This week's Parshat Shavua, Torah Portion of the Week, Vayichi, doesn't have the "rape of Dina," but the terrible event is alluded to in Jacob's blessing of Simon and Levi. At the Shabbat Women's class I was at, we ended up discussing the topic of the rape.
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- Was Dina guilty, provocative by going out on her own in Shechem?
- Was it Dina's fault?
- Should she have been better guarded?
- Didn't she realize that Shechem wasn't like her grandfather's compound?
- Certainly it wasn't acceptable for girls to be wandering out by themselves....
I had no patience for that train of thought. Didn't her aunt and grandmother go out by themselves? I can just imagine that Jacob raised his growing family with stories of their real home, the Land his grandfather Abraham had gone to according to Gd's instructions, the Land that his father Isaac had never left.
The rape was not Dina's fault.
And when a Jew is attacked by Arabs when waiting for a ride/tremp or a bus, it's not his/her fault either.
We have to recognize that our enemies have different values and culture. They glorify terror and murder. I'm always chastising others who stand in the road and/or have their backs to the traffic. There are proper ways to wait for a tremp or bus,and there are ways that are asking for trouble. I don't think that Dina's trying to meet the other young women from Shechem was wrong. She was raped, and the rapist was the guilty party.
This was written a few days ago and was scheduled to post.
This was written a few days ago and was scheduled to post.