Jerusalem – Upon the request of VIN News Rav Sternbuch was shown the various press releases which asserted that he had placed a Brazilian dybbuk in Cherem to protect HaRav David Batzri, one of Israel’s best known kabbalists.
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The report below first posted On Israeli Hebrew news site Kikar.net and other Jewish websites has been repudiated.
“Following Wednesday night’s efforts to exorcise the dybbuk in the ezras noshim of Yeshiva Hashalom in Yerushalayim, Rav Batzri feared that the dybbuk may try to cause him harm. Rav Batzri turned to the bais din of the Eidah Hachareidis. Rav Moshe Shternbuch, Rosh Av Bais Din of the Eidah, released a p’sak from the bais din placing the dybbuk in a state of excommunication and formally forbidding it from causing any harm to Rav Batzri.
All over Eretz Yisroel, conversation revolves around this mysterious dybbuk which refuses to leave the body of the Brazilian avreich after two attempts to banish it, one via video conferencing and one, Wednesday night, in person, in the presence of thousands.
The dybbuk remains entrenched in the body of the Brazilian avreich and another attempt to chase it away is expected next week.”
Rav Sternbuch categorically denied the story. and added this is not a case of a dybuk but of mental illness.
Rav Sternbach has also expressed dismay that thousands of people believed that this was a dybuk and were involved with Rav Batzri’s ceremony. He urged Rav Daniel Eidensohn who runs the blog Daas Torah to publicize an article regarding his denial and emphasized the urgency to inform the public his total denial of involvement with the proclamation of Cherem, and that he viewed this is a case of mental illness.
Below is a YouTube clip where its claimed that Rav Batzri is trying to talk to the Dibuk via Skype
Thousands attended to listen in
Video of dybbuk exorcism performed in Dimona, Israel in April, 1999 By rabbi David Batzri
People are generally stupid.
I blieve this dibuk story. how cudve r batzri & so many great gdolim have been so fooled! thousands of ppl heard the dibuk cry for a tikun……im so confused!
Told you so!)
Either way, it’s very sad.
I do not believe in this one since the last one was also proven to be a big hoax,and probably the fish story was also
So many people are idiots including the other news blog which never gets anything right.
If this story was true don’t you think TSA would have charged this person for an additional seat?
The body scanner would have definitely picked up something in this person.
All joking aside, people are just as stupid as the people who believed in the fish that started to talk to the mexican worker in Williamsburg, NY !
what do they have out of all this, money?
This entire story was made up to tget the gedolim to use Skype, Fios, ICQ and other forms of communication through the itnernet.
People have to stop running to gedolim with all forms of stupidity. Molestors are running around and nobody says a word about this topic but dumb people who hear a story about a fish talking then they run to gedolim and put skype and comuters in front of them demanding to get rid of the tumah!
Moshiach where are you because we need you to save us from the dumb people.
I’m believing this story until I hear what rav batzri has to say. I’m so confused. rav batzri was crying like a baby! how cud he b fooled. somethings wrong here! too many gedolim blieved this to b genuine. how come? he’s gone to so many rabbonim. u can fool 1 or 2 or mayb 3 rabbonim. but not over 10 of the gr8est gedolei hador of eretz yisroel. what r all of them saying now? sick!
It’s amazing that in this day and age there are still so many naive and gullible people
around that will believe any bubba mayse.
Of course there are no shortage of people that will take full advantage of any situation for publicity, money or fame.
I remember the last dibbuk was shown to be a grand hoax to gain some points in
a political election. Wonder what this will turn out to be? Maybe Rav Shternbuch is right that it’s just a deranged mentally ill person – Nebech. If so, no amount of yelling or shofar blowing will do any good aderabah it might do further harm.
But it makes for good theatrics for the benefit of the naive ….
Al eileh ani bochea….
How could they get rid of the dibuck via video conference if the internet has been banned?
This may be a case of deciding which rav you believe. R bazri on the video seems unusually believable.
Told you it was a hoax
Why do so many people still believe these silly stories? Fish talking.,voices coming out of people and other things!
The voice from the burning bush that Moshe encountered was real;but Moshe rabbeinu was on a much higher level than anyone,let alone than we are. Get back to doing the mitzvos properly,davening according to the shulchon oruch (the Kitzur S O is a very good instruction book) and stop following fantasies and nonsense.
rav batzri is known to b a great mekubal! how come he blew shofar I the presence of other great rabbonim????? how did they blieve this?? they cudnt have all been fooled. what’s goin on
He needs 20 mg zyprexa 5 mg rispdol 1000mg depkote 1000mg lithum and he will be fine its not called dibek call it scktsprenya its a mentel disorder that need meds to treat it
Rav Shterenbuch wasn’t there, and in fact Reb Chaim Kenwevsky and lots of other Gedolim sent this person to Rav Batzri.
this better not be picked by the mainstream media. Oy!
Now let’s make fun of YU where there are scientifically trained talmidei chachamim who would not fall for this.
Why should I belive Rav Sternbuch over Rav Batsri???
#6 – #19
The fish story was in New Square.
They only saay its fake because they are embarassed that they cant do anything about it.
Rav Sternbuch is not a licensed medical Psychiatrist and so he is not qualified to offer a medical opinion on who is insane and who isn’t.
Rav Sternbuch is also not known to be a renowned Mekubal (as is HaRav David Batzri) and therefore Rav Sternbuch is also not qualified to make a determination if this is or is not a case of a valid Dibuk.
For all commenters here who are so quick to say that “how could so many Rabbonim be duped”, please understand that the only one who is qualified to give a medical diagnoses of Mental illness is a Licensed Medical Psychiatrists, which Rav Sternbuch IS NOT and so no one has been duped yet and so far all qualified Mekubalim agree it is a Dibuk.
would someone please tell me what makes one a “Mekubel”?
Could anyone tell me if they ever saw in a sefer anything about a dybbuk except in story books
Reply to #22 : “scktsprenya” huh? what language is that? In english it’s called schizophrenia!!
p.s. I’m not judging on this case.
Can anyone explain to me fully what is a dibuk?
The typical treatment for a schizophrenic is to play along with their fantasy. It doesn’t matter if there is an actual demonic possession or not. If Rav Batzri plays along with the subject, it can be helpful. Treating an illness is also a good thing.
So is Rabbi Sternbuch saying that Rabbi Batzri made a fool of himself? How does Rabbi Sternbuch make this claim without seeing the Brazilian man to begin with? What have witnesses said about what happens to this man?
in back of noam elimelech a story of removing a dibuk is written.
About time. Ive been saying for weeks this is bunk. Anyone who thinks this is real needs an immediate crash course in critical thinking.
R chaim says that’s it realy true r chaim is a godol hadar and he says that the dibuk is very true the bes din is angry at r strunbach for saying that its not true they are going to take it out monday
my grandmother grew up by the shinover rebbi.she told us that she personally wittnessed the shinover rebbi extracting a dybbuk from a person.therefore i believe that the story may be true
one guy says there is a cherem, the other says there isnt!
its his word vs. his word
let one of them bring something in writing!
you call this journalism? he told me… that he heard… PROOF!
this post help nothing to the story of the dibuk because he has no proof, so were back to square one, if you believe it or not!
shame on vosizneias for only bringing this post but not the original story, your taking a side! your supposed to just bring the news as is
a dibbuk is a real phenomenon, but so is schizophrenia. anyone will tell you that schizophrenia is much more common. it also is cured easier. not to mention that skype is more effective in psychotherapy than in kabbala. & last but not least, IS YOUR JUDAISM SO WEAKLY FOUNDED THAT YOU NEED THE OCCULT & SUPERNATURAL TO CORROBERATE IT?!
We DO NOT have a dybbik in our time! What you are seeing is a very sick individual who may have multiple mental disorders! He needs to see a Dr. and be put on medication! No blowing shofars, yelling, screaming will help him. I am surprised he wasnt sent to a dr. to begin with!
There was no dibuk in the past, No dibuk now, and will never be in the future. there is no authentic history of any dibuk. all made up by stupid people and believed by even more stupid ones.
As for those who wonder how Gedoli Yisroel can be taken by it? The answer is that just because someone is big in Torah does not mean he is is not stupid.
or, as some say, they play along so stupid people will repent.
Even the Catholic Church has banned exorcisms because they know it’s retarded to do it on people in 21 century because we have medical science to enlighten us on how our brains work! Why do these “Gadolim” continuously fall for these embarrassing and crazy stories? Perhaps these gadolim are just as clueless and fanatical as their thousands of followers. Thousands watched some cyber operation by gadolim to remove a “dybuk” through WiFi by screaming and blowing a Sheep’s horn! Give me a break from this insanity please! Exorcisms are still performed in the most backwards tribes in Africa and poorest countries in South America. But now we have Gadolim who do this too in 2010!
Every single person including these Gadolim that fall for this nonsense all the time need Dr. Phill to give them comprehensive psychiatric evaluations and treatments.
The only thing that made me skeptical was that the dybbuk “removal” was broadcast over the internet.
Did anyone confirm if Harav shternbuch said so?
Reply to #33 yes! It is in a lot of seforim starting by r’ chayim vital and so on and stop with ur apikursos
Rambam held that all this stuff is nonsense. I know it’s hard for people to believe that great rabbis can be fooled. But that is a shortcoming of people’s naivety, nothing else. Great people were fooled by Shabbtai Tzvi, too.
I wont use the term dybuk, but I will use the term entities.
Entities can be human souls that did not make there full aliyah( not referring to the part of th enishama at a kever)
There are differing reasons for them to remain. Generally they do not enter other peoples bodies but stay in specifc places, perhaps for instance where they died.
Generaly nothing must be done with them if they are not causing any problems such as poltergeist.
Ocasionaly they do enter other people and sort of take over and then is a good time to find someone who knows how to work with them.
there are other types of entites that man can produce,That can affect a house or another person but the explanation is more complicated.
note this is not only dealt with in Judasim but also in Islam, Catholocism, and other Xtian relegions..
There is one thing everyone is missing here.
Rav Sternbuch never saw the young man himself.
His statements are based on what he heard second or third hand.
The Rabbi says its a Mental illness only because most can’t handle the reality that this does exist. This goes back generations its only those usually of a certain background that can’t handle that reality when even in the texts of our holy tradition say straight out that this does exist. I have pity that we are so low that we need Rabbis to deny the whole existence of this reality to protect the weak minded.This phenemona of protecting the weak minded and those who are afraid of Reality has been going on for generations. The are supposed to because some would just freak out. But in truth these stories are not meant for them its really only for the faithful among us. I love it when the simple minded say I told you so that this was a hoax they only say that because they are so afraid to hear that everything iin life has a Cheshbon.
It is terribly sad to see how many honest and well meaning yidden will buy into this nonsense. Why can’t we just stick to Toras Hashem? Why do we feel that we need something deep and black that we cannot understand? Are our lives so devoid of meaning that we hope everything has a deeper translation.Is not the fact that we are living the words of Hakodosh Baruch Hu satisfying enough?
The concept of a dybukk is not mentioned in the gemorah at all. It was a creation of the superstitious gentile society in the middle ages. Why don’t we look at where these practices really “shtam” from. A quick glance at wikipedia tells us more than enough. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism)
CHRISTIANITY “In Christian practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a member of the church, or an individual thought to be graced with special powers or skills. The exorcist may use prayers, and religious material, such as set formulas, gestures, symbols, icons, amulets, etc. The exorcist often invokes God, and/or several different angels to intervene with the exorcism.”
HINDUISM-”Vaishnava traditions also employ a recitation of names aloud. According to Gita Mahatmya of Padma Purana, reading the Bhagavad Gita and mentally offering the result to departed persons helps them to get released from their ghostly situation.”
BUDDISM-”The Zen technique of exorcism is described by “a visiting Zen Buddhist monk” exorcist : “I recall one person who was being bothered by a spirit who refused to leave. I could see the spirit myself … . But I could also see that it was a product of the individual’s … . When I explained the nature of the spirit to the individual, … the spirit was gradually absorbed through the top of the person’s head”
We are an Am Hakodosh. We have no business with the Chukas Hagoyim.
i hope this article and all of these posts never make it to the new york times..
Who are we to say if it is a dybukk or not. All I know is that it is wrong to go against Daas Torah. It serves no purpose to critisize or character assasin Gedolai Torah. This is a sin.
Did anyone confirm if Harav shternbuch said so?
Reply to #33 yes! It is in a lot of seforim starting by r’ chayim vital and so on and stop with ur apikursos
Omg! So shocked. I was about to start dibuk-blog, covering all things dibuk. Now I have nothing to do again! Oh, rats.
What happend to our “Am Chochm V’Novoin”? How have we become so susceptible to such outdated nonsense? Just last week in the “sedra”, Moshe Rabbanu says to Hashem: “Vheim LO Yaminu Li”! Yes, Jews were not going to believe Moshe that Hashem sent him! Were they Apikorsim too??!! Why don’t you study the Rambam in Yesodie Hatorah to know what “belief” truly means. What has this long drawn out “golus” made of us. “Al Eileh Ani Bochiu…”