Some Thoughts on Dinah

Shimon and Levi were punishing the perpertrators and enablers of Dinah's abuse for her sake as an individual person, not because she "belonged" to the family - as is sometimes suggested. I would point to a subtle point in the syntax of the text. But throughout all of the Torah many things are taught to us with that subtlety of the classic exegesis. Often, when a sibling is described it says the "sister of X was Y" making the "sister(Y)" subordinate to the "X" as in our Parsha, later, "ואחות לוטן תמנע" But here, we it is written "אשר טמא דינה אחותם" that Shimon and Levi used deception and violence because Shechem defiled "Dinah their sister" the name first. Dinah as a person first then the relationship. It was the harm and abuse to Dinah that primarily drove them. Nachmanides explained that they slew the men of Shechem because they stood by and did not stop the attack on Dinah. Those who do not stop an evil, are partners in said evil. At any rate, it is clearly the person Dinah as an individual who they care about, and this is subordinate to the "clan" aspect. Also, it says earlier that they were "aggrieved because this is ought not to be done to a daughter of Jacob". In the Middle East and much of the world to this day in such a case as Dinah's - either they kill the victim or make her marry the criminal and the girl's father takes some money as compensation. However, from way back when, "this is not the way a daughter of Jacob is treated". Our family sees the matriarchs and daughters as partners - as Human Beings with agency. Jacob does not leave his father in law until he consults with his wives who declare that (in paraphrase) "we are going with you, our father treated us as property whereas here we are partners". This is very clear from last week's portion and this week's if you read the text carefully and compare it with the societies in which the Patriarchs lived and whose bad habits continue in far too many societies to this day. Also, we should point out that the Lubavitcher Rebbe understands her "going out" and the comparison with Leah her mother in a positive light. He understands the the midrash to mean that Dinah sought to influence the daughters of the land in a positive way as her great grandparents Abraham and Sarah did. Another midrash explicitly states that Abraham sought to influence the men to monotheism and Sarah sought to influence the women. Reaching out to other women is certainly something that is seen as a positive thing in the Biblical context. In this case because of the corruption and misogyny of the city of Shechem bad things happened. We nevertheless can understand the text - both biblical and rabbinic- as praising Dinah, not criticizing her. As I began this note if we read things carefully and are willing to transcend preconceived notions they tell a very different story. One can argue that theShechem episode is the very first successful protest on behalf of women's rights, albeit by allies.