To begin, let's go back a week to Vayishlach, which, as Daniel discussed in the previous Moishe Moment, mainly describes Jacob's fraught meeting with his estranged brother, Esau. Again, I'd like to skip over the men and jump instead to the fascinating (and very disturbing) story of Dinah. In short, Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, goes out to the fields and is violated ("ye'aneha") by Shechem, a Hivvite. Despite Shechem's heartfelt plea to marry Dinah and make things right with the sons of Jacob (including circumcising his whole town), Dinah's brothers are furious that their sister's honor has been besmirched. Simeon and Levi proceed to slaughter Shechem and all of his people, plundering their wealth in the process. Not exactly a morality tale. …show more content…
We know nothing of what actually took place between Dinah and Shechem and how she felt about the whole situation. In "The Red Tent," Anita Diamant solves this problem by taking Dinah as her narrator, exploring her desires and inner thoughts. However, as it is written in the Torah, Dinah comes off as a flat character - a sister, a daughter, a virtuous, pure woman, shamed by a man and avenged by other