Komentarz do Rodzaju 34:1

בת לאה THE DAUGHTER OF LEAH — so Scripture calls her. Why not the daughter of Jacob? But just because she “went out” she is called Leah’s daughter, since she, too, was fond “of going out” (Genesis Rabbah 80:1), as it is said (30:16) “and Leah went out to meet him”. With an allusion to her they formulated the proverb: “Like mother, like daughter”.

THE DAUGHTER OF LEAH, WHOM SHE HAD BORNE UNTO JACOB. The reason [Scripture specifies the daughter of Leah] is to state that she was the sister of Simeon and Levi, who were envious for her sake and avenged her cause. And Scripture mentions further, whom she had borne unto Jacob, in order to allude to the fact that all the brothers were envious for her.

ותצא דינה, because Yaakov had pitched his tent outside the city limits of Shechem. She left that compound to enter the town.

ותצא דנה בת לאה, Dinah, Leah's daughter went out, etc. The reason that the Torah emphasises that Dinah was Leah's daughter (something that we are well aware of) is in order to facilitate understanding of the causes underlying Dinah's excursion into town. There were three reasons for this. 1) 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. 2) A second cause for Dinah's excursion was the fact that as an only daughter she had no female playmates; she went in search of suitable company. Inasmuch as she was a daughter of Jacob she had already acquired the reputation of being a distinguished person, something that provoked Shechem as we shall explain later. 3) לראות בבנות הארץ, "she went to take a look at the daughters of the land." According to Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer chapter 38 Shechem had brought the girls of the neighbourhood to play music around the tent of Jacob. This then was a third reason for Dinah venturing outside. From all the above you may surmise that unless Shechem had already been aware of the existence of Dinah, a daughter of the famous Jacob, even before she left her house he would not have committed the rape.

ותצא דינה בת לאה, 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).

ותצא דינה בת לאה, “Dinah, daughter of Leah went out, etc.” The Torah first mentioned that Dinah was a daughter of Leah, seeing that this made her a full sister to Shimon and Levi, who avenged her disgrace. The Torah continues writing that she had been born for Yaakov, in order to tell us that her other brothers and half-brothers were also jealous on her behalf.

Deenah went out. Since Yaakov lived outside of town the verse should have said that she “came in.” However, Scripture wanted to hint that she “went out” of the guidelines of proper behavior by going to watch the locals dance and make merry.

Leas Tochter: ebenso ein Kind Leas wie der größte Teil aller künftigen jüdischen Männer; und sie war dem Jakob geboren: es lebte ebenso in ihr Jakobs Geist. Und wenn sie auch misshandelt worden, und dazu vielleicht durch ihr "Hinausgehen" aus dem väterlichen Kreis in die Mitte der Fremden Veranlassung gegeben, so war sie gleichwohl durch und durch eine Jakobstochter. Sie ging hinaus sich umzusehen unter den Töchtern des Landes, die fremden Mädchen einmal kennen zu lernen, wie לראות באבי הנחל (Cant. 6, 11). Sie war ein junges Mädchen und neugierig.

A Midrashic approach: the word לראות, “to see,” means “to see and to be seen.” We read in verse six: ויצא חמור אבי שכם אל יעקב לדבר אתו, Chamor the father of Shechem went out to Yaakov to speak with him.” About this the Tanchuma 7 Vayishlach writes: He said to him: ‘I know that your grandfather Avraham was a prince as the Hittites had acclaimed him as: “you are a prince in our midst” (23,6). I, however, am a prince in the land also. Give the daughter of a prince to a prince (my son) as a wife.” Upon hearing this Yaakov replied: “The title ‘prince’ is applicable only to a שור, ox” (not to a donkey, meaning of the name Chamor.) The Torah had written that Avraham ran to the cattle, (ox) (18,7) and it is written in Proverbs 14,4: ורב תבואות בכח שור, “a bountiful harvest is due to the strength of the ox.” An ox and a donkey cannot mate together. The Torah writes expressly: “you shall not plough with an ox and a donkey together.” In the Book of Prophets (Kings II 14,9) we find the following statement: “The thistle in Lebanon sent the following message to the cedar in Lebanon. ‘give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ But a wild beast in Lebanon went by and trampled down the thistle.” The wild beasts in that parable are the sons of Yaakov who have been compared to wild beasts. In the blessings bestowed on Yaakov’s sons by their father, Yehudah is compared to a lion (49,9); Dan is compared to a snake (49,17); Binyamin is compared to a wolf (49,27); Naftali to a gazelle (49,21). When the Book of Kings spoke about the wild beasts trampling the thistle, the reference was to the sons of Yaakov Shimon and Levi killing the male inhabitants of Shechem. The prophet Hoseah also complains about a similar occurrence in Hoseah 6,9 where he wrote about what would happen to the people of Shechem in his own time because they encouraged depravity. The people would be murdered because they had been guilty of sexual misconduct.