in the reign of Nero, and during the Byzantine era. The oldest known Hebrew drama is by Moses Zacuto, and was written in Amsterdam in 1715.

Its theme is the legend of Abraham and Nimrod, and it is entitled "the Eternal Foundation." This biblical type of drama constituted the theme of Hebrew dramatists throughout the 19th cent., and was more a literary than a theatrical contribution.

Some of the early Renaissance Italian court pageants were written by Jews, and Jewish musicians were employed at the Papal courts in the 17th cent. Some of these old plays have a biblical background, but the mocking of Jewish characters, and parodies on Jewish chants were familiar elements in 16th cent. Italian drama.

Modern Hebrew: It is only within the last two decades that Hebrew drama has become a possibility, from the point of view of the theater, and it is practically a creation of modern Palestinian life, though the Habima troupe has carried its successes into all countries where masses of Jews reside. In Palestine, well known Italian operas have been translated into Hebrew, but their dramas are mostly original works conceived in the modern spirit, dealing largely with biblical ideas, or portraying intimate Jewish life.

Yiddish: The story of Joseph was the first dramatized for the Yiddish stage in 1711, but professional Yiddish theatricals began with Goldfaden about 1875 who founded a theater in Romania and wrote farces, plays, operas and comedies around biblical and post-biblical heroes, as well as keen portrayals of contemporary small town life. Shaikevich (Shomer) broadened the themes popular on the Yiddish stage which became a real factor in East Side Jewish life in New York in the '90's. Hurwitz, Rackow, Lateiner, and others who adapted current themes for the Yiddish stage were mostly displaced by Jacob Gordin, who, after 1891 gave an intellectual impetus to Yiddish drama. His "Jewish King Lear," "God, Man and the Devil" and "Mirele Efros," were literary sensations, and created a considerable ferment. Since the World War, a new impetus has been given Yiddish drama by the presentation of plays with the new artistic and realistic tendencies.

Jacob Adler, Thomas Hefski, Feinmann, Mogulesco, Kessler, Benammi, and Schwartz have been among the idols of the Yiddish stage; and the best known leading women were Mrs. Adler, Mrs. Karp, Mrs. Bertha Kalisch, Mrs. Lipson, Miss Picon, etc.

Duchan

The term generally applied to the utterance of the priestly blessing. Originally the "platform" in the Temple, from which the priests recited the blessing.