[Avodah] Did RSRH Write LH about Shimon and Levi

[T613K at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/15/2008, celejar at gmail.com writes:

RnTK  takes for granted that Dinah was kidnapped and raped, but there is
actually  no textual basis for these assumptions.  There is no clear
indication  that any force was involved; the word 'va'ye'a'neha is
problematic, but it  is far from clear that it implies force - see, e.g.,
the remarks of Rashi,  Ibn Ezra and Ramban.  


>>>>>
I didn't look at Ibn Ezra but there is no possible  way to read Rashi and 
Ramban and see in the word "vayena'eha" anything other  than force.  Ramban notes 
the use of the same word with the Pilegesh  BeGiv'ah.  Any reading of these 
pesukim that sees seduction rather than a  violent crime is simply perverse.  
Ramban on Ber 34:2 is long but everyone  should read it.
 
Rashi says "Vayishcav -- kedarka" and "veyena'eha -- shelo kedarka" -- very  
very plain that Shechem raped Dinah more than once and more than way -- just a 
 horrendous crime against a young girl -- and he didn't let her go after he  
violated her, either, but kept her as his prisoner.
 
To quote just a few snippets from Ramban (Chavel translation):
 
34:2. >> All forced sexual connection is called "affliction" [i.e, he  is 
taking issue with Rashi and saying front door, back door, doesn't matter,  it's 
all "inui" if forced]...Scripture thus tells -- in Dinah's praise -- that  she 
was forced, and did not consent to the prince of the country. <<
 
34:7 >>....the Canaanites were immersed in unchastity with women,  beasts, 
and males....even in the days of Abraham and Isaac, the patriarchs  feared lest 
they kill them in order to take their wives.... <<
 
34:12.  >> MOHAR UMATAN....presents which the young men send to  the maidens 
whom they marry....The reason for the conciliatory gesture is in  order that 
they willingly give her to him as a wife, as the maiden did not  consent to him 
and she steadily protested and cried.  This is the sense of  the verse "And 
he spoke comfortingly to the damsel [i.e., after raping her  repeatedly -- when 
she wouldn't stop crying].  Therefore Shechem said,  "Take me this young 
maiden to wife" as she was already in his house and in his  power, and he feared 
not her brothers because he was the prince of the  country....Now Shechem's 
great desire was because the maiden was very  beautiful.  However Scripture did 
not narrate her beauty as it did in the  case of Sarah, Rebekah and  Rachel 
because it did not want to mention that  which was to her "a stumbling block of 
iniquity (Ezekial 18:30). <<
 
Note that Shechem seems to have taken it for granted that if Yakov and his  
sons agree to the marriage, then necessarily Dinah will reconcile herself to it 
 also -- but he is not dealing with Arabs here, who force women into  
marriage.  It was already established back from the time of Rivkah  ("Nish'alah es pi 
hana'arah") that Jews do not marry off a daughter or a  sister without her 
consent.
 
 
What strikes me about Ramban is the sympathy and compassion he feels for  the 
pain suffered by this young girl.
 
One more thing about pesukim 34:25-26 -- "Shimon and Levi, THE  BROTHERS OF 
DINAH, took each man his sword and came to the city...and killed  Chamor and 
his son Shechem by the sword and they took Dinah from the house of  Shechem."  
Rashi there says that they are called "the brothers of Dinah"  there "lefi 
shemasru atzman aleha"  -- i.e., they risked their lives for  her, they put 
themselves out for her sake, more than any of the other brothers  they felt for her 
pain and risked everything to rescue her.  Rashi's words  also suggest a 
sympathy and warmth towards the brothers and their protectiveness  towards their 
sister.
 
 
And finally to quote Ramban again, 34:12 >>Scripture does not  mention what 
happened to her after her rescue from Shechem's house.  In  line with the 
simple meaning of Scripture she stayed with her brothers, "shut  up, living as 
widows" (see II Samuel 27:3) <<
 
Her life was ruined and she suffered from post-traumatic stress, and her  
brothers took care of her.  Ramban doesn't say that Shimon married Dinah  btw but 
that she lived in his home and he took care of her, and when she died  
(presumably in Egypt) he brought her body back to E'Y for burial. 

 

--Toby Katz
=============
Read  *Jewish World Review* at _http://jewishworldreview.com/_ 
(http://jewishworldreview.com/) 



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