B”H
This week I’m
double dippin’ with two great parshas: Vayeitzei (ויצא) and Vayishlach (וישלח). Procrastination and
cramming for embryology left me with double the responsibility, but I have two
excellent sections with which to grapple. Part of my delay, beyond embryology woes, was a struggle to rationalize the first section of this week's blogpost. In fact, it wasn't until after reading this current week's parshah that I found my answer. So, interestingly, these two sections
together provide great insight in mutual consideration that I perhaps would not have seen in one week's section.
Vayeitzei (literally, “and he left”) details the movement of Jacob from
Beersheba to Charan. (After successfully taking the birthright and blessings
from his older brother Esau in Toldot, I’d assume home is wicked awkward...I’d
probably run away as well, especially if Esau’s going to be all temperamental
about it.) Back to the story! In a most vivid dream on his journey, Jacob sees
a ladder ascending to Heaven and beholds the sight of G-D, who promises Jacob
the land for his descendants’ inheritance. Jacob eventually works for Uncle
Laban and falls in love with the farmer’s daughter (huh…wonder if that’s the
inspiration for Jason Aldean’s song…). ANYWAY, crafty Laban isn’t just going to
agree to their marriage willy-nilly. For seven years of labor in the fields,
Laban agrees to bless the marriage of Jacob and Rachel On the wedding night,
however, Laban switches the daughters, and Jacob marries Rachel’s older sister,
Leah, as Jacob discovers the morning after. Jacob marries Rachel a week later,
but not after agreeing to another seven years of labor for Laban. After
fourteen years of labor, and, oh yeah, TWELVE CHILDREN from various wives and
concubines, Jacob is tired of the Charan lifestyle, and despite further coaxing
from Uncle Laban, Jacob starts the journey back home. Angry Laban isn’t going
to let good labor leave so easily…or his precious daughters!! But G-D provides
safety from Jacob’s flight. The portion ends with a pact between Jacob and
Laban as witnessed by a pile of rocks.
Phew. Our hero, Jacob, is safe, and he can escape to the cushy life
back home in Beersheba. Oh wait, that whole thing with Esau…awkward.
Enter Vayishlach (literally, “and he sent”).
This week, we recount Jacob sending angels to Esau in hopes for
finding reconciliation…only to find out from the angels that Esau has gathered
an army…ruh roh. What’s Jacob to do? He accepts the terms of war but again
sends a peace offering to Esau to try and avoid more strife. On his journey to
war, Jacob gets into an all-night brawl with an angel embodying the spirit of
Esau. Jacob suffers a hip injury, but prevails and is renamed Israel (literally,
he who prevails over the Divine). We reach Chapter 33 of Genesis. (Insert dramatic
pause as Esau and Jacob meet). In a striking turn of events, Esau
hugs and kisses his little brother!! They reconcile, but part ways. As Jacob
finds yet another place to call home, his daughter Dinah is raped by Shechem;
in retaliation, her brothers Simeon and Levi murder the males of Shechem’s
princedom. The thirteenth child of Jacob is born: Benjamin. Reuben sleeps with
one of Jacob’s concubines, and thus loses his birthright. The family returns to
a dying Isaac in Chebron. Vayishlach ends with an account of Esau’s
family and the kingdom of Edom.
When I was contemplating these stories together, I couldn’t help
but think of my great-grandmother Rose (ז״ל),
who herself was one of twelve siblings, and the parallels between that family
and the “Twelve Tribes of Israel.” I’ve spent some time trying to track down my
relatives from this extended family in my fascination with my genealogy, and
have had notable success, I might add!! Genealogy is a Jewish sport after all, certainly
seen today in everyone’s favorite Jewish game: Jewish Geography. The Torah
places emphasis on the remembrance of family, otherwise it wouldn’t list ad
nauseum descendants of descendants until one is absolutely farblondzshet
(פאַרבלאָנדזשעט, a Yiddish expression
dear to my heart expressing a complete and utter sense of being lost that no
English word quite captures).
And my attention is turned to Dinah, the non-represented child. She
is not included in the Tribes of Israel, and poor Dinah is only remembered in
the rape she graphically endures at the hands of Shechem. Dinah’s name may mean
judged or vindicated in Hebrew, but to say she got the short end of the stick
is REALLY understating her situation and appreciation in the words of the
Torah. Even her child by Shechem is counted among the children of Simeon, not
Dinah! That’s like saying I came from my great-great-uncle Isaac instead of
Rose.
For a book which so harps on the importance of male (and female)
lineages and accuracy in genealogy, I’m in shock that the word of G-D simply
uses Dinah as a tool to show the vindication of Jacob’s brothers over Shechem.
Her essence and humanity is stripped of all meaning. What is the Torah saying
here…women cannot have lineages? Correct me if I’m wrong, but Judaism is at its
essence a matriarchal religion, in that the strictest interpretation cites the
validation of one’s Jewish identity from birth from a Jewish mother!
These facts do not reconcile.
Or do they?
I interpret this section not as a representation of the way G-D
wished the world to work, but instead a section intended to actually incite the
exact outrage I feel when I read this section. G-D does not forget his children
-- otherwise Dinah would not be mentioned at all. Thus, a reason MUST exist for
G-D mentioning her. G-D doesn’t need to have Dinah raped to validate the moral
rectitude of Simeon and Levi. The story of Joseph will shatter their high
standings in the eyes of readers of Torah. So, what is Dinah’s purpose? To me,
she is a vehicle for rebellion against the societal constraints. Praise G-D,
for G-D finds favor in all of the children of the world, and Dinah is
remembered in the greatest story G-D tells. Dinah serves as a symbol for
change, progress, and constant questioning of social norms. In its presentation
of factual inaccuracy, these sections of Torah are G-D’s message to QUESTION
and SPEAK OUT. As a Jew, a medical professional, a son, and a member of “Society
at-large,” this section empowers me to question the world, not assume societal rules
are etched in stone, and ask big questions. I hope it provides you with similar
liberating sentiments in the collective goal to better our world.
Perhaps, in this way, we can do what the Torah failed to do: rightfully
and honorably preserve the blessed memory of Dinah.
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