Dina and Shechem revisited (again)

I have had some interesting responses to the podcast/post on Dina and Shechem, and I wanted to share some of my further thoughts on the matter. Much of the following thoughts came as a result of discussions I had with my wife as well as my sister. I also thank TQ for bringing up this question again.

On my facebook page, Odelia posted the following:

Why would Dina need to be punished (raped) to atone for Ya'akov's possible sin? How does that resonate with the Jewish concepts of Individual Responsibility and subsequent Reward and Punishment? Dina seems to be related to as a pawn, rather than an individual with her own responsiblities, past, present and future. Note, that in the Parsha, there are no comments or reactions stated as being initiated by Dina herself and even in the commentaries (excluding the Ramban) no mention is made of her individual experience. There are many strong female figures in the Tanach that are directly qouted and discussed. Why is Dina so marginalized?
(Odelia - living in NY - got your podcast from friend in Israel)

Here are my thoughts:

In order to understand what happened, we need to look to chazal to try to make sense of it, and find the missing pieces of the puzzle.

The first question we need to ask is if Yakov's prevention of Dina marrying Esav was the only cause of this story. It seems clear from the commentaries that there was more to it than just that. The Torah starts out the story by saying "ותצא דינה בת לאה אשר ילדה ליעקב לראות בבנות הארץ" - Dina the daughter of Leah, who was born to Yakov, went out to see the girls of the land. Since the Torah could have left out the fact that she was the daughter of Leah, the commentaries understand that there is significance to the Torah's making such a mention. They say that just as Leah was a "יצאנית" - someone who went out clothed provocatively, so too Dina went out this way, because she inherited this aspect of Leah's personality. Interestingly, when Leah went out in this way, it was to greet Yakov in order to tell him that she had 'bought' the right to be with him from Rochel in exchange for the duda'im. Dina, however, used this mida in the wrong place, in order to look good to meet other girls. It seems that this was part of the reason that she was abducted by Shechem.

At this point I think it wise to keep in mind that we are moving from ideas with solid basis in the meforshim into thoughts that are a little bit more 'out of the box.'

It is significant that the Torah also describes Dina as the one 'who was born to Yakov.' I think it is safe to say that just as the Torah mentions Leah here in order to teach us that there is a connection between Dina and Leah that was a prelude to the story, there is also a connection between Dina and Yakov that is a prelude to the story.

When trying to think what connection there is between Dina and Yakov that would have led to the story, I think we can look to the very question we started off with, which was, Why should Dina be punished for the fact that Yakov didn't let her marry Esav? The way the meforshim describe this (based on the medrash) is that Yakov placed Dina in a box so that Esav would not see her. I think that in order for Yakov to put Dina into a box, it would not be possible without her acquiescence. Furthermore, Rashi points out that when the brothers came to release Dina from Shechem, she refused to leave until Shimon promised to marry her. Dina could just as easily have said that she would not leave until she married Esav, which was the whole reason for the story in the first place. It is clear that Dina was of the same mind as Yakov in regards to not wishing to marry Esav.

This point can be strengthened further by noticing that there was someone else who did not want to marry Esav. Dina's mother, Leah, had cried many tears in order that she be able to marry Yakov instead of the evil Esav. This antipathy toward Esav would seem to have been imbued in Dina from both sides - her mother and her father. This could also be hinted to in the very connection that we mentioned before between Dina and Leah. The יצאנית (going out) aspect of Leah was specifically used to come into a relationship with Yakov, the pinnacle of her desire not to marry Esav. Dina inherited the יצאנית aspect which also was combined with a desire to stay away from the clutches of Esav. In the end, she asks to marry Shimon, not Esav.

Another point that we can address is, Do we ever find that children are punished for the sins of their parents? On the surface, it would certainly seem that the answer should be that children are not punished in this way. But actually, the Torah says the exact opposite - there can be a punishment for children up to three or four generations. If so, the question is then, Why? Why should a child be punished for no sin of his own? The answer is that a child is only punished for a parent's sin, as our chazal say, if the child continues to commit that sin himself!

It's important to realize that when a person is punished for a sin, it is not a retribution from Hashem, as if Hashem is angrily responding to a misdeed. In reality, what happens is that the sin creates a stain on a person's soul, a certain darkness that envelops him and needs to be removed. The difficulty that a person undergoes as a result of his sin effectively removes the stain and brings back the light of Hashem that was taken away as a result of the sin.

On a deeper level, what this really means is that the child is an extension of the parent, and in a certain sense they share an aspect of their souls. The result of this is that there is another opportunity for the child to rectify the stain that was brought about by the parent, preferably through the child's Teshuva - returning to the proper path and removing the stain that way. If the child does not do so, then the stain will be removed through other means - יסורין, difficulties.

Bringing it back to Yakov and Dina, we saw that Dina had certain aspects that she inherited from her parents that needed to be rectified in herself, and thus, while we say that there was fault in Yakov that resulted in the story, in truth, that very lack was to be found in Dina herself, and it was incumbent upon her to rectify the matter herself.

More on Dina and Yosef

R' Daniel Krentzman just sent me a wonderful piece that he wrote on his understanding of the Dina - Yosef connection. You can see it at the following link.

Click here.

Vayishlach - Dina and Yosef (revisited)

Why was Yakov expected to know that Dina could have brought Esav to do Teshuva? Why would she succeed where Rivka and Yitzchak had failed? What is the meaning of the mysterious connection between Dina and Yosef? Why is Yosef connected to the city of Shechem?

Find out in this week's Parsha Podcast.

You can also find a .doc file of this podcast on my website on the Parsha page.

Shechem, Yosef and Dina

Some wild and interesting thoughts occurred to me last week, and I hope you will indulge me for a few moments. I do not have a source for any of my conclusions, but the basis is information you will recognize, and the implications will be quite intriguing.

When the Torah describes Dina's birth, the commentaries say something rather interesting. Originally, Leah was actually pregnant with Yosef. However, when Leah realized she was carrying a boy, she knew the ramification of this would be that Rochel would end up with less boys than the maidservants. This embarrasment could not be tolerated, so she davened that the child be switched to a girl. Thus Dina was born. (See the Da'as Zekenim.)

Immediately we see a connection between Yosef and Dina.

The Rabbenu Bachai says that Yosef was in fact born seven months after Dina, so they also were extremely close in age.

What is interesting to note is that at first glance it would seem that the power of Moshiach ben Dovid was rooted in Leah, and the power of Moshiach ben Yosef was rooted in Rochel. This, however, seems to not be the case. Rather, it seems that Leah had both potentials within her, and Rochel only birthed Yosef because of Leah's prayer.

The truth is, however, that we could look at it somewhat differently. Really, Rochel had the potential for both Moshiach ben Dovid and Moshiach ben Yosef within her, however, her sacrifice on behalf of Leah that she not be embarrassed when Yaakov ended up marrying her resulted in Leah supplanting her on both accounts. Leah's prayer on Rochel's behalf - that Rochel not be embarrassed - resulted in Rochel getting back the potential of Moshiach ben Yosef.

Still, it seems that Dina, while she was not a boy, still retained something of the spiritual power of Yosef. How do I know this? Because we find that the commentaries explain the following problem. Why did the entire event of Dina being raped by Shechem occur? One of the explanations given is that Yaakov was punished for witholding Dina from marrying Esav. She could have returned him to the side of good, and Yaakov prevented that from happening. Since she did not willingly wed a circumcised man, she was forcibly brought into a union with an uncircumcised animal - Shechem.

The obvious question is, Why should Dina be able to get Esav back on the Derech? How could Yaakov have known she possessed this capability?

The answer is that Yaakov knew that Dina possessed the same spiritual power as Yosef. Just as he knew that Yosef was the counter-balance for Esav, and therefore returned home as soon as Yosef was born, so too, Yaakov knew that Dina had the same spiritual balance for Esav! She would certainly have been able to get him back on the correct path.

Now the question is, Why would Yaakov indeed prevent Esav from getting back with the program? This question needs further thought, but a few different ideas come to mind. One is that Yaakov had bought the bechora and had also received the brachos of Esav. These brachos were the ones designated for the job of Moshiach ben Yosef that Esav originally had been supposed to perform. These very brachos would eventually be given to Yosef. It could be that Yaakov felt that Esav had lost his right to be in the program and first he, and then subsequently Yosef, had taken his place. It seems that this was not a proper calculation, as Dina ended up being forced into this horrible situation as a result.

There is more, however, because we find that who does Yosef end up marrying in Mitzrayim? Her name was Osnas, but who was she? There is a tradition that she was actually the product of the union between Dina and Shechem! Thus, Yaakov wanted to exclude Esav and replace him with Yosef. The result was Dina being raped and producing Yosef's future wife who would give him Efraim and Menashe! These two represented the special status Yosef had as bechor. Here too, Yosef had been given the first-born status taken from Esav by Yaakov.

There's still more. When Yaakov gives Yosef the bracha and tells him he will get a double portion, the language he uses is "Shechem echad" - you get another 'shoulder' over your brothers. The commentaries explain that there is a double meaning here. Besides for it referring to the double portion of two shevatim coming from him, it also refers to the actual city of Shechem, which Yosef would be buried in. But what does the city of Shechem have to do with Yosef? And why does he use this strange term to refer to Yosef's double portion?

The answer is plain to see. Because of Yaakov's desire to keep Yosef as Moshiach ben Yosef, Shechem raped Dina. This led to Shimon and Levi killing all the inhabitants of the city and it being conquered for the people of Israel. This city existed as part of what Yaakov bequethed to his children because of his commitment to Yosef. Shechem was the source of Yosef's special status and his double portion in the Jewish people both in concept and in physical reality!

It is also significant that when Yaakov refers to the conquest of Shechem, he refers to it as the place he gained through his sword and his bow. The commentaries say that this is reference to Yaakov's spiritual powers. Rav Aryeh Kaplan points out (in a different context) that the bow represents the power of Moshiach ben Yosef - shemiras habris - keeping the sanctity of the sexual organ. The commentaries explain that the sword is reference to the concept of tefillah and Torah. Thus we see that the two 'weapons' that Yaakov used to conquer Shechem corresponded to the job of Moshiach ben Yosef (the bow - shemiras habris) and Moshiach ben Dovid (the sword - prayer). This could hint to the fact that the entire reason for the event that transpired in Shechem was because Yaakov wanted to retain these two powers exclusively for his children, and specifically, Yosef.

One final addendum is something I saw in the Jewish Encyclopedia in an article on Shechem. There it mentions that Shechem was the city where Rechavam was appointed king, and later where Yeravam was also appointed. Yeravam actually made Shechem into the capitol of his kingdom. The significance is that Yeravam was literally inches away from being Moshiach ben Yosef, and Rechavam would have been Moshiach ben Dovid. The fact that they were both appointed in Shechem points to the fact that they recognized that their power was rooted in the city, and specifically Yeravam, as Moshiach ben Yosef, made it the center of his kingdom, for he recognized that his potential for greatness was there.