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By Root 425 0

do their will: And after this fashion he amassed treasures of gold, silver, diamonds and precious stones: And he deceived the townspeople and knew their wives and fathered bastards without number: And in his lust and license he did shameful things such as are not proper to be written in a book and a word to the wise should be sufficient: AND LO (for his sins that were many) his own wife too (whom he had cunningly stolen from her husband a most righteous man) fell prisoner in the net of the Outer Ones and a dybbuk possessed her: And for that she had the name of a righteous woman and Elijah revealed himself to her; no son of man could rightly believe the tidings that came to his ears and all were curious to ascertain whether or no there was truth in the report: And there was: For the young woman (Rechele was her name) lay naked in her house and her shame was uncovered and all the utensils were broken and the bed linen was torn and she cried a loud and a bitter cry: And when all the elders of the town and its leaders gathered together they could not recognize her: For her shape was completely changed and her face was as chalk and her lips were twisted as with a seizure (God save us) and the pupils of her eyes were turned back after an unnatural fashion: And the voice that cried from her was not her voice: For her voice was a woman's voice and the dybbuk cried with the voice of a man with such weeping and wailing that terror seized all that were there and their hearts dissolved with fear and their knees trembled: And for that she lay with parted legs like a woman in labor on the stool the women desired to put her legs together for it was a shame before the men and they also did cover her: But at once her garments fell from her body for the evil spirit cast them off: And the strength in her limbs was unnaturally great so that even the men could not prevail and the thing was a marvel to all and a mystery indeed:

AND IT CAME TO PASS that when Reb Gedaliya saw what had transpired and what had occurred to him that he was greatly ashamed and shame did cover his face: For he thought in his heart, What will people say: If the spirit has taken possession of Reb Gedaliya's wife and he has discovered no counsel to prevent it then surely he is no righteous man and all his amulets are false and people would mock him and revenge themselves upon him: And therefore in his cunning he said, You see now she is out of her mind and all her words are the words of a madwoman: Then the dybbuk began to scream: Alas and alack to thee thou wicked man Thou hast worked unrighteousness and thou hast polluted thy soul with every un-worthy thing and thou hast lain with whores and thou hast fornicated: And thinkest thou now to deny the sight of thine own eyes lest that thy wickedness become known to men and that thou mightest further beguile them with thy cunning and with thy insolence: And it came to pass that when Reb Gedaliya heard these words the strength ebbed from his body: But anon he revived and cried, She is mad completely: But the people would hear him no longer and they would not believe him: And there was a pious man, one Reb Mordecai Joseph (may his remembrance be a blessing to us all) who formerly had descended to the nethermost Sheol and afterward had done penance and had saved his soul: And he was zealous for the zeal of God and he lifted up his stick and he smote Gedaliya: And he cried, Thou wretched man now shalt thou blind the eyes of this people no longer: For thou art a seducer and a magician and thou art the cause that the plague has been poured out on us all and that we must drink the cup of persecution to the dregs: Then the mighty Gedaliya would have killed him but the people took his part and defended him: AND NOW did the dybbuk scream ever more loudly and he confessed his sins with a fearful lamentation and groaning: And the woman lifted a heavy stone and smote her breast: And the marvel was that her limbs were not broken nor her frame shattered for so heavy was the stone that three strong men could not move it from its place: But