This week we read Parshat Vayishlach from the Torah, this year we are focusing on Chapter 34 in the book of Genesis due to the Triennial Torah reading cycle. This is one of the more dicey moments in the Torah and one that gives Rabbis a lot of trouble to rationalize and discuss.
In this Chapter, Jacob’s daughter, Dinah is kidnapped and raped by Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivvite. Shechem goes to Jacob to speak to him about taking Dinah as his wife and Dinah’s brothers also are present during this exchange. The brothers say to Shechem that if he along with every male that resides among him gets circumcised that he can marry Dinah and they will be one people. If not, the brothers will take Dinah back and leave. Shechem along with all of the other males oblige the request. Three days later, Jacob’s sons, Levi and Simeon come upon the city where Shechem lived and kill every male. They also plunder the city and take its wealth and capture the wives and children of the males that they killed.
Dicey might have been a bit of an understatement. Who was in the wrong here? Shechem for essentially kidnapping Dinah and raping her or Simeon and Levi for killing all of the males in the city and taking their wives and children? It is a very tough question to answer.”
Biblical commentators like Ramban and Rambam condone the behavior of Simeon and Levi. Both of these commentators use the Noachide laws as the basis for their viewpoints. Rambam articulates that these laws are applicable to all human beings not just the children of Israel, and the punishment for violating them is the death penalty. One of these Noachide laws forbids theft which includes kidnapping. Thus for Rambam, Shechem violated the Noachide law and needed to be punished. The people of the city transgressed their responsibility to enforce the Noachide laws by letting the rape happen so they are also responsible like Shechem himself.
Ramban has a different approach and condones Simeon and Levi’s actions because all of the people in the city were evil and had violated all the Noachide laws repeatedly in their own right apart from anything Shechem had done. Still, it isn’t easy to decide who was in the right in this situation. The point of studying these stories is to look at the choices our ancestors made and learn from them. To be better people than they were, so when God tests us we are ready to prove ourselves worthy and be the best people we can be; to be the best Jews we can be, and to simply be a better person than we were yesterday.
Shabbat Shalom, Cantor Diamond
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