(With special gratitude to The Arizal, to Adam Richstone, and to Anita Diamond)
"Dinah daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Ya'akov, went out to see the daughters of the land. When Shekhem, son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the land, saw her, he took her, and he lay her, and he afflicted her. His soul cleaved (vatidbak) with Dinah daughter of Ya'akov, and he loved the girl, and he spoke to the heart of the girl." (Bereishit 34:1-3)
Ya'akov's family takes up residence outside the city of Shekhem. Dinah, perhaps excited by the novelty of the people and place, ventures out of the family's camp and into the city. Then, Shekhem becomes the subject of the action--he sees, he takes, he lays, he afflicts; and Dinah becomes a nameless object--a mere her, over and over again. Shekhem rapes Dinah. And then suddenly, he becomes deeply connected with her, and falls in love, and speaks kindly. Why the sudden shift?
Some of the features of the language hint toward explanation but require opening up. Why is it written first that "his soul cleaved (vatiDBaK) with Dinah" and then "he loved the girl", wouldn't it have been sufficient to write just the second? Why is Dinah called by her name and by the tender title "ha-na'ara" (flatly translated into English, "the girl") after she is understood to be "her"? Why, amidst the confusion of rape and adoration--of taking, laying, defiling, cleaving, loving, sweet-talking-are we told Dinah is "bat Ya'akov" (daughter of Ya'akov)? And why is Dinah called "bat Leah asher yaldah l'Ya'akov" (daughter of Leah whom she bore to Ya'akov)?
I. Bat Leah
When one is called by the father's name, one is identified with the family. Even in its letters symbolizing the grouping of progenitor and progeny, father is written Aleph then Bet, first then second, the unity of predecessor with successor. When one is called by the mother's name, one is not precisely identified with the family, for within one family there may be several wives to one father. (I don't know a general principle underlying all references to people by their mother's names; but it seems to me that at least one thing is true of some such references:) To call by the mother is to connect a person to the source of life, to the particular source of life from whom that person emerges and thus by hint to Harachaman, The Source of Life, from whom emanates all.
Dinah is called "bat Leah" and so linked to her mother and to The Ultimate Mother. Furthermore, in the tracing of Dinah from particular to universal, she is traced to the one who is both particular and universal, to the mother archetype, the first principle of woman and the whole network of women, to Chavah.
There is another way that "bat Leah" identifies Dinah with Chavah. Gematria Leah (Lamed-Aleph-Hey) is 30+1+5 = 36. That is, two times chai (life), and "chai" is lashon Chavah (i.e., "chai" is of the same root or sound as Chavah). Leah is two chai since she here links two chai'im (lives), Chavah's and Dinah's.
The name Dinah by itself is also connected to Chavah. Gematria Dinah (Daleth-Yud-Nun-Hey) is 4+10+50+5 = 69. That is, three times twenty-three. For each birth, a partnership of three is required; mother, father, and HaShem come together to form the next generation. And the number of generations between Chavah and Dinah is twenty-three (ten from Adam to Noach, ten from Noach to Avraham, and three from Avraham to the off-spring of Israel). The partnership of three iterated twenty-three times from creation gives Dinah.
Now, as Dinah is to Chavah, Shekhem is to the nachash (serpent). (The Arizal makes this connection in his Chumash perush.) Shekhem is called "ben Chamor ha-Chivy" (son of Hamor the Hivite), and "chivy" is a hint to the serpent since chivy is lashon "chaviya" (serpent, in Aramaic). The connection of Dinah and Chavah and the connection of Shekhem and the nachash, taken together, suggest a more expansive connection between the two episodes.
There are (at least) three parallel elements in Dinah's story and Chavah's story: seeing, falling prey, and man's cleaving. "Dinah daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Ya'akov, went out to see the daughters of the land" (Bereishit 34:1); and "the eyes of both of them [Chavah and Adam] were opened, and they realized that they were naked." (Bereishit 3:7). "His soul cleaved (vatiDBaK) with Dinah daughter of Ya'akov" (Bereishit 34:3); and "a man shall therefore leave his father and mother and cleave (v'DaBaK) with his wife…" (Bereishit 2:24). However, while there are parallel elements in the stories, the structures are not strictly parallel; the orders of the parallel elements are inverses. With Chavah, first there is mention of the man cleaving, then there is the fall, and lastly they see their nakedness. With Dinah, first she goes to see, then she falls prey, and finally the man cleaves. This disparallel feature, this inversion in order, is no incidental feature of the connection between the episodes, this is the key to unlocking one of the doors into Dinah's story. The process of Chavah and the nachshon leads to estrangement from HaShem; and, when Dinah and Shekhem reverse the process, there is teshuva, there is returning to HaShem. (The Arizal in his perush understands this second episode as making teshuva for the serpent.)
II. bat Ya'akov
The phrase "Dinah bat Ya'akov" hints about the shift in the soul of Shekhem. "Dinah" is lashon Din (judgment), which is closely associated with the sphere of Gevurah (strength, judgment, restriction, constriction, formation, specialization, detail); and Ya'akov is of the sphere Tiferet (harmony, balance, beauty, truth). Thus, when "his [Shekhem's] soul cleaved with Dinah daughter of Ya'akov" (Bereishit 34:3), "his soul cleaved with the Gevurah of Tiferet".
Gevurah of Tiferet is the discipline of beauty. For examples, this aspect of HaShem manifests in a symphony in the strict usage of rules for harmonization, in a painting in the detail work that gives the painting its beauty, and in a dance in the cleanness of movement in exact positioning of the body. Gevurah brings into Tiferet the possibility of lines, defined shapes, and balance between elements.
When Dinah somehow manifests Gevurah of Tiferet, Shekhem is turned around completely. When Shekhem saw her, and took procession of her, and lay her, and afflicted her, he dehumanized her, he stripped her of dignity, he reduced her individuality to the one dimension of her physical appeal. But then, suddenly Dinah's special detail--the particular quirks of her demeanor, features of her mind, ebbs of her speech, … -- this was revealed, and this revelation made his soul cleave to Dinah.
Seeing the girl before him, not merely as some "her", but in the fullness of her particularity as "Dinah", opened the possibility of love. After Shekhem's soul cleaved to Dinah, he desired to bind himself to her speciality, to commit to the full revelation of the potentials that he had just scorned. It is davka because he dehumanized her that he desires this commitment; his love is inspired only in part by the details of her tiferet, he is blasted into love by horror at his action. His love is precisely teshuva. As the nachash seduces Chavah away from HaShem, Shekhem uncovers the light of HaShem through Dinah.
But, after Shekhem reconnects to HaShem, his teshuva is nearly complete. His heart has turned, he need only bring down that light into action. The action which must be performed can be learned from the serpent. The sin of eating from the forbidden tree transgresses the covenant of The Creator with Adam and Chavah; and from this sin immediately follows sexual shame. The teshuva Shekhem must accomplish to reverse this process must address human's sexual shame and must renew covenant. Shekhem's final step in teshuva is performing brit milah, the covenant of circumcision. (Having completely turned the sin of the snake, Shekhem can leave creation. Shimon and Levi zealously help him with this.)
III. Simchah's Lingering Questions…
I find it a little disturbing that what started out a story about Dinah has become a story of Shekhem. Why? Apparently because Shekhem is the locus of the action. Dinah, as we might expect of a vessel of Gevurah, is passive.
There's a blank spot in the narrative I've offered, one which I am still totally unable to fill: What happens that Dinah is so suddenly revealed to Shekhem? I mean, what simple, physical actions happen between 34:2 and 34:3? If there is some thing that Dinah does that makes for the revelation, this is where that thing would go.
I imagine the moment this way. Shekhem, heaving like an animal, pulls away from her. He expects her to cry or run or beg. But she does none of these. Dinah fixes on him a perfectly serene, utterly piercing stare. She is the embodiment of tiferet, she is in total harmony with herself, with the circumstances, and with him. Perhaps she thinks of the serenity of her grandfather Yitzchak when he was brought up to be sacrificed. The cause of the revelation is Dinah's unfaltering balance. Her completely unexpected strength and order cause Shekhem to reel.
But this is only how I imagine. I've not been able to access all the sources. If you know of a source that approaches this place in the narrative, please write and share.
IV. Nafka Mina
May we be zocheh to have revealed to us the particular detail in the particular beauty of the beings we are blessed to meet. May we be zocheh to stand in the presence of great lights who see us in all our peculiarity. May we taste how this Shabbat is distinct and special. May you connect, may you tiDBaK/i, to your Dinah, the one who in their unique beauty reveals for you the light of HaShem and inspires your deepest love and your greatest reconnection with The Source. Shabbat Shalom!