Two Minute Torah Podcast

Vayishlah 5770 by Rabbi Rafi Rank

We don't usually think of sex when we're talking Torah, but given this week parashah, it will be difficult to avoid since the Torah records a tale of rape. Jacob's daughter, Dina, went out to socialize in the neighborhood and that's when a certain Shechem laid eyes on herÑ

Vayikah otah—he took her

Vayishkav otah—he layed with her

Vyanehah—and he violated her (Genesis 34:2)

Those three Hebrew words crescendo in severity as they describe an act both unwelcomed and non-consensual, though the Torah goes on to describe a young man stricken with love for Dina. Some have even wondered if this sudden turn of events points to a Dina who more than willingly submitted to Shechem's manly aggression, Dina's silence giving us a football field worth of space to fantasize. So let's fantasizeÉ

Boy meets girl. Girl is hot. Boy takes girl by force. Boy and girl fall in love, marry, and live happily ever after.

YeahÑright! And I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. I actually don't have a bridge, but this is all by way of saying that a tale beginning with forced sex that ends in marital bliss is a twisted fantasy.

Unless Dina is a total air head, how could she develop any feelings for a man who has just forced himself upon her? What can she know of him other than his testosterone level is as high as the Hoover Dam! And let's, for a moment, imagine that Dina's sexual encounter with Shechem is forced not because it was a rape but because the social norms of the day see casual sex as entertainment, something people do willingly, but thoughtlessly. That type of Òsocially forcedÓ sexual activity in some way diminishes our humanity as it reduces love making to a biological function independent of any commitment to the other person, emotionally, physically, or spiritually.

This story does not end in marital bliss, but murder, Dina's brothers killing Shechem and all the males of his town. The brothers' violence is yet another bothersome subject, but this much we can say. To see sexual intercourse as an act divorced from love, emotional commitment, or family, may be okay for lab biologists, but it's ill-advised for a boy and a girl who have just met. Unlike the people of Shechem's town, sexual missteps will not necessarily lead to death, but they can lead to people getting hurtÑreal hurtÑand that's why the Torah asks us to think of the moral dimensions revolving around our sexual selves, a serious issue, and one for you and your friends to ponder.