With Parshas Vayishlach comes Yaakov’s
return to Eretz Yisrael, but not before a number of events occur along the way.
Yaakov’s preparations for his meeting Esav which ends in a tearful reunion, the
death of his mother, Rivka, and our focus, the story of Dinah’s kidnapping by
the Chivi prince, Shechem.
While on the return journey home, Yaakov
stops in the city of Shechem, buys a plot of land, and settles in for a short
time. The prince of Shechem, also named Shechem, spots Dinah around town,
kidnaps her and takes her back to the palace. Obsessed with her, he asks his
father, King Chamor, to negotiate with Yaakov to allow him to marry her. The
Shevatim were enraged by the incident, and decided to deal with this situation
in a cunning way. They told Chamor and Shechem that if they wanted to have any
sort of connection with Yaakov’s family then they and the entire city would
have to be circumcised. Shechem and Chamor agree and convince the citizens of
the city to be circumcised. On the third day following the circumcisions, which
we know from Avraham in Parshas Vayeira is the most painful time, Shimon and
Levi go and kill out all the men in the city, following which they go to the
palace, kill Shechem and Chamor, and take Dinah back with them.
The question that all the commentaries
ask is how come Shimon and Levi killed out the entire city? How were they
deserving of death together with the actual perpetrators of the crime, Shechem
and Chamor?
The Ohr HaChaim adds an additional
question that how come they killed the people of the town first and only then
did they move onto the palace and Shechem? (This is seen from the pesukim. See
Bereishis 34:25-26.) He explains that the people of Shechem were actually not
deserving of death at all. However, we have a concept called “רודף”
which is that if someone is coming to kill you, it is permissible for you to do
anything to prevent him from doing so, including killing him if necessary. When
the people of Shechem saw that Shimon and Levi were planning on killing their
leaders, they stepped in front to stop them. Seeing the angry mob ahead of
them, ready to kill to protect their king, Shimon and Levi took appropriate
halachic measures to protect themselves, and killed out the city before moving
on to the palace.
After Dinah’s return,
all the brothers went out and looted the city, claiming all possessions as
their own. On the surface, this does not seem to be an act befitting of the
sons of Yaakov, but the Ohr HaChaim gives a great explanation for this as well.
Halachically, in a case similar to Dinah’s, the perpetrator is obligated to pay
an Embarrassment fee. There is no set price for this, it’s all dependent on the
embarrassment of each individual party. Yaakov was world-renowned because of
his tremendous wealth and piety, kidnapping his daughter was equivalent to
kidnapping the child of one of our world leaders today. The level of embarrassment
for the family must have been tremendous! What the brothers were doing was
collecting this fee which was so high that it was covered only by the property
of the entire city.
Shabbat Shalom!
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