Imagine this: you have a possessed person in Brazil, and an exorcist in Israel. What do you do? Try Skype.

At least that’s the story from a few months back, according to True/Slant (via Asia Paranormal).  It appears a Jewish man in Brazil was attending synagogue when he reportedly began to exude a mysterious voice from his abdomen.  According to the full account of the incident, the voice, in languages completely unknown to the Brazilian man, began yelling: “I smell many (transgressions)”, and “The end is very near”.  After services resumed, the voice yelled again, this time in Yiddish: “Get out sinners!”.  When the man was confronted, the voice responded in Hebrew, without the man’s lips moving: “It looks like you are in pain.  I appears that you are worshiping (idols).  I am truly happy to see you”.  Needless to say, the synagogue was quickly cleared with much commotion and screams of terror.

It is a situation not unknown in Jewish tradition: possession by dybbuk, or the wandering soul of a dead person.  Although similar in nature to demonic possession in Catholicism, dybbuk possession in Jewish mythology differs by involving human spirits that wish to complete tasks that they were unable to achieve while alive.  Supposedly, it’s a sort of “redo”, where a dead person gets one last attempt to achieve their purpose in life through a living host.

In cases where dybbuk possessions are not desired (interestingly, dybbuks are often viewed as helpful guardians or spirit guides) an exorcism is performed by a rabbi who has mastered the Jewish mystical arts of Kabbalah.  According to an interview of Rabbi Gershon Winkler, an expert in Jewish folklore and mysticism, the Jewish exorcism ritual is as follows:

The ceremony involves a quorum of 10 people who gather in a circle around the possessed person. The group recites Psalm 91 three times, and the rabbi blows the shofar — a ram’s horn. Rabbi Winkler has performed four exorcisms in his life so far. He said, “We blow the ram’s horn in a certain way, with certain notes, in effect to shatter the body, so to speak. So that the soul who is possessing will be shaken loose. After it has been shaken loose, we can begin to communicate with it and ask it what it is here for. We can pray for it and do a ceremony for it to enable it to feel safe and finished so that it can leave the person’s body.”

The point of the exorcism is to heal the person being possessed and the spirit doing the possessing. This is a stark contrast to the Catholic exorcism that is intended to drive away the offending spirit or demon. Winkler said, “We don’t drive anything out of anybody. What we want to do is to heal the soul that’s possessing and heal the person. It’s all about healing — we do the ceremony on behalf of both people.”

In the case of the Brazilian possession, the troubled community was eventually referred to Rabbi Dovid Batzri, a renowned master of Kabbalah in Israel.  Since the Brazilian man was unable to travel to Israel, the rabbi attempted to exorcise the spirit via Skype.  Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful according to those involved.  You can see the video of the Skype Exorcism here.  Attempts are currently underway to transport the possessed man to Israel to perform another exorcism in person with Rabbi Batzri.

I find this story fascinating because it is yet another example of a cultural tradition that embraces paranormal phenomena associated with spirit possession.  Although this undeniably omnipresent phenomenon may certainly be an example of common human psychoses,  there may be another, very real underlying cause that defies current scientific understanding.

This story also points out that modern communications technologies may soon make current paranormal investigation techniques obsolete.  We may soon investigate your house via Skype.  That’ll be the day I choose another field of study.

Also seen on: Skype Journal, The Georgia Ghost Society, The Shadowlands, Area 51.org