Commentary for Genesis 34:25

שני בני יעקב TWO OF THE SONS OF JACOB — They were his sons (the sons of Jacob, a wise and clever man), but they acted as any man named Simeon and Levi would do — as other people would do who were not his sons — for they did not take counsel with him (Genesis Rabbah 80:10).

בהיותם כואבים, according to normal reactions of people to such an operation, and according to the plain meaning of the text, the meaning is that they had been in pain during the first and second day after the circumcision, and they were now in even greater pain,

ויהרגו כל זכר, these men had not circumcised themselves in order to become Jews and embrace monotheism but only in order to lay their hands on the vast possessions of the family of Yaakov, as their leaders Chamor and Shechem had promised them.

ויהרגו כל זכר. They killed every male. Why did they kill people who had not actively committed a sin? Why did they not first kill the truly guilty, i.e. Shechem?

ויהי ביום השלישי בהיותם כואבים, this was because the pains are strongest on the third day after the circumcision. In view of this the sages permitted bathing the child with hot water on the Sabbath after the circumcision, if it coincided with being the third day after the operation.(Shabbat 134). Even hot water boiled on the Sabbath itself is permissible to be used for this when there is no other, as the potential danger to the life of the infant overrides the Sabbath legislation not to boil anything on that day.

ויהי ביום השלישי בהיותם כואבים, “It was on the third day, when they were in a lot of pain, etc.;” according to Rashi every wound or injury is especially painful on the third day after it has been inflicted. His explanation appears to conflict with what the Talmud stated in the chapter dealing with circumcision, where the washing of the wound on the third day if it occurs on the Sabbath is permitted, adding that it is clear from this that it may certainly be washed on the first day after the circumcision. (Shabbat, 134) Some commentators hold that the Torah described the last day when the brothers could kill with impunity, as they had failed to do so on the first or second day when no resistance at all would have been forthcoming. Some commentators say that the inhabitants of the town were numerous, and not all of them had gone along with the request of their king and prince until the third day of their deliberations. This was the day when all the male inhabitants of the town were in great pain and could not defend themselves. There is yet another opinion according to which the brothers actually killed the men of Shechem on the first day after their circumcision, the day which was the third day after Dinah’s rape.

ויהי ביום השלישי בהיותם כואבים, “it was on the third day, when they were in pain, etc.” It is an accepted fact in science that amongst all creatures the “third” is always relatively weak. It makes no difference whether it is the third day after a woman has given birth or whether it is the third day in the development of anything else. This is all due to the fact that the third day was under the aegis of the planet Mars. This is why the pain after a wound has been inflicted is always greater on the third day. This is why the pain of circumcision is greatest on the third day, weakening the person who has undergone this procedure. Our sages in Shabbat 86, have ruled that it is permissible to perform all kinds of procedures otherwise prohibited on the Sabbath for a person on the third day after he has been circumcised, as he is weak and even his life may be in some danger.
Experts of a science known as Techunah, (a form of astronomy) wrote that the third day is the day under the influence of the horoscope cancer which in turn is presided over by Samael. Samael’s personal servant is the planet Mars. This knowledge prompted our sages in Taanit 27 to decree that the אנשי מעמד, the Israelites representing the people every day in the Temple, were not to fast on Sundays (first day of the week) as this was the third day after Adam had been created on Friday, the 6th day of the week, so that in counting a completed universe this day was actually the third day. This is also the reason we take some fragrant plants at the conclusion of the Sabbath and pronounce a benediction over them as the third day is ushered in and we want to face it having performed an additional mitzvah. Our spiritual self is strengthened by means of the pleasant fragrance.

Shimon and Leivi acted as other people... Rashi knows this because Scripture should have just said, “Shimon and Leivi.” Why is it [also] written, “Two of Yaakov’s sons”? Thus Rashi explains as he does. (Maharshal)

(25-31) Nun beginnt das Tadelnswerte, das wir keineswegs zu entschuldigen brauchen. Hätten sie Schechem und Chamor erschlagen, es wäre kaum etwas dagegen zu reden. Allein sie haben die wehrlosen, preisgegebenen Menschen nicht geschont, ja, sie haben noch mehr getan, haben geplündert, haben überhaupt die Ortsbewohner das Verbrechen des Gutsherrn mit büßen lassen. Das war durch nichts gerechtfertigt. Jakob wirft ihnen daher auch vor, ihr habt mich "getrübt"; unser Ruf, unser Name, unsere Ehre war klar wie ein Krystall, ihr habt sie getrübt, habt "mich in übeln Geruch gebracht", selbst unter dem Kenaani und Perisi. Und wenn ihr so nicht recht, so habt ihr auch nicht klug gehandelt, wir sind so wenig zahlreich etc.

ויהי ביום השלישי בהייותם כואבים, “it was on the third day (after circumcision) when they were all in pain, etc.” it is difficult to understand why the brothers had insisted that all these people circumcise themselves when they had meant to kill them anyways. Why did they have to resort to such deceit? Our verse may provide the answer by reporting that on that day the men of Sh’chem regretted having circumcised themselves. It was on account of that Shimon and Levi killed them. There had been no intent to kill them when they demanded that they circumcise themselves if they wanted to become members of the clan of Semites. Their act of circumcision was perceived by them as an initiation rite. Also, there is no reason to assume that they should have been in greater pain on the third day than on the previous two days. In fact, it is likely that they had not been able to circumcise themselves all on a single day, and the third day that the Torah speaks of was the day when these circumcisions were completed. This is why Shimon and Levi did not take their swords until the third day.

ויהי ביום השלישי בהיותם כואבים, “It was on the third day when they are in pain:” they were all in pain and regretted having agreed to undergo circumcision: when Yaakov’s sons heard about this and they also heard that Chamor and Sh’chem had altered the conditions they had agreed to with them, i.e. that no one was allowed to leave the town before he had undergone circumcision, plus their having presented the whole agreement as due to enhancing the honour of the people of Sh’chem instead of in response to an ultimatum by the sons of Yaakov, plus the fact that they boasted that henceforth the herds and flocks of Yaakov’s family would (verse 23) be theirs, they decided to attack the city’s inhabitants. The reason they had waited until the third day was that it took the people of Sh’chem until that day to complete the process of circumcising all the men and boys. On that day those who had been circumcised on the first day were still suffering from pains and relatively weak. This is why the Torah writes: ויבואו על הער בטח, “they came into the city unopposed, without having to worry.” This is also how Onkelos translated it. A different exegesis: Shimon and Levi entered the town while the inhabitants were sitting, feeling themselves secure.

אחי דינה DINAH’S BROTHERS — because they risked their lives for her they are designated as her brothers (Genesis Rabbah 80:10)

ויבואו על העיר, the people there felt perfectly safe, so that Shimon and Levi did not need to take any precautions. Whenever the word בטח occurs throughout Scriptures, it refers to the people feeling secure, unworried, just as in this verse.

ויקחו שני בני יעקב, in this instance, Shimon and Levi, although all the brothers were in complete agreement of what was being planned. We know this from verse 13 ויענו בני יעקב במרמה, “the sons of Yaakov responded, deceitfully.” When it came to carrying out their plan, the other brothers were afraid and did not risk their lives in that undertaking. Only Shimon and Levi considered the fate of their sister as paramount. אחי דינה; the Torah accords them full points for considering themselves as the brothers of Dinah par excellence, although at least four more of the brothers were Dinah’s brothers both from the father and from the mother.

ויקחו שני בני יעקב שמעון ולוי, ”and Shimon and Levi, two of Yaakov’s sons, took, etc.” By reading the text carefully it is possible to deduce the ages of these two sons of Yaakov when they destroyed the city of Shechem. We know from the text that Yaakov stayed at his uncle Lavan for twenty years. During the first 14 years he worked for his two wives Rachel and Leah, whereas during the remaining six years he worked in order to establish an economic base for himself and his family. After the first seven years of his service Lavan cheated him by giving him Leah instead of Rachel as his wife. Leah bore Reuven for Yaakov after a pregnancy of seven months. Another seven months (or so) later Shimon was born. It follows that when Yaakov left Lavan and interrupted his journey at Sukkot, Shimon was 2 months shy of 12 years old. Yaakov stayed at Sukkot for 18 months before moving on to Shechem. This means that at that time Shimon was 13 years and four months. His younger brother Levi was only 12 years and nine months old at that time. The Torah called both of them by the name איש, meaning they had attained puberty. This is the meaning of the words איש חרבו, “each man his sword.”

Because they risked their lives for her... [Rashi knows this] because otherwise, why does it say, “Brothers of Deenah?” Perforce, it tells us that they acted out of brotherhood and not because they were violent.

Actually, the sons of Jacob did not intend to kill anyone except the guilty party; however, all the inhabitants formed a human barrier to protect their king and prince. As a result the sons of Jacob were forced to kill the townspeole under the heading of killing a רודף, a pursuer, someone who endangers the life of the avenger. When the Torah states that they killed all the males this means that they succeeded in killing Chamor and his son only after killing the other males in the town. Had they not done so they could not have executed someone who was guilty of death.

Ihre einzige Antwort: הכזונה וגו׳ enthält das ganze MotiRaw Hirsch on Genesis 34: Der Herr hätte sich das nimmer erlaubt, wenn es sich nicht um ein fremdes, verlassenes Judenmädchen gehandelt hätte. Dieser Gedanke hatte in Schimeon und Lewi das Bewusstsein geweckt, dass es Momente gebe, in welchen auch Jakobs Familie zum Schwert greifen müsse, um Reinheit und Ehre zu beschützen. So lange auf Erden nur das Recht geachtet wird, dem die Gewalt schützend zur Seite steht, so lange muss auch Jakob wohl zum Schwert zu greifen wissen. Sie wollten auch gar nicht klug handeln. Sie wollten sich gefürchtet machen, damit keiner weiter ein Ähnliches wage. Jakobs Töchter werden nicht als Preisgegebene dastehen. Sie waren jedoch zu weit gegangen, das an Unschuldigen zu rächen, was mächtige Schuldige begangen.

ויהרגו כל זכר, “they killed every male inhabitant; they were all guilty as gentiles are also commanded to appoint a judicial court in every town and when it became known that Sh’chem had raped Dinah and abducted her, refusing to release her, he should have been tried and convicted.”

בטח IN SECURITY — because they (the men of Shechom) were ill. The Midrashic explanation, taking בטח in the sense of confident, is: that they relied upon the strength (i.e. the merits) of the old man (Jacob) (Genesis Rabbah 80:10).

בטח, they were feeling as secure as if they were numerous and not 2 against a whole town.

The Aggadaic explanation is: They were confident of the power of the “old one.” This refers to Yaakov. Alternatively, [it refers to Avraham. They were confident] of Avraham’s prayer for them, as explained in Parshas Lech Lecha (12:10). (Maharshal)

Another reason they killed all the males in the city was that they had all been accessories to the crime by keeping Dinah captive after the rape. This was tantamount to kidnapping. According to the Noachidic law the penalty for kidnapping is death. Gentiles are not guilty of the death penalty for sleeping with an unmarried girl.

In eigentümlicher Weise schließt sich diese Geschichte der vorhergehenden an. Wie wir dort vorübergehend ein קול יעקב, eine menschliche Regung in Esaus Gemüt aufblitzen sahen und darin den Keim der Humanität erkannten, der auch einst in Esau zur vollen Entfaltung aufgehen soll: so sehen wir hier mit einem Male vorübergehend das Schwert Esaus in Händen der Söhne Jakobs, und lernen daraus zur Aufhellung der jüdischen Geschichte die Wahrheit: dass, wenn wir zuletzt das Volk geworden sind, an dessen Händen am wenigsten vergossenes Blut klebt, wenn wir das mildeste, weichherzigste Volk geworden sind, dies nicht etwa in unserer Schwäche, in etwaiger Feigheit beruhe — die letzten Tage unsers nationalen Staatenlebens haben unsere Tapferkeit und unseren Kriegsmut in so gefürchteter Weise gezeigt, dass die tapfersten Legionen Esaus gegen uns herbeigerufen werden mussten. Wir können auch das Schwert schwingen, können auch blutdurstig werden. Unsere Menschlichkeit und Milde sind Früchte der Erziehung, die Gott uns durch unser Geschick und sein Gesetz hat angedeihen lassen.

You will note that the Torah (or the brothers) describes all the people of having "defiled their sister" (34,26). This shows that they all shared equally in the guilt of kidnapping. The reason the Torah does not speak about these people having "stolen" their sister is that the principal sin they were guilty of was that it was the kind of robbery which could not be made good. [If you kidnap a virgin and you give back a woman who has been defiled by sexual intercourse out of wedlock this is not a proper restoration. Ed.] The Torah makes it plain by using the term "they had defiled," that if the sin had not been one that could not be reversed the brothers would not have killed all the males in the town. While it is certainly true that the people of Shechem were not the only ones in the world guilty of such crimes, and Noachides who have committed robbery are all guilty of the death penalty, the brothers could certainly not be expected to play executioners in all such instances. They lacked the power to do so. Jacob himself alluded to this when he accused Shimon and Levi as "distressing" him, especially in view of the fact that his family was "numerically weak" (verse 30).

Allein nur in den Mitteln und in dem Maß des Ausschreitens liegt das Tadelnswerte. Das Motiv, das Schimeon und Lewi bewegte, der Zweck, den sie anstrebten, waren die heiligsten und berechtigsten. Der Geist, der sie erfüllte, war der unentbehrlichste für eine Familie, die, als Jakob zum Volke heranwachsend, das Herbste über sich ergehen lassen, die tiefste Erniedrigung erdulden und doch mit aller Elastizität des Geistes und mit allem Adel der Gesinnung aufrecht erhalten bleiben sollte für die welthistorische Auferstehung zu einem unsterblichen Gange durch die Geschichte sonder Gleichen. Noch auf seinem Sterbebette werden wir den greisen Vater Fluch über die Mittel und die ausschreitende Leidenschaftlichkeit, segnende Anerkennung aber über die Motive und die Gesinnung aussprechen, und Schimeon und Lewi eine solche machtlose, zerstreute Stellung im künftigen Jakob Israelvolke anweisen sehen, dass das materielle Heft in Israel nie in ihre Hände zur maßlosen Ausschreitung gelangen könne, ihr kräftiger, der geistigen und sittlichen Würde und Bestimmung stets bewusster Geist aber belebend, erhaltend und rettend in allen Kreisen des Volkes gegenwärtig und wirksam bleibe. Dasselbe Schwert, das Lewi hier zur Rettung der sittlichen Schwesterehre nach außen wandte, sehen wir später gegen die eigenen Brüder nach innen gewandt, wo es galt, rücksichtslos — את אחיו לא הכיר ואת בניו לא ידע — die Brüder aus der eigenen Entartung empor zu retten.

Another reason why the Torah speaks of "who had defiled" is to justify the brothers looting the belongings of the inhabitants of Shechem. Their property served as דמי בושת, compensation for the humiliation Dinah had suffered at the hands of these people. The amount of such compensation is determined in accordance with the relative stature of the victim as well as the perpetrator of the crime. In this instance both Shechem and Dinah were of very elevated stature so that the compensation due was of the highest category. The entire possessions of the townspeople may not have sufficed to provide adequate compensation for the shame Dinah had suffered. She was a person who was unique in the whole world. When I mentioned earlier that a self-confessed sinner is free from financial penalties, this does not apply to the money paid as compensation for shaming someone (Ketuvot 41).

Züge endlich, wie sie uns aus diesen und noch ferneren Ereignissen in der ersten Jakobsfamilie begegnen, dürfen uns zugleich die Notwendigkeit andeutend erkennen lassen, die vorhanden gewesen sein mag, diesen Menschenstamm in dem "eisernen Tiegel" des Leidens zu dem Adel der Gesinnung zu erläutern und zu stählen, der sie befähigen sollte, für den Menschheit erlösenden Musterwandel dereinst erwählt zu werden. Nicht weil wir der gefügigste, sondern weil wir der ungefügigste, härteste Völkerstamm gewesen — עז שבאומות wie die Weisen bemerken — hat uns Gott zu seinem Werkzeuge gewählt, um aus uns seinen härtesten, ausdauerndsten Stahl zu schmieden, und an unserer Gewinnung zuerst die Wundermacht seiner Waltung und die Wunderkraft seines Gesetzes zu zeigen. —

In his Hilchot Melachim chapter 9,14, Maimonides explains that the reason all the inhabitants of Shechem were guilty of death was that they had failed to establish a judiciary which would deal with the robbery committed by Shechem. Whence does Maimonides know that the common people had to judge their king or crown prince? Is it not a fact that even amongst the Israelites individuals do not have to testify against the King, and one does not sit in judgment of him (Sanhedrin 16)? Accordingly, we are forced to conclude that the guilt of the people of Shechem consisted in their being active accessories to the crime. They may even have advised Shechem how to successfully rape Dinah. Nachmanides refutes Maimonides' argument claiming that the Noachides were not commanded to establish a permanent judiciary but to settle matters that come up for litigation. He claims that the death of the people of Shechem was primarily for the sin of idolatry which all of them had been guilty of for a long time. His words require proof, and they do not account for the brothers looting the town.