Parsha Vayislach — Not in God’s name
Genesis 34:25
ויהי ביום השלישי בהיותם כאבים ויקחו שני־בני־יעקב שמעון ולוי אחי דינה איש חרבו ויבאו על־העיר בטח ויהרגו כל־זכר׃
And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.
There are very many problematic aspects with this story of Dinah. Although, many commentators call it the rape of Dinah. It is not so clear.
For some interesting insights see — https://www.thetorah.com/article/who-is-the-victim-in-the-dinah-story
This whole story portrays Jacob, his sons in unfavourable manner. While Schechem is portrayed in a positive manner. He spoke kindly to her and loved her.
Just compare to this rape by Amnon, son of King David. He hated here after the act
If I was writing the Bible, would I include this story? Indeed, Rabbi Sacks asks this question — why was the included in the Bible??
What is the reason for this and what can we learn from this?
The aspect that I want to focus on is collective punishment. And the responsibility of the people.
In this case, the Men of Shechem were killed even if they had no direct involvement. Our commentators have argued over this, one side of the debate asks — are the people responsible for the actions of their leaders.
One opinion is for the people to set up laws and ethical codes. However, in Kingship and tribal environments, this is not so straightforward.
I know the cynics can say — we get what we deserve.
A further question, how can people influence their leadership, the moral and ethical standards of their tribe (community), country?
Today, we have democracy which is not a perfect system. We see the limits of democracy in the battles over Covid19. Vaccine — yes/no, green passports, limits on movements, masks. Why all the restrictions? One reason is that Governments are concerned about the stress on the medical institutions — hospitals.
Yes, leadership has failed us. They have used many of these reasons to impose controls. We the individual are powerless.
So, let’s go back to our Parsha.
Can we (the men of Schechem) be responsible for the mistakes of the leaders?
I will leave you to ponder this question
Another ugly aspect of this story is murder and looting, and how tribes and people create an atmosphere of strife and arms race.
I think the silver lining is how Judaism learned from the extreme behaviour of the actions of Shimon and Levi. Indeed, Jacob cursed these actions on his deathbed. Levi repented and learned to challenge his zealous into compassion and become the leaders of the children of Israel
So too Judaism itself reinvented itself to become the Religion of peace.
Unfortunately, we have a history of wars, suppression, terror in the name of religion and God. Add to this secularism, communism, capitalism which can also be defined as Religion.
The battle of these religions is still the fundamental challenge of our generation today. We have the battles of race, diversity, and the rights of women. At the end of the day, we are human, children of Adam, equal, but different.
The challenge is for us to recognise the different paths have tolerance for those who are different from us. I am inspired by the Abraham Accords which today is a grassroots movement by the people with the backing of Government. Yes, people and Government working together for a better world, recognising each other traditions and roles.
You have this movement for a caring world in the UN SDG, ESG, and the Cop26 gathering to help solve the challenge of Climate and I dare say poverty. Yes, there are many imperfections, greenwashing, and self-interest, but hopefully we are on an upward momentum for a better world.
As we learn the lessons in the story of Dinah, it is up to you and me to make changes for a better world.