Who Speaks for Dinah?
11/30/2023 05:40:30 PM
This week we read one of the most violent stories in the Bible, one often skipped in Hebrew School. Jacob’s daughter, Dina goes into the town of Shechem, where the local prince rapes her. One voice is missing from the story. The Torah does not share anything of Dina’s perspective or experience. Though modern writers, like Anita Diamant, apply their creativity to fill in the gaps, she is an object, not a subject in the story. This year, the story echoes in our ears in a way that is at once far too loud, and deafeningly silent.
One of many horrific aspects of the October 7 attacks was the brutal rape and related violence carried out against Israeli women by Hamas terrorists. Instructions found with some of the attackers make it clear that these assaults were part of the plan from the outset. On October 7, the voices of those who were assaulted were silenced- many were murdered, or kidnapped. Only now are those who survived beginning to speak out.
However, those voices have been silenced again. Despite an abundance of physical evidence discovered by first responders on the scene, of these types of assaults against both men and women, and the testimony of those few survivors who have already had the bravery to tell of their experiences, the silence from the world has been deafening. Organizations, from the UN to women’s groups around the world, even in the US, have egregiously refused to acknowledge and investigate, or remained silent. The UN women's rights group actually retracted its condemnation they had at first offered.
There are certainly important organizations and activists who have spoken up, but unfortunately, October 7th has exposed bright lines between those who are truly devoted to human rights and dignity, and those who allow themselves to be blinded by antisemitism and whose claims to moral authority stop somewhere between the river and the sea.
Prosecuting these crimes may be difficult. Even for many who survived, the trauma of describing their experiences may be too much to bear. There is video evidence in Israeli hands, filmed by the terrorists themselves, may never be released out of respect for the dignity of those victims. I do not have the standing to speak for Dinah, but can lift up the voices of those survivors who can be heard, and the voices of those who can speak on behalf of those who cannot. A few examples:
https://www.newsweek.com/believe-womenexcept-israelis-like-me-opinion-1847706
The story ends in death. It would seem that Shimon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, exact vengeance against every adult male in the entire town. Jacob himself is critical of their response, even cursing them on his deathbed. My modern sensibilities cause me to instinctively reject their response. However, as I read the story this year, what lingers for me is that even after Jacob offers a truce, Dinah remains in Shechem. Only the onslaught of Shimon and Levi is sufficient to free her. Their behavior takes on a different valence when it is seen in the context of the fact that this was not an attack by a lone individual. The town’s leaders committed the offense, but dozens of adults enabled and excused their behavior, and prevented Dinah from leaving her captivity. In doing so they left the role of innocent bystanders and took on culpability. How far does responsibility go for these attacks? What level of response is justified to retrieve those still in danger? We do not live by the values and methods of Shimon and Levi, but we understand that an attack of this nature cannot stand without enablers, assisters and endorsers who throw in their lot with the perpetrators, and in doing so assume a portion of the guilt.