Dina, Le’a’s daughter, whom she had borne to Yaakov, went out to see the women of the land. And Shekhem son of Hamor the Hivvite, the prince of the land, saw her; he took her and lay with her: he forced her.
Or HaChaim is a classical commentary on the Torah written by Rabbi Hayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar c.1718 - c.1742 CE. Rabbi Hayyim was a Moroccan Kabbalist and Talmudist, which is reflected in his commentary.
ותצא דינה וגו'. טעם אומרו בת לאה וגו', נתכוין הכתוב להודיע הסיבות אשר סבבו היציאה... וטעם היציאה לצד היותה בת לאה שאלו היתה בת רחל לא היתה יוצאה אלא לצד היותה בת יצאנית (ב"ר פ"פ) יולדתה ילדה במזגה וטבעה.
Dinah, Leah's daughter went out, etc. The reason that the Torah emphasizes that Dinah was Leah's daughter is in order to facilitate understanding of the causes underlying Dinah's excursion into town... Dinah was Leah's daughter. Had she been Rachel's daughter she would never have made such an unchaperoned excursion. Her mother Leah had "gone out" to meet her husband (30:15), something that was uncharacteristic of Jewish women. Bereshit Rabbah 80:1 claims that at the time Leah adorned herself with all her jewelry. Her daughter copied her mother, giving the impression that she was a harlot.
Rabbi Bahya ben Asher (1255-1340) wrote his commentary in Spain during the Middle Ages. It incorporates the literal meaning along with allegorical, Midrashic, and Kabbalistic interpretations.
The reason the Torah describes Dinah as "Dinah the daughter of Leah went out," when we all know she was Leah’s daughter is because she was trying to attract attention to herself; she had bedecked herself (Bereshit Rabbah 80:1). She proved to be a true daughter of her mother who had also attracted attention to herself by leaving her tent as we have been told in 30:16. Scripture is critical of women who leave the security and modest environment of their homes unnecessarily. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 7:11-12 “She is loud and rebellious, her feet would not stay home. Now outside, now in the streets, she lurks at every corner.” David had written about a woman who stays at home. that “the true measure of a princess is found in the fact that she remains indoors.” (Psalms 45:14) When the angels asked Avraham where Sarah was, he answered: “here she is in the tent (Genesis 18:9).”
Haamek Davar is a commentary on the Torah written by Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, also known as the Netziv, c.1840 - c.1880 CE. The commentary is mostly based on the Netziv’s Parashat Hashavua shiur in the Volozhin Yeshiva in Lithuania.
Midrash Tanchuma is a midrash (explanation) on the five books of the Torah, structured as sermons on the opening verses of each paragraph in the Torah. Named for the talmudic sage Rabbi Tanchuma, it was composed in Babylon, Italy, and Israel c.500 - c.800 CE. "Midrash Tanchuma Buber" refers to a version of Midrash Tanchuma published by Solomon Buber in 1885, based primarily on a manuscript that he discovered. Buber’s version differs significantly from the printed Tanchuma on the books of Genesis and Exodus, but his version of midrash on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy largely resembles the printed version.
ותצא דינה בת לאה (בראשית לד א)...
אבל אם הרבתה רגל והיתה יוצאה לשוק, סוף באה לידי קלקל, לידי זנות, וכך אתה מוצא בדינה בת יעקב, כל זמן שהיתה יושבת בבית לא נתקלקלה בעבירה, אבל כיון שיצאה לשוק גרמה לעצמה לבא לידי קלקלה.
(Gen. 34:1:) NOW LEAH'S DAUGHTER DINAH, WHOM SHE HAD BORNE TO JACOB, WENT OUT... But, if she walks about a lot and goes out into the marketplace, she finally comes to a state of corruption, to a state of harlotry. And so you find in the case of Jacob's daughter Dinah. All the time that she was sitting at home, she was not corrupted by transgression; but, as soon as she went out into the marketplace, she caused herself to come to the point of corruption.
Rabbi David Kimchi (1160–1236), known as Radak, lived in France. One of the the most famous Bible commentators of his time, Radak was a grammarian, which is reflected in his commentary.
Dinah, Leah's daughter went out, etc. - she went forth from her mother’s tent, her father also not being at home, and she came into the town to get acquainted with other girls in the town. The reason why the Torah underscored that she was the daughter of Leah, a fact we are all familiar with, was to remind us “like mother like daughter.” Her mother had been described in 30:16 by the words ותצא לאה לקראתו, “Leah went forth to meet her husband,” suggesting that she took an initiative which was not common for her. The reason the Torah added another fact that we knew already, i.e. אשר ילדה ליעקב, “whom she had born for Yaakov,” is to alert us to the fact that what happened to her was a punishment for her father (as we explained in 32:23).
Furthermore, the Torah had reported (32:23) “he took his two wives and his maid-servants and his eleven children and presented them to Esau.” Where was Dinah? The report in the Torah alerts us to the fact that Yaakov had hidden Dinah in a box so that Esau would not become aware of her. God said to Yaakov: “because you did not make an effort for her to be married to a circumcised male she will become married to an uncircumcised male. Not only that, but she will be raped first.”
The gift crossed over ahead of his face, but he spent the night on that night in the camp. He arose during that night and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children to cross the Yabbok crossing. He took them and brought them across the river; he brought across what belonged to him. And Yaakov was left alone— and a man wrestled with him until the coming up of dawn.
Shenei Luchot HaBrit is a commentary on the Torah written c.1611 - c.1631 by Rabbi Isaiah HaLevi Horovitz, a Polish-born rabbi living in Ottoman Palestine. This work is almost unparalleled in its impact on Ashkenazic Jewish life, playing an enormous role in spreading and popularizing ideas from kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) ideas.
Dinah, Leah's daughter went out, etc. The lesson we learn from this incident is how careful women have to be to conduct their affairs as far as possible within the privacy of the home. This rule does not only apply to married women but also to unmarried girls. If Dinah, a daughter of such illustrious parents as Jacob and Leah, was not safe from an attack on her virginity, daughters of less illustrious parents certainly need to be guarded carefully.
Midrash Tanchuma is a midrash (explanation) on the five books of the Torah, structured as sermons on the opening verses of each paragraph in the Torah. Named for the talmudic sage Rabbi Tanchuma, it was composed in Babylon, Italy, and Israel c.500 - c.800 CE.
בֹּא וּרְאֵה כְּשֶׁבִּקֵּשׁ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לִבְרֹא אֶת חַוָּה, הָיָה מְחַשֵּׁב מֵאֵיזֶה מָקוֹם לִבְרֹאתָהּ. אָמַר, אִם אֶבְרָא אוֹתָהּ מִן הָרֹאשׁ, תִּהְיֶה רוּחָהּ גַּסָּה. מִן הָעַיִן, תִּהְיֶה סַקְרָנִית. מִן הַפֶּה, תִּהְיֶה פַּטְפְּטָנִית. מִן הָאֹזֶן, תִּהְיֶה צַיְּתָנִית. מִן הַיָּדַיִם, תִּהְיֶה גּוֹנֶבֶת. מִן הָרַגְלַיִם, תִּהְיֶה פַּרְדָּנִית. מֶה עָשָׂה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא. בְּרָאָהּ מִן הַצֵּלָע מִמָּקוֹם צָנוּעַ, כְּדֵי שֶׁתִּהְיֶה צְנוּעָה יוֹשֶׁבֶת בַּבַּיִת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: וַיִּקַּח אַחַת מִצַּלְעֹתָיו (בראשית ב, כב). וְאַף עַל פִּי כֵן לֹא יָצְאוּ יְדֵיהֶן מֵאֵלּוּ הַמּוּמִין... לֹא בְרָאָהּ מִן הָרֶגֶל שֶׁלֹּא תְהֵא פַרְדָּנִית, עָמְדָה לֵאָה וְהָיְתָה פַרְדָּנִית, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: וַתֵּצֵא לֵאָה (בראשית ל, טז). וְכֵן וַתֵּצֵא דִינָה (בראשית לד, א).
Observe that when the Holy One, blessed be He, was about to fashion Eve, He gave considerable thought to the parts of Adam’s body out of which He would create her. He said: If I create her out of a portion of his head, she will be haughty; if I fashion her from his eyes, she will be inquisitive; if I mold her out of his mouth, she will babble; from the ear, she will be an eavesdropper; from the hands, she will steal; and from the feet, she will be a gadabout. What did He do? He fashioned her out of one of Adam’s ribs, a chaste portion of the body, so that she would stay modestly at home, as it is said: And the rib which the Lord had taken (Gen. 2:22). Nevertheless, women do not lack any of these failings... God did not create her from the foot, lest she be a gadabout, but Leah came and was a gadabout, as is said: And Leah went out (Gen. 30:16), and similarly Dinah went out (Gen. 34:1).
Jewish Women in Time and Torah (published in Jerusalem in 1990) is the last book written by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Berkovits and reflects many of the themes in his earlier works – in particular, his views on the nature and development of Jewish law. Berkovits argues that while Jewish tradition “tolerated” ancient societal mores that assigned women a lower status than men, as seen in a number of rabbinic statements and rulings, these did not represent true Torah ideals. Though many have argued with the author’s halakhic conclusions, the work has played a significant role in the development of feminist thought and practice in some segments of the Jewish community.
Jewish Women in Time and Torah, by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Berkovits
"Women Are a People by Themselves," p.33
Maimonides was most likely correct in ascribing the woman’s secluded place in the home to “the dignity and honor of a king’s daughter.” Considering the social practices of his time, it was indeed not proper for a respectable woman to roam the streets and the marketplaces; it was improper and occasionally quite dangerous. Yet the seclusion of women was also a form of control exercised by their husbands that turned the home for them very nearly into a “prison.” At least one midrashic opinion attempts to find a basis for such control in the Torah itself... “The man subdues [i.e., controls] his wife, so that she should not walk around the marketplaces [i.e., outside the home] and not fall into disgrace [or sin], as happened to Dinah, the daughter of Leah, the wife of Jacob.” For this reason she has to be kept back from public life.
President Barack Obama, September 2014
For anybody whose once normal everyday life was suddenly shattered by an act of sexual violence– the trauma, the terror, can shatter you long after one horrible attack. It lingers. You don’t know where to go or who to turn to…and people are more suspicious of what you were wearing or what you were drinking, as if it’s your fault, not the fault of the person who assaulted you…We still don’t condemn sexual assault as loudly as we should. We make excuses, we look the other way…[Laws] won’t be enough unless we change the culture that allows assault to happen in the first place.
Dina, Le’a’s daughter, whom she had borne to Yaakov, went out to see the women of the land. And Shekhem son of Hamor the Hivvite, the prince of the land, saw her; he took her and lay with her: he forced her.
the prince of the land, etc. Shechem's position in the community was the reason that no one came to Dinah's assistance when she cried for help against being raped.
ויעניה, לפי שהיתה בתולה, וכן תחת אשר ענה (דברים כ"ב כ"ה):
The reason why the Torah uses the word "and he tormented her" when what Shechem had done was more in the nature of a seduction that a violent rape, is that this term is used in connection with a virgin having intercourse, something usually very painful for her. The term is also used on account of this reason in Deuteronomy 22:29.
Tur HaAroch is a commentary on the Torah, written c.1280 - c.1340, by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher. Also know as Ba’al haTurim (after his famous work, the Arba’ah Turim), Jacob ben Asher was a Jewish legal scholar and biblical commentator in late 13th and early 14th century Spain.
“He slept with her and subsequently abused her.”... In this instance, intercourse by mutual consent appears to have preceded the rape. The opposite was the case in the rape of Tamar by her half-brother Amnon. (Samuel II 13). There the rape is mentioned before the sexual intercourse. Some commentators suggest that Dinah had first been seduced, whereas Amnon never bothered to seduce Tamar.
But his feelings clung to Dina, Yaakov’s daughter—he loved the girl, and he spoke to the heart of the girl. So Shekhem said to Hamor his father, saying: Take me this girl as a wife!
Rabbi Ovadiah ben Jacob Sforno, a 16th-century Italian rabbi and physician, wrote his Torah commentary c.1500 - c.1550 CE. The author often cites rabbinic statements to address philosophical as well as textual issues, and offers many novel interpretations rooted in these traditions.
"to Dina, Yaakov’s daughter" - because she was the daughter of the widely respected Yaakov, someone of an international reputation. The Torah confirms this once more later in verse 19 when it describes Shechem as desiring the “daughter of Yaakov.”
Ibn Ezra’s commentary on the Tanakh was written c.1155 - c.1165 CE in France/Italy/England. His commentary is terse and aims to discover the pshat, the contextual meaning, of the text. Many view Ibn Ezra as the forefather of Biblical criticism.
AND SPOKE COMFORTINGLY UNTO THE DAMSEL. He spoke tenderly and comfortingly to her.
"he spoke to the heart of the girl" - seeing that he had caused her pain, he now did his best to soothe her feelings as he was intent of marrying her and needed her consent. He hoped that his being the crown prince would help sway her opinion in his favour.
Now Yaakov had heard that he had defiled Dina his daughter, but since his sons were with his livestock in the fields, Yaakov kept silent until they came home. Hamor, Shekhem’s father, went out to Yaakov, to speak with him. But Yaakov’s sons came back from the fields when they heard, and the men were pained, they were exceedingly upset, for he had done a disgrace in Israel by lying with Yaakov’s daughter, such [a thing] is not to be done!
"Now Yaakov had heard that he had defiled" - Shechem, who had already been mentioned (hence his name does not need to be repeated here and a pronoun will do) and that as a result of what he did, Dinah had been defiled by an uncircumcised person who had been intimate with her.
Daat Zekenim is a Torah commentary compiled by later generations of scholars from the writings of the Franco-German school in the 12th-13th century (Ba’alei Tosafot).
“that a vile deed had been committed against Israel;” it would have been a vile deed against anyone, all the more so against the daughter of a man of the stature of Israel.
Hamor spoke with them, saying: My son Shekhem — his feelings are so attached to your daughter, [so] pray give her to him as a wife! And make marriage-alliances with us: give us your daughters, and our daughters take for yourselves, and settle among us! The land shall be [open] before you: settle down, travel about it, obtain holdings in it! And Shekhem said to her father and to her brothers: May I only find favor in your eyes! However much you say to me, I will give-in-payment; to whatever extreme you multiply the bride-price and the marriage-gift, I will give however much you say to me — just give me the girl as a wife!
“demand of me much dowry, etc.” All these conciliatory offers were designed to have Yaakov’s family agree to Dinah being married to Shechem of her own free will, seeing she was already captive in the house of Shechem, and Shechem and Chamor had no reason to fear that she would be kidnapped. They only wanted a willing bride instead of an unwilling one. This is also the reason why the Torah reports that Shechem “talked to the heart of the girl.” (verse 3)
Yaakov’s sons answered Shekhem and Hamor his father with deceit; they spoke [thus] because he had defiled Dina their sister. They said to them: We cannot do this thing, give our sister to a man who has a foreskin, for that would be a reproach for us! Only on this [condition] will we comply with you: if you become like us, by having every male among you circumcised. Then we will give you our daughters, and your daughters we will take for ourselves, and we will settle among you, so that we become a single people. But if you do not hearken to us, to be circumcised, we will take our daughter and go.
Their words seemed good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shekhem son of Hamor, and the young man did not hesitate to do the thing, for he desired in Yaakov’s daughter. Now he carried more weight than anyone in his father’s house. Hamor and Shekhem his son came back to the gate of their city, and they spoke to the men of their city, saying: These men are peaceably disposed toward us; let them settle in the land and travel about in it, for the land is certainly wide-reaching enough for them! Let us take their daughters as wives for ourselves, and let us give them our daughters. But only on this [condition] will the men comply with us, to settle among us, to become a single people: that every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. Their acquired-livestock, their acquired-property and all their animals—will they not then become ours?! Let us only comply with them, that they may settle among us!
So they hearkened to Hamor and to Shekhem his son, all who go out [to war] from the gate of his city: all the males were circumcised, all who go out [to war] from the gate of his city. But on the third day it was, when they were still hurting, that two of Yaakov’s sons, Shim’on and Levi, Dina’s full-brothers, took each man his sword, they came upon the city [feeling] secure, and killed all the males, and Hamor and Shekhem his son they killed by the sword. Then they took Dina from Shekhem’s house and went off.
Bereshit Rabbah is a midrash on the Book of Genesis, written around 500 CE. It covers most of the book (excluding genealogies and similar passages) with verse-by-verse and often word-by-word commentary.
וַיִּקְחוּ אֶת דִּינָה (בראשית לד, כו), רַבִּי יוּדָן אָמַר גּוֹרְרִין בָּהּ וְיוֹצְאִין. אָמַר רַב הוּנָא הַנִּבְעֶלֶת לְעָרֵל קָשֶׁה לִפְרשׁ. אָמַר רַב הוּנָא אָמְרָה וַאֲנִי אָנָה אוֹלִיךְ אֶת חֶרְפָּתִי, עַד שֶׁנִּשְׁבַּע לָהּ שִׁמְעוֹן שֶׁהוּא נוֹטְלָהּ.
And they took Dina (Gen. 34:26), Rabbi Yudan said: they dragged her and went out. Rav Huna: a woman who was penetrated by an uncircumcised man is difficult to separate. Said Rav Huna: she kept saying 'and I, where will I go with my shame?' until Shime'on swore to her that he would take her [as wife].
Yaakov’s [other] sons came up upon the corpses and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. Their sheep, their oxen, their donkeys—whatever was inside the city and out in the field, they took; all their riches, all their little-ones and their wives they captured and plundered, as well as all that was in the houses.
בני יעקב באו וגו'. פי' כולן יחד, נתכוון הכתוב לומר טעם ביזת כל נכסי העיר וגו' כי נוגע הבושת לכולן וצריך שיטלו כנגד בשת כל אחד.
The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city. This means that all of Jacob's sons participated in the looting. They were entitled to do so as they had all suffered humiliation by the rape of their sister. Each one was entitled to take his share.
But Yaakov said to Shim’on and to Levi: You have stirred-up-disaster for me, making me reek among the settled-folk of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites! For I am menfolk few in number; they will band together against me and strike me, and I will be wiped out, I and my household! But they said: Should our sister then be treated like a whore?
They said: "Should we have let him treat our sister like a harlot?" We need to understand how such a reply could have had any bearing on Jacob's concern for the survival of his family in a possible confrontation with the other Emorites in the region? After all, Jewish law provides that if the surrender of a specific individual is demanded by enemy forces as a condition to save the lives of the remaining prisoners, then such an individual must be surrendered (Jerusalem Talmud Terumah chapter eight) in order to save the lives of all the people who this individual is part of. There is no requirement for all the people to become martyrs even if the alternative is the commission of a serious crime of rape, incest or other sexual crime. Seeing that this is so before such a sin has been committed, it is all the more so after the crime has already been committed and cannot be reversed!
When a man finds a girl, a virgin who has never been spoken for, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found: the man who lies with her is to give to the father of the girl fifty units-of-silver; his shall she be, as a wife, because he has humbled her; he is not allowed to send her away, all his days.