The Torah’s account of Dinah’s abduction begins, “Dinah, the daughter of Leah... went out to see the daughters of the land.” Rashi notes the Torah’s emphasis on Dinah being Leah’s daughter, and explains that Dinah inherited her social nature from her mother:
She is identified as “the daughter of Leah” because she ventured out. For Leah too was an “out‑goer,” as it is written, “Leah went out to greet him [Yaakov]”. Regarding her it has been said, “Like mother, like daughter.”
On the surface, it seems that the Torah views these two “out‑goers” disapprovingly—their excursions are considered excessive by the Torah’s standards of modesty. But would the Torah really go out of its way to disparage not only Dinah, but Leah too, when we know that “the Torah avoids disparaging even a non‑kosher animal”?
It must be that the Torah associates Dinah’s conduct with Leah’s as an indication of praise, rather than criticism. Just as Leah’s motives were admirable when she “went out” (“she desired and was seeking means to increase the number of tribes”), Dinah’s intentions were noble too.
What were Dinah’s intentions?
When Yaakov prepared his family to meet Eisav, he hid Dinah in a crate so that Eisav would not see her and desire her. Yaakov was later punished for doing so, because had they married, Dinah might have positively influenced the wicked Eisav. Certainly, if Dinah’s chances of affecting Eisav were slim, Yaakov would not have been punished for hiding her! Evidently, Dinah’s remarkable character meant that she was more than likely to succeed in transforming the wicked Eisav, had she only been given the opportunity.
As such, we can understand that Dinah’s excursions were likewise motivated by her ability to affect people outside the pure environment of her family. She did not go out “to see the daughters of the land” in order to see and be seen among them, or to acquaint herself with their ways, but to attract them to hers—the righteous path of Yaakov.
Indeed, like her mother, Dinah went out with the purest of intentions.
—Likkutei Sichos, vol. 35, pp. 150–151
