[Avodah] Who was Dina's mother?

[Marty Bluke]

In last week's parsha (Vayetze) we have the story of the birth of Dina.
Rashi there comments (based on the Medrash) that Leah understood that she
was pregnant with a boy and if she had another boy then Rachel would only
have 1 of the shevatim, therefore she davened and Hashem made a miracle and
turned the baby into a girl, Dina.

In Parshas Vayigash, the Torah writes when it lists the descendents of
Yaakov, "v'es dina bito". Rashi comments (based on the Gemara in Nidda) that
we see that the Torah calls Dina the daughter of Yaakov to show us that the
father is responsible for having a daughter. The Maharsha there asks, what
is the proof from Dina, after all Dina started off as a boy (per the medrash
in Vayetze) and therefore how can any proof be brought from Dina, she turned
into a girl al pi nes? He answers that the Targum Yonason has a different
peshat there. The Targum Yonason says that both Leah and Rachel were
pregnant, Leah was pregnant with Yosef and Rachel with Dina and miraculously
the fetuses were switched. Therefore, Dina was always a girl and the proof
from the pasuk is fine because Yaakov caused Dina to be a girl.

Rashi comments (based on the medrash) on the pasuk "v'shaul ben hac'naanis",
that after what happened with Shechem, Dina made Shimon promise to marry
her. The Tur asks how could Shimon marry Dina? Even Bnei Noach are not
allowed to marry their sister from their mother. The Tur answers based on
the same Targum Yonason that the Yosef and Dina were switched, and
therefore  al pi halacha Leah was not Dina's mother, rather Rachel was, and
a ben noach is allowed to marry his sister from his father.

This Tur however, raises another question, what about Yosef? Who al pi
halacha is considered to be his mother? If it is Leah, then what good was
the miracle? Rachel still ended up with only 1 of the shevatim. Therefore we
need to differentiate and say that both Dina and Yosef were Rachel's
children.

When we consider how the halacha determines who the the mother of a baby is
there are 3 possible alternatives:
1. Whoever conceives the child
2. Wherever the fetus is 40 days after conception (as until then it is
considered maya b'alma and for example you are allowed to daven for the sex
of the child)
3. Whoever gives birth

We see that the Tur cannot hold from 1 because even though Yosef was
conceived by Leah he is considered Rachel's son. The Tur cannot hold from 3
either as the Tur holds that Dina was considered Rachel's daughter even
though Leah gave birth to her. It would seem that the Tur holds like option
2.

With this we can say the following about Yosef. Leah was pregnant with Yosef
but it was before 40 days while Rachel was pregnant with Dina and it was
after 40 days. Therefore when they switched Yosef was less then 40 days so
he was considered Rachel's son as on day 40 he was in Rachel's womb, while
Dina had already passed day 40 in Rachel's womb so she was considered
Rachel's daughter even though Leah gave birth to her.

It turns out according to the Tur that Rachel was the mother of both Dina
and Yosef.

This Tur clearly has ramifications l'halacha with regards to surrogate
mothers etc.
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