Why Dinah Went Out and the Modesty of Job's Eyes

"And Dinah the daughter of Leah went out" (Genesis 34:1). Let our master teach us: may a woman go out wearing her ornaments on the Sabbath into the public domain? Thus our Rabbis taught: A woman may not go out into the public domain on the Sabbath with her ornaments, nor with a hair-net, nor with a tiara of gold, nor with a katla (it is a kind of ornament), nor with nose-rings, nor with a ring that has no seal upon it, nor with a needle that is not pierced; and if she did go out she is not liable [for a sin-offering], in a case where she went out with them inside the house — but she may not go out with any one of the ornaments into the public domain. And our Rabbis say: Even on a weekday she need not go out into the public domain. Why? Because the people stare at her. For the Holy One, blessed be He, did not give ornaments to a woman except that she should adorn herself with them inside her house; for one does not place a breach before the honest man, and all the more so before the thief. And thus Job said, "I made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I gaze upon a maiden?" (Job 31:1). Come and see the righteousness of Job: if upon a maiden, at whom every man is permitted to gaze — perhaps he will marry her, or perhaps he will marry her to his son, or to one of his relatives — Job would not gaze, how much more so upon a married woman, at whom he is not permitted to gaze! Therefore it is written, "All glorious is the king's daughter within" (Psalms 45:14); and if she has acted and concealed herself and is found worthy, "her clothing is of settings of gold" (ibid.). Rabbi Levi said: She is found worthy to raise up priests who wear the garments of the high priesthood; and "settings" are nothing but the priestly garments, as it is said, "And you shall make settings of gold" (Exodus 28:13). And already a hint concerning this matter was stated in the Torah, that a woman should not walk about much in the marketplace. From where? For thus it is written, "And God blessed them… and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28). ["And subdue her" is written.] The man subdues the woman, but the woman does not subdue the man. But if she went about much on foot and would go out to the marketplace, in the end she comes to ruin, to harlotry. And thus you find with Dinah the daughter of Jacob: as long as she sat in the house she was not ruined by transgression; but once she went out to the marketplace she caused herself to come to ruin.