Commentaire de citation sur La Genèse 34:3

על לב .על לבבך, wo es sonst von Worten oder deren Inhalt vorkommt, drückt nicht nur ein Vorhandensein im Bewusstsein, sondern einen Einfluss, eine gewisse Macht aus, welche die, Worte über das Herz üben sollen. So דבר על לב. (Bereschit 34, 3 und 50, 21; Jes. 40, 2; Richter 19, 3 u. s.); שם על לב (Jes. 57, 1; Jirm. 12, 11; Daniel 1, 8 u.s). Die Anforderung ist daher hier, daß die hier als unsere Verpflichtung ausgesprochenen Worte uns gegenwärtig sein und bleibenden Einfluss auf unser Herz, somit auf unser Sinnen und Denken haben sollen. Wir sollen ihrer Macht unser Herz unterstellen, sollen unser Denken und Sinnen von ihnen beherrscht sein lassen. So auch ספרי z. St. צריך להשביע את יצרו: man muss seinen inneren Sinn in Eid und Pflicht nehmen.

I will reveal to you another mystery. There are occasions when a pure soul is very closely attached to an impure soul and the pure soul is unable to exert a spiritually positive influence on the impure soul. The latter remains as it is until the time comes to be freed from its body. We have an example of something like that in the soul of Rabbi Chaninah ben Tradyon whose soul [obviously long before it inhabited the body of that scholar, Ed.] reputedly was attached to that of Shechem, son of Chamor (who had raped Dinah). This is alluded to in the Torah by the letters in the word רחבת ידים (Genesis 34,21) which form the initals of the name of Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon, as explained by Rabbi Chayim Vittal in his commentary on the relevant verse in Genesis (Likutey Torah). [I have seen this text and it is somewhat different from what the author quotes. Ed.] This soul of Rabbi Chaninah had not exerted a positive influence on the soul of Shechem so that when the latter committed the rape of Dinah the soul of Rabbi Chaninah departed from him and found its mate in the soul of Dinah whose soul had previously been described as נידה, i.e. as polluted. This is the mystical dimension of the words ותדבק נפשו בדינה, "his soul cleaved to Dinah the daughter of Jacob" (Genesis 34,3). You will do well to keep this principle in mind. Sometimes you find a holy soul mixed in amongst those that belong to the domain of the קליפה, the spiritually negative forces. Such a soul may exert a spiritually positive influence on other souls in its environment, driving out the evil resident within those souls or at least weakening it. These are the souls who eventually become proselytes by their own efforts such as Ruth the Moabite and Naamah the Ammonite who became the mother of King Rechavam.

‘MOHAR’ (DOWRY) ‘UMATAN’ (AND GIFT). Mohar [refers to the bridal gifts given at the time of] the marriage-contract which is given to maidens, as it is written, according to the dowry of virgins,¹²⁹Exodus 22:16. these being the presents which the young men send to the maidens whom they marry. Umatan are garments or silver and gold which the groom sends to her father and her brothers. In Bereshith Rabbah the Rabbis said:¹³⁰80:7. “Mohar is parnon (the wife’s settlement); matan is parapurnon (the additional settlement above the usual dowry),” these being in the language of the Jerusalem Talmud¹³¹Yerushalmi Kethuboth 5:8. “the regular dowry” and “the usufruct estate,” that is to say, that which he gives her of his properties to be accounted as if she had brought them from her father’s house, the produce of which belongs to him.
The reason for this conciliatory gesture is in order that they willingly give her to him as a wife, as the maiden did not consent to him and she steadily protested and cried. This is the sense of the verse, And he spoke comfortingly unto the damsel.¹³²Verse 3 here. Therefore Shechem said, Take me this young maiden to wife,¹³³Verse 4 here. as she was already in his house and in his power, and he feared not her brothers because he was the prince of the country and how could they take her by force out of his house? Now Shechem’s great desire was because the maiden was very beautiful. However, Scripture did not narrate her beauty as it did in the case of Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel because it did not want to mention that which was to her a stumbling-block of iniquity,¹³⁴Ezekiel 18:30. while Scripture speaks only in praise of the righteous women but not of this one. Similarly, Scripture does not mention what happened to her after her rescue from Shechem’s house. In line with the simple meaning of Scripture she stayed with her brothers, “shut up, living as widows,”¹³⁵See II Samuel 20:3. as she was considered defiled in their sight, as it is written, Because he had defiled Dinah their sister.¹³⁶Verse 13 here. Our Rabbis have differed on this matter.¹³⁷Bereshith Rabbah 80:10. The most feasible opinion is that of he who says¹³⁷Bereshith Rabbah 80:10. that Simeon took her, and upon her death, he buried her in the land of Canaan, this being in agreement with what we have said, i.e., that she was with him in his house as a widow, and she went down with them to Egypt, and there she died but was buried in the Land of Israel. Her grave is known by tradition to this day as being in the city of Arbel with the grave of Nitai the Arbelite.¹³⁸Aboth 1:7. He was a leader of the Sanhedrin in the early days of the Hasmoneans. As for Dinah’s grave being near that of Nitai the Arbelite, see my Hebrew commentary, p. 190, for data from other medieval itinerants. Ramban’s testimony though is that of an eye-witness when he travelled through the land. It is possible that Simeon brought up her remains from Egypt out of pity for her while the Israelites were still in Egypt or that the children of Israel brought them up together with the bones of her brothers — all the tribes — just as our Rabbis have mentioned.¹³⁹Mechilta, Exodus 13:19.