Like Mother, Like Daughter
Regarding the incident of the abduction of Dina, Rashi compares Dina’s outgoing nature to that of her mother Leah. This Sicha discusses the connection between the two characters, and conveys a deeper perspective at the differences between Leah and her sister Rochel.
In this week’s Torah portion, the Torah recounts how Dina, the daughter of Yaakov was seized by Shechem and was violated. Eventually, when her brothers Shimon and Levi find out, they retaliate by killing the entire city. The Torah relates:
Text 1
Now Dina—the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Yaakov—went out to look over the daughters of the land. Shechem, son of Chamor the Chivvite, the prince of the region, saw her; he took her, lay with her, and violated her.
Bereishis 34:1-2
This verse, however, is phrased in an interesting manner. When the Torah introduces Dina, it does so by describing, “Dina—the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Yaakov.”
The verse could have simply said, “Dina the daughter of...Yaakov,” as the Torah already related elsewhere that Dina was Yaakov’s child. There seems to be no purpose in repeating it again.
Rashi comments on this, that there is specific significance in associating this incident concerning Dina to her mother Leah.
Bereishis 30:21.
Talmud, Bava Basra 123a.
The extroversive nature of Dina which led her into trouble was a result of her being of a similar nature to her mother.
Text 2
And not the daughter of Yaakov? However, because of her going out she was called the daughter of Leah, since she [Leah] too, was in the habit of going out, as it is said: “And Leah came forth toward him [Yaakov]” (Bereishis, 30:16).
Rashi, ibid
Rashi says that that it was Leah’s behavior that led to this sorry affair. This is troubling though: Why would Rashi elucidate the verse in a fashion that speaks unfavorably of Leah? As a principle, the Torah attempts as much as possible, not to discuss the negative character traits of anyone—even of animals.
This being the case, one should be particularly careful not to speak ill of a tzadik, regarding whom the verse states, “Remember a tzadik for blessing.”
Mishlei 10:7.
Not her fault
Now, one may be able to say that Rashi’s intent is actually to mitigate Dina’s fault and to an extent, excuse her outgoing nature. Rashi essentially explains, that the reason that she ended up in trouble was by no fault of her own, but was rather the result of the nature she received from her mother. It was her mother’s outgoing nature that led to the unfortunate event between Dina and Shechem and was not entirely her own fault.
This explanation is inconceivable though, as it is unfathomable that Rashi would defend Dina by offending Leah through shifting the blame onto her. Rather, there must be another explanation that Rashi speaks disparagingly of Leah.
There is another point that is troublesome in Rashi’s explanation as well: In Rashi’s words, “because of her going out she was called the daughter of Leah, since she [Leah] too, was in the habit of going out,” he seems to suggest that the outgoing nature of Leah was negative and therefore Dina is compared to her.
Leah’s nature of outgoingness however, was not negative whatsoever. On the contrary, it was positive. The Torah tells us regarding the outgoing nature of Leah’s:
Text 3
When Yaakov came from the field in the evening, and Leah came forth toward him, and she said, “You shall come to me, because I have hired you with my son’s dudaim (herbal flowers),” and he slept with her on that night.
Bereishis 30:16
Rashi explains there, that the reason that Leah was so persistent in her desire to be with her husband Yaakov—to the extent that she reserved this right through the sale of her son’s flowers, and went out to the field to greet him—was because “she desired and was seeking means to increase the number of tribes.” It was her noble wish to have more children that triggered her outgoing nature, and there was nothing negative about it.
Being that it Leah’s character trait was positive, it is consequently probable to extrapolate that when Rashi attributes Dina’s outgoing nature to her mother, it is not to convey that this calamity was Leah’s fault, but is in order to deliver the opposite message. Through associating Leah and her daughter Dina, Rashi was demonstrating that just as Leah was doing a positive deed through her going out to welcome Yaakov, so too, Dina’s going out was positive as well.
Dina’s Character
In order to appreciate the positive nature of Dina’s extroverted personality, it is imperative to preface with another story that the Torah relates regarding Dina. In the beginning of Parshat Vayishlach, the Torah tells of Yaakov’s return to the land of Israel and his encounter with his brother Esav, after the many years Yaakov was away in Charan. When Yaakov is on his way to meet Esav, the verse tells us as follows:
Text 4
And he arose during that night, and he took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven children, and he crossed the ford of [the] Yabok.
Bereishis 32:23
The verse only enumerates eleven of his children and omits Dina. Rashi elaborates:
Text 5
But where was Dina? He put her into a chest and locked her in, so that Esav should not set eyes on her. Therefore, Yaakov was punished for withholding her from his brother, [because had he married her,] perhaps she would change him over for the better—and she fell into the hand of Shechem.
Rashi, ibid
This is perplexing. Rashi implies that in truth Yaakov should have let his only daughter marry Esav, and for this reason he was later punished by having her eventually fall into the hands of Shechem. Why would Yaakov ever let his daughter wed the wicked Esav, for the mere chance that she might change him?
