#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*# (C) Dr Hendel, 2000 *#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*
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| Rashi is Simple Version 2.0 |
| (C) Dr Hendel, Summer 2000 |
| http://www.RashiYomi.Com |
| PERMISSION to reprint WITH this header if NOT for profit |
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VERSE: Gn34-01a
======
Gn34-01a And Dinah the daughter of Leah went out to
visit the girls of the country...(The Bible
relates how she got raped)
RASHI TEXT:
===========
Gn34-01 She is called
>Dinah the daughter of Leah
instead of
>Dinah the daughter of Jacob
to show that she behaved like her mother
Just as Leah was a forward woman so was
Dinah a forward woman. We learn that Leah
was forward from Gn30-16 where Leah says
>come to me tonight because I have hired
>you with the mandrakes of my son
BRIEF BUT COMPLETE NARRATIVE EXPLANATION:
=========================================
This Rashi has irritated many feminists who accuse rashi of
blaiming rape victims on the rape. Actually Rashi is Quite Simple
To clarify Rashi we first state what Rashi did NOT say. Then what
he did say will be very simple.
#1) Rashi did not BLAME Dinah/Leah
----------------------------------
There are many Rashis that begin
>The Torah is BLAIMING or being PEJORATIVE
Rashi is NOT doing this here. He is just describing a personality
type.
#2) Rashi is NOT accusing Leah of being Immodest
------------------------------------------------
The definition of
>IMMODEST = Playing with other men
But the definition for a woman to
>BE FORWARD = **verbally** demanding relations
(Cf Rambam, Marriage 15:18)
Furthermore it is well known that women are
>praised for seducing their husbands
>when they are depressed (See Rashi Ex38-08)
Thus initiation is a good attribute in women. And while
verbal initiation is 'forward' there is no indication that
it is intrinsically bad. This answers the Abarbanel
#3) Rashi is NOT linking Dinah's forwardness to the rape
--------------------------------------------------------
True, Rashi does mention Dinah's forwardness
And True, it is obviously related to the Rape story
But Rashi does not link the forwardness to the Rape
But if Rashi links the Forwardness to the
>Rape story
but not to the
>Rape
then what does Rashi link Dinah's forwardness to?
The answer to this question can be found in an obscure
but brilliant YFAH TOAR on Braishit Rabbah 80:12. The
YFAH TOAR suggests that since Dinah was Raped and since
Dinah had a forward personality therefore OTHER people
would blame her for the rape
>What should she have expected...you see the
>way she behaves
But Jacob and his sons (and Judaism) did not so blame
Dinah for her rape. Therefore a primary reason for
Shimon and Levi destroying the city was because of the
way their sister was slandered. Rashi learns this from
the explicit verse 1-34-31
>But Shimon-Levi said: Should THEY say our sister
>behaves like a prostitute (and that she CAUSED It)
In other words the following are RIGHT and WRONG intepretations
of Rashi.
WRONG
-----
Dinah had a forward personality. Hence she caused the Rape
RIGHT
-----
Dinah has a forward personality. Hence other non-jews would
blame her for the rape. Hence the city had to be terminated
BOTH because of the rape and because of the consequent slander.
So Rashi is Simple and the feminists have no complaint against
Rashi.
We have left to explain the obvious derivation. This however is
clearly stated in Rashi---the lineage is
>MATERNAL (Daughter of Leah)
not
>Paternal (Daughter of Jacob).
It is well known that lineage in the Bible is usually paternal.
Deviations in lineage are interpreted to show a close relationship
between the two parties---in this case Leah influenced Dinah.
-------------------------------------------------
| QUESTION 1: |
| =========== |
| How would you show that lineage is usually |
| paternal in the Bible and that deviations |
| denote influence of other relatives on the |
| person? What tools would you use? {LIST1} |
| below gives a partial answer. |
-------------------------------------------------
COMMENTS ON RASHI'S FORM:
=========================
Note how Rashi is defended by the YEFAH ToAR by interpreting
>some other verse
We have frequently emphasized that difficult Rashis can
be salvaged by other verses.
LISTS {For ADVANCED students and for those with more time}:
===========================================================
{LIST1} {Most genealogies in the Bible are paternal. However
exceptions happen frequently-eg sibling or maternal
genealogy. In such cases the person is seen as having
an 'extra' special relationship with the other relative
In the case of sibling genealogies CARING/SACRIFICIAL
behavior has transpired between the siblings.In the
case of maternal genealogies the Bible emphasizes
that the mother influenced the child. Since we have
more sibling than maternal genealogies the list below
comes from the sibling genealogies for which we have
explicit support for our statements. For further
insights see footnote *5}
VERSE SISTER BROTHER CARING ACT OF BROTHER FOR SISTER
===== ====== ======= ===================================
2-15-20 Miriam Aaron Petitioned for her(Num 12)*1
1-34-25 Dinah Simon-Levi Waged war for her(Gen 35)*1
4-25-18 Cazbi Midian-Nation She prostituted for them*2
2-6-23 Elisva Nachson He "married her" to Aaron
1-28-9 Machlth Nevayoth He "married her" to Esauv
1-4-22 Naamah Tuval-Kayin He "married her" to Noach*3
1-25-20 Rivkah Laban Helped her recognize criminals*3 *4
4-26-59 Miriam Moses-Aaron The both petitioned for her(Num12)*3
FOOTNOTES:
==========
*1 Only the first 3 cases are mentioned by the Mechiltah
Nevertheless, when Rashi uses a principle, unless that principle
can be universally applied it has no validity. It would take too
long to go over every case (in this issue) but I did want to bring
them down and show the general idea. To make the list short I only
brought down Biblical examples. Note how CD ROMS would NOT help
us here since the list uses many keywords: SISTER OF, THEIR SISTER,
BROTHERS etc.
*2 In other words (See 4-31-16 for an explicit statement)--she,
as part of a war effort, deliberately seduced strategic people
so that God should be angry with the Jewish people. Note how
in this case she acted as "big sister" for her nation.
*3 The preceding 3 examples were NOT brought down by the
Mechiltah. Nevertheless they fit into the general pattern.
Note how Rashi explicitly mentions marriage in 2-6-23 and
1-28-9. Although Rashi does not explicitly say that Tuval-Kayin
married Naamah to Noach it a) is consistent with the other members
of ths list and b) it would seem logical that Noach who built an
ark needed the "father of utensils"--Tuval Kayin--Naamahs brother.
We will go into this in a future issue.
*4 See Rashi here. There are numerous references to the fact
that Rivkah learned how to recognize "criminal behavior" in
her fathers-brothers house and this helped her marriage to Isaac.
Again, we will go into this in a future issue
*5 eg 2K12-2 states that YHOASH's mother was
>TZVYAH=Colored
Perhaps a reference to the fact that she was happily
married and well dressed. An obvious implication is
that happily married people give rise (on the average)
to well raised children. However we cannot prove this
speculation from Verses or midrashim. Hence we concentrated
on the sibling genealogies. Note how a CD rom would not
have helped us here...Indeed the issue is not only the
list but finding a MEANINGFUL list that yields results
CROSS REFERENCES:
=================
Volume 1 Number 10 v2b15-20 (Discusses sibling genealogies)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
=================
* To my Shomray emunah Rashi class for their helpful
comments. In particular I quote the following cute thought
from Chaya Bruryiah Chait
>Dinah was FORWARD because according to our
>tradition she was suppose to have been a boy
>but prayer changed her to a girl.
>
>So her forwardness was a leftover from her
>almost being a boy
* To Hadassah Goldstein for both asking the question
as well as pointing out the Abarbanel.
RULE CLASSIFICATION {See the web site for comparable examples}:
===============================================================
OTHER VERSES
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