Dinah in rabbinic literature

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Dinah in rabbinic literature.

Contents

[edit] Conception and Birth

Dinah was the daughter of Jacob and Leah. According to Genesis, Dinah was Jacob's eleventh child; by the time she was conceived, Leah had given birth to six sons, Bilhah and Zilpah had each had two, and Rachel had had none. Jacob's wives knew prophetically that between them, twelve sons were destined to be born; Leah then realized that if her child turned out to be male, it would mean that Rachel would never be able to have more than a single son of her own, and thus be less than even the two handmaiden-wives. According to legend she thus prayed that her child would be a girl, and as a result Dinah was born female; it is even said that she had been male previously, but was changed in utero because of Leah's righteous prayers. Rachel then went on to have the last two of Jacob's sons, Joseph and Benjamin.

[edit] Simeon and Levi

According to the Midrash, Simeon and Levi were only 14 and 13 years old, respectively, at the time of the rape of Dinah. They possessed great moral zealousness (later, in the episode of the Golden Calf, the Tribe of Levi would demonstrate their absolute commitment to Moses' leadership by killing all the people involved in idol worship), but their anger was misdirected here. On his deathbed, Jacob cursed their anger and divided their tribal portions in the land of Israel so that they would not be able to regroup and fight arbitrarily. The Tribe of Simeon received land within the territory of Judah and served as itinerant teachers in Israel, traveling from place to place to earn a living. The Tribe of Levi received a few Cities of Refuge spread out over Israel, and relied for their sustenance on the priestly gifts that the Children of Israel gave them.

[edit] Travel to Egypt

When Jacob's family prepares to descend to Egypt Genesis 46:8-27, the Torah lists the 70 family members who went down together. Simeon's children include "Saul, the son of the Canaanite woman."[1] According to Rashi, this is Dinah's son by Shechem.[2] After the brothers killed all the men in the city, including Shechem and his father, Dinah refused to leave the palace unless Simeon agreed to marry her[3] and remove her shame. (According to Nachmanides, she only lived in his house and did not have marital relations with him.) Therefore Dinah's son is counted among Simeon's progeny, and he received a portion of land in Israel in the time of Joshua. The list of the names of the families of Israel in Egypt is repeated in Exodus 6:14-25.

[edit] Other teachings

When Jacob went to meet Esau, he first locked Dinah in a box, for fear that Esau would wish to marry her.[4] Such action of his brought out the rebuke from God: "If thou hadst married off thy daughter in time she would not have been tempted to sin, and might, moreover, have exerted a beneficial influence upon her husband" (Gen. R. lxxx.).[5] Her brother Simeon promised to marry her; but she did not wish to leave Shechem, fearing that after her disgrace no one would take her to wife (Gen. R. l.c.)[6]; she was later married to Job however (Bava Batra 16b; Gen. R. l.c.).[7] When she died, Simeon buried her in the land of Canaan. She is therefore referred to as "the Canaanitish woman" (Gen. xlvi. 10).[8] Shaul (ib.) was her son by Shechem (Gen. R. l.c.).[9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bereishit - Chapter 46 - Genesis
  2. ^ Bereishit - Chapter 46 - Genesis
  3. ^ Bereishit - Chapter 46 - Genesis
  4. ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com - DINAH
  5. ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com - DINAH
  6. ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com - DINAH
  7. ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com - DINAH
  8. ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com - DINAH
  9. ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com - DINAH

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.