Комментарий о цитате к Берешит 34:13

And they too¹Our verse indicates that others had also practiced deception but does not tell us who it was. Rashi proceeds to tell us who else had deceived them. proceded with deception just as the sons of Yaakov dealt with trickery with Chamor, the father of Shechem, who was a Chivite.²The Givonim were a branch of Chivites, who were related Shechem who had raped Dinah the daughter of Yaakov. They remembered how their relatives were tricked by the sons of Yaakov and were subsequently killed by the two son of Yaakov. Thus the Gevonim felt justified in perpetrating their deception. (See Bereishis 34:1-26). The people of Givon were descendents of the Chivites, as it is said in this context.

SIMEON AND LEVI ARE BRETHREN. Jacob is saying that they possess the attribute of kinship for their hearts were inflamed concerning their sister.⁹⁴Ibid., 34:25-26. He is thus stating in their defense that they acted as they did out of their brotherly zeal, thus suggesting [that were it not for this extenuating circumstance], they would have been deserving of great punishment and their sin would have been unforgivable since what they did to the people of Shechem was an act of violence.
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that he is saying that Simeon and Levi are real brothers, uniting in fraternity and brotherhood in counsel and deed. Now I have already explained⁹⁵Ibid., 34:13. that Jacob was angry with Simeon and Levi for having committed violence when they killed the people of the city of Shechem, for they⁹⁶The people of the city committed no wrong. It was Shechem who violated Dinah, and the people were not in a position to protest his action. had not sinned against them at all. They even made a covenant with them and they were circumcised, thus being enabled to return to G-d and become included within the people of the household of Abraham, part of the souls that they had gotten in Haran.⁹⁷Above, 12:5. A reference to the proselytes whom Abraham and Sarah had brought “beneath the sheltering wings of the Shechina” (Rashi, ibid.) Jacob was additionally angry with them lest people say that the matter was done at his suggestion, thus creating a profaning of G-d’s Name, as people will say that the prophet has committed violence and plunder. This is the intent of the verse, Let my soul not come into their council—⁹⁸Verse 6 here. this is an excuse for he was not in their council when they answered the people of Shechem with subtlety,⁹⁹Above, 34:13. and he was not united in their assembly when they came upon the people of the city and killed them. It was for this reason that he cursed their anger and wrath.¹⁰⁰Verse 7 here. And so did Onkelos translate: “My soul was not in their council when they assembled to strike, etc.”

In the story in Bereishit there is considerable debate as to how to interpret Yaakov Avinu’s silence. Should we interpret Yaakov Avinu as silently acquiescing to Shimon and Levi’s claim (as Rambam¹⁰⁹Hilchot Melachim 9:14. believes)? On the other hand, perhaps Yaakov Avinu withheld his response until his dying moments when he rebuked Shimon and Levi once again for their violence at Shechem (as Ramban¹¹⁰Bereishit 34:13 and 49:5-6. believes).