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<DIV>In a message dated 12/15/2008, celejar@gmail.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>RnTK
takes for granted that Dinah was kidnapped and raped, but there is<BR>actually
no textual basis for these assumptions. There is no clear<BR>indication
that any force was involved; the word 'va'ye'a'neha is<BR>problematic, but it
is far from clear that it implies force - see, e.g.,<BR>the remarks of Rashi,
Ibn Ezra and Ramban. <BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV>>>>>><BR>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>To quote just a few snippets from Ramban (Chavel translation):</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. <<</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.... <<</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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). <<</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What strikes me about Ramban is the sympathy and compassion he feels for
the pain suffered by this young girl.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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) <<</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><STRONG></STRONG><BR><B>--Toby Katz<BR>=============<BR></B>Read
*Jewish World Review* at <A
href="http://jewishworldreview.com/">http://jewishworldreview.com/</A><BR><BR></FONT><FONT
lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B><BR><BR>--------------------------</B></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV CLASS="aol_ad_footer" ID="b79ed99b3ad5057b36098ab1d85acc0"><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Make your life easier with all your friends, email, and favorite sites in one place. <a href="http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000010">Try it now</a>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>