The Yiddish Supernatural on Screen

This week on The Shmooze we visit with Rebecca (Rivke) Margolis, author of The Yiddish Supernatural on Screen: Dybbuks, Demons and Haunted Jewish Pasts. In conversation we talk about how the book traces the transformation of the figure of the dybbuk—a soul of the dead possessing the living—from folklore to 1930s Polish Yiddish cinema to global contemporary media. We also explore how translated and subtitled Yiddish dialogue reimagines Jewish lore and tells new stories, where the supernatural looms over the narrative.