The story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and the events that unfolded in Shechem, offer a stark and troubling example of just that.
According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, while Jacob and his sons were immersed in Torah study, Dinah ventured out. It seems she was drawn to the sounds of music and dancing in the streets – entertainment that Shechem, son of Hamor, had deliberately orchestrated to lure her out. The text implies a certain condemnation, suggesting that had Dinah remained at home, she would have been safe. But, alas, she was a woman, and "all women like to show themselves in the street." It’s a sentiment that, viewed through a modern lens, feels incredibly unfair and victim-blaming.
What happened next is undeniably horrific. Shechem seized Dinah and "violated her in beastly fashion." Ginzberg, drawing on various Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) sources, paints this misfortune as a consequence of Jacob's overconfidence. It says Jacob had previously declared, "My righteousness shall answer for me hereafter" in his dealings with Laban, and that when preparing to meet his brother Esau, he hid Dinah in a chest fearing Esau would want her as a wife. God, according to this account, declared that because Jacob refused to give Dinah to a circumcised man (Esau), she would instead fall victim to an uncircumcised ravisher. Ouch. The text seems to pile blame upon Jacob, suggesting Dinah's tragedy was divine retribution.
Jacob, upon hearing of the assault, sent servants to retrieve Dinah, but Shechem, emboldened, drove them away, even brazenly kissing and embracing her in front of them. He then asked his father, Hamor, to secure Dinah for him as a wife. Hamor initially hesitated, but ultimately yielded to his son's persistent demands.
Meanwhile, Jacob's sons returned from the fields, their anger ignited. In their fury, they declared that Shechem and his household deserved death, citing a violation of the commandments given to Noah against robbery and adultery. As we find in Midrash Rabbah, they considered Shechem's actions a capital offense. Hamor then arrived to negotiate for Dinah's hand, followed by Shechem himself.
It was Simon and Levi who responded with a deceptive plan. They proposed to Hamor and Shechem that they would consider the marriage, but only after consulting their father, Isaac. They stipulated that until then, Shechem should keep away from Dinah. The brothers added that Isaac knew the ways of their father Abraham, and whatever he said, they would reveal to Shechem and Hamor. The two men, satisfied with this response, returned home. According to Legends of the Jews, while they were gone, Jacob's sons plotted to kill all the inhabitants of the city.
Simon then suggested a horrifyingly cunning plan: require all the men of Shechem to be circumcised. If they refused, they would simply take Dinah and leave. But if they agreed, they would attack them while they were still in pain from the procedure.
The next morning, Shechem and Hamor returned to Jacob, and Jacob's sons deceitfully told them that Isaac approved of the marriage, but with the condition that every male in Shechem be circumcised, following the tradition of Abraham. Shechem and Hamor, eager to secure the union, convinced the men of their city to undergo the procedure.
The following day, the men of Shechem were circumcised. However, Haddakum, Shechem's grandfather, and his brothers refused, and warned of retaliation from the Canaanites. Dinah, overhearing their words, sent word of the conspiracy to Jacob and his sons.
Filled with fury, Simon and Levi launched a brutal attack. They killed all the men in the city, sparing no one. While they were looking for spoils outside the city, three hundred women rose against them and threw stones, but Simon single-handedly killed them all, and returned to the city, where he joined Levi. They seized the city's wealth, livestock, and took the women and children captive. Among the captives was a beautiful woman named Bunah, who Simon took as his wife. In the end, forty-seven men and eighty-five women were spared, becoming servants to Jacob's sons and their descendants until the Exodus from Egypt.
This story leaves us with so many unsettling questions. What justice can be found in such a violent and deceptive act of revenge? What are the long-term consequences of such bloodshed on the individuals and the community as a whole? And how do we grapple with the complexities of interpreting ancient texts that reflect a vastly different moral landscape? The outrage at Shechem is a chilling reminder of the destructive power of anger, revenge, and the enduring need for a more just and compassionate world.
While Jacob and his sons were sitting in the house of learning, occupied with the study of the Torah, Dinah went abroad to see the dancing and singing women, whom Shechem had hired to dance and play in the streets in order to entice her forth. Had she remained at home, nothing would have happened to her. But she was a woman, and all women like to show themselves in the street. When Shechem caught sight of her, he seized her by main force, young though she was, and violated her in beastly fashion. This misfortune befell Jacob as a punishment for his excessive self-confidence. In his negotiations with Laban, he had used the expression, "My righteousness shall answer for me hereafter." Besides, on his return to Palestine, when he was preparing to meet his brother, he concealed his daughter Dinah in a chest, lest Esau desire to have her for wife, and he be obliged to give her to him. God spoke to him, saying: "Herein hast thou acted unkindly toward thy brother, and therefore Dinah will have to marry Job, one that is neither circumcised nor a proselyte. Thou didst refuse to give her to one that is circumcised, and one that is uncircumcised will take her. Thou didst refuse to give her to Esau in lawful wedlock, and now she will fall a victim to the ravisher's illicit passion." When Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter, he sent twelve servants to fetch Dinah from Shechem's house, but Shechem went out to them with his men, and drove them from his house, and he would not suffer them to come unto Dinah, and he kissed and embraced her before their eyes. Jacob then sent two maidens of his servants' daughters to remain with Dinah in the house of Shechem. Shechem bade three of his friends go to his father Hamor, the son of Haddakum, the son of Pered, and say, "Get me this damsel to wife." Hamor tried at first to persuade his son not to take a Hebrew woman to wife, but when Shechem persisted in his request, he did according to the word of his son, and went forth to communicate with Jacob concerning the matter. In the meanwhile the sons of Jacob returned from the field, and, kindled with wrath, they spoke unto their father, saying, "Surely death is due to this man and his household, because the Lord God of the whole earth commanded Noah and his children that man shall never rob nor commit adultery. Now, behold, Shechem has ravaged and committed fornication with our sister, and not one of all the people of the city spake a word to him." And whilst they were speaking, Hamor came to speak to Jacob the words of his son concerning Dinah, and after he ceased to speak, Shechem himself came to Jacob and repeated the request made by his father. Simon and Levi answered Hamor and Shechem deceitfully, saying: "All you have spoken unto us we will do. And, behold, our sister is in your house, but keep away from her until we send to our father Isaac concerning this matter, for we can do nothing without his counsel. He knows the ways of our father Abraham, and whatever he saith unto us we will tell you, we will conceal nothing from you." Shechem and his father went home thereafter, satisfied with the result achieved, and when they had gone, the sons of Jacob asked him to seek counsel and pretext in order to kill all the inhabitants of the city, who had deserved this punishment on account of their wickedness. Then Simon said to them: "I have good counsel to give you. Bid them be circumcised. If they consent not, we shall take our daughter from them, and go away. And if they consent to do this, then, when they are in pain, we shall attack them and slay them." The next morning Shechem and his father came again to Jacob, to speak concerning Dinah, and the sons of Jacob spoke deceitfully to them, saying: "We told our father Isaac all your words, and your words pleased him, but he said, that thus did Abraham his father command him from God, that any man that is not of his descendants, who desireth to take one of his daughters to wife, shall cause every male belonging to him to be circumcised." Shechem and his father hastened to do the wishes of the sons of Jacob, and they persuaded also the men of the city to do likewise, for they were greatly esteemed by them, being the princes of the land. On the next day, Shechem and his father rose up early in the morning, and they assembled all the men of the city, and they called for the sons of Jacob, and they circumcised Shechem, his father, his five brothers, and all the males in the city, six hundred and forty-five men and two hundred and seventy-six lads. Haddakum, the grandfather of Shechem, and his six brothers would not be circumcised, and they were greatly incensed against the people of the city for submitting to the wishes of the sons of Jacob. In the evening of the second day, Shechem and his father sent to have eight little children whom their mothers had concealed brought to them to be circumcised. Haddakum and his six brothers sprang at the messengers, and sought to slay them, and sought to slay also Shechem, Hamor, and Dinah. They chided Shechem and his father for doing a thing that their fathers had never done, which would raise the ire of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan against them, as well as the ire of all the children of Ham, and that on account of a Hebrew woman. Haddakum and his brothers finished by saying: "Behold, to-morrow we will go and assemble our Canaanitish brethren, and we will come and smite you and all in whom you trust, that there shall not be a remnant left of you or them." When Hamor and his son Shechem and all the people of the city heard this, they were sore afraid, and they repented what they had done, and Shechem and his father answered Haddakum and his brothers: "Because we saw that the Hebrews would not accede to our wishes concerning their daughter, we did this thing, but when we shall have obtained our request from them, we will then do unto them that which is in your hearts and in ours, as soon as we shall become strong." Dinah, who heard their words, hastened and dispatched one of her maidens whom her father had sent to take care of her in Shechem's house, and informed Jacob and his sons of the conspiracy plotted against them. When the sons of Jacob heard this, they were filled with wrath, and Simon and Levi swore, and said, "As the Lord liveth, by to-morrow there shall not be a remnant left In the whole city." They began the extermination by killing eighteen of the twenty young men who had concealed themselves and were not circumcised, and two of them fled and escaped to some lime pits that were in the city. Then Simon and Levi slew all the city, not leaving a male over, and while they were looking for spoils outside of the city, three hundred women rose against them and threw stones and dust upon them, but Simon single-handed slew them all, and returned to the city, where he joined Levi. Then they took away from the people outside of the city their sheep, their oxen, their cattle, and also the women and the little children, and they led all these away, and took them to the city to their father Jacob. The number of women whom they did not slay, but only took captive, was eighty-five virgins, among them a young damsel of great beauty by the name of Bunah, whom Simon took to wife. The number of the males which they took captive and did not slay was forty-seven, and all these men and women were servants to the sons of Jacob, and to their children after them, until the day they left Egypt.
