Commento su Genesi 46:10

בן הכנענית THE SON OF THE CANAANITISH WOMAN — means the son of Dinah, who had been associated with a Canaanite (Shechem). When they (her brothers) had killed Shechem, Dinah refused to leave the city until Simeon swore to her that he would marry her and regard the child she was about to bear as his own (cf. Genesis Rabbah 80:11).

ושאול בם הכנענית, it appears that all of Yaakov’s sons abided by his aversion to intermarry with Canaanites. Even Shimon also honoured this tradition. However, after he had married a woman who was not a Canaanite and had had children by her, he married an additional wife who was a Canaanite. Shaul was a son of that second wife of his. Seeing that this had been a breach of the tradition, the Torah alludes to it in considering this son as the “son of the Canaanite woman.” Our sages on 34,26 took the view that Shimon had taken pity on his sister Dinah who had been raped by a Canaanite, and married her and the son from the rape was the one named Shaul. (based on Bereshit Rabbah 80,11)

ושאול בן הכנעני, “as well as Sha-ul, son of the Canaanite.” Ibn Ezra explains this puzzling statement by saying that this grandson of Yaakov was the only one born by a Canaanite mother, as none of his other sons married girls of Canaanite parentage. Rashi explains the phenomenon as an allusion to this Sha-ul being a son of Dinah who had been raped by the Canaanite Shechem. If so, we are confronted with another difficulty, i.e. how could Shimon marry a sister by his own mother? According to a Midrash [I have not found such a version. Ed.] the problem is resolved as it is presumed that Dinah’s fetus grew predominantly in Rachel’s womb. [The Torah reports Leah only as having “given birth” to Dinah, not as having been pregnant with her. (Genesis 30,21)]

The son of Deenah who was violated by a Canaanite... Rashi is answering the question: According to the view that the wives [of Yaakov’s sons] were Canaanites [see entry on v. 7], all of their children should have been called children of Canaanite women. Why is Shaul singled out? And according to the view that a twin sister was born with each son, and they married them [see entry on v. 7], why mention “A Canaanite woman,” at all? Rashi’s answer addresses both views.

ושאול בן הכנענית. Wenn unter כנענית hier Dina verstanden ist, die Simeon geheiratet, so dürfte שאול vielleicht nicht Simeons Sohn, sondern der von Schechem erzeugte, von Dina geborene Sohn sein; es wäre dann selbst dieser Sohn der Jakobsfamilie nicht entfremdet worden. Sie wird כנענית genannt, weil ihr Sohn physisch ein בן כנעני gewesen. Es träte dann hier schon der Grundsatz hervor, dass in der Verbindung einer Jakobstochter mit einem הולד הולך אחר האם :כנעני, das Kind zur Familie der Mutter, und nicht zu der des Vaters gezählt wird.

בן הכנענית, “the son of a Canaanite woman.” This verse testifies to the fact that the respective wives of Yaakov’s sons were of Egyptian, Edomitic, and Midianite descent; the reason that this particular son of Shimon has been singled out as having been born of a Canaanite mother, is that his father is criticised for having married a Canaanite woman, something that had not been considered appropriate already since Avraham’s time. This is also why the premature death of Er and Onan, sons of Yehudah, had been mentioned. According to another interpretation, the reason why Er and Onan have been mentioned here altogether, although they died before the family descended to Egypt, is that if Yehudah had objected to Joseph’s sale, his brothers would have listened to him. [This leaves open the question of what happened to Yehudah’s third son Sheylah, who though apparently not having descended to Egypt, is not listed here by name, though he had the same two parents as Er and Onan. Ed.] G-d’s reasoning had been: you, Yehudah have not taken into account that you caused your father terrible grief by depriving him of Joseph, I will cause you grief at the time when he will rejoice by reminding you of two of your sons and their depriving, and mentioning this here in order to rekindle your pain.