From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2004 10:13 PM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Vayishlach, 5765





                           A Fine Mess You've Gotten Me into This Time    
        
             By Rabbi Joshua (discomposedly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


This week's parsha contains an account of the abduction and rape of Dinah by Shechem, the negotiations that Ya'akov's sons went through with Shechem and his father to get Dinah back, and the denouement of the entire drama, when Shimon and Levi wiped all of the males in the city and retrieved Dinah. Ya'akov, who did not take part in the negotiations, but rather let his sons take the initiative, expressed his displeasure to Shimon and Levi over their actions, but Shimon and Levi responded that they could not let the treatment of their sister as a harlot go unanswered. There is a great deal of discussion among the classical and later commentators about the different halachic opinions that were reflected in this controversy between Ya'akov and his sons. A study of  the commentary of Ramban, with Rabbi Chavel's Hebrew notes, to this section will acquaint one with the major halachic approaches that have been offered. I would like to approach Ya'akov's reaction on a more basic level. Specifically, I would like to understand what Ya'akov meant when he told Shimon and Levi, "You have discomposed me, making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanite and among the Perizzite ; I am few in number and should the gather together and attack me, I will be annihilated - I and my household" (Bereishis 34:30). Why did Ya'akov place his emphasis on his own standing among the surrounding nations, by saying 'achartem osi' - i.e., you have discomposed me - when in reality it was the entire family that was now at risk, as he goes on to say?


Rabbi Hillel Lieberman, Hy"d (may God avenge his blood), one of the first victims of the so-called 'second intifada,' which was launched in September 2000 by the arch villain Y. Arafat, may the name of the evil rot, explained, in his posthumously published commentary, Ahavas HaAretz, that the actions of Shimon and Levi called into question, in Ya'akov's mind, the entire essence of the message that he was trying to convey to the world. The Talmud (Shabbos 33b), based on a verse in this week's parsha (Bereishis 33:18), tells us that when Ya'akov entered Shechem, he immediately enacted changes for the benefit of the city's inhabitants. He developed a coinage system for them, as well as market places and bath houses. Citing Rav Kook in his Igros Rayah (volume one, pages 6-7), as well as in his commentary Eyn Ayah to Shabbos 33b,  Rabbi Lieberman writes that Ya'akov, by doing this, was carrying out one of the tasks of the Jewish people, which is to bring benefit to the nations of the world. When a Jew exerts efforts in a certain place, continues Rabbi Lieberman, part of his personality becomes embedded there and identified with that place, as well. Therefore, Ya'akov felt that when Shimon and Levi wiped out the entire male population of Shechem, they undid the good work that he had done there, and sullied his own name. That is why Ya'kov told them, "you have discomfited me."


Actually, Rav Kook, in his letter, gives a more detailed explanation of the reason why Ya'akov made the improvements in Shechem than that cited by Rabbi Lieberman. He writes that some people have the notion that a government based on Torah is not able to function in a structured, functioning society, or, to put it into modern parlance, "the real world." To dispel this notion, Ya'akov, who 'sat in the tents' (Bereishis 25:27) and personified the Torah scholar, made a point of establishing institutions in Shechem that would benefit the city. It was, in fact, in Shechem that the Jewish kingdom would, in the future, split into two, as a result of the people's rejection of the kingship of the House of Dovid. Part of this rejection, writes Rav Kook, was based on the erroneous notion of the incompatibility of Torah study, as displayed by King Dovid and King Shlomo, with a functioning society. Ya'akov, as the personification of the truth of Torah - as the prophet Micha (7:20)  tells us, that God "grants truth to Ya'akov" - benefited Shechem and thereby demonstrated that the Torah is compatible with the 'real world.' Thus, the city of Shechem was imprinted with the character of truth as displayed by Ya'akov's synthesis of Torah and life in a functioning society. When his sons acted as they did in that city, Ya'akov felt that his imprint would be lost, and his impact on the future history of his people would thus be reduced. That is why he rebuked Shimon and Levi so stridently, and emphasized his personal stake in what they had done.


Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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