Teaching Team
Show Her Honor
Continuing with the last post, "Learning From the Mothers," we continue our series on the importance of the woman as seen in Judaism. In the upcoming parashah, Vayishlach, we encounter the story of Dinah's abduction (see the aforementioned post on more about this subject). This week we will look more at the significance of Dinah's actions and why she was the one who could have succeeded where the Patriarchs did not. (1)
As understood by Rashi, Leah was destined to marry Esau and pull him from his evil ways by helping him transform his character for the better. Because Leah did not do this, it was now up to Dinah to marry him. However, Jacob hid her in a chest to protect her from Esau which resulted in Dinah not being able to fulfill her mission in life. Yet, we may ask what was so special about Dinah that only she could succeed whereas Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob failed in transforming the character of Esau.
Dinah characterizes the concept of bringing people to do teshuvah, often translated as repentance but better conveys a return to Hashem. This same concept can be seen in 1 Peter 3:1 where he says that the husbands "may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives." This is also true of the Messiah whose job is to bring people to repentance so as to transform the world for the better. Paul alludes to this in Ephesians when he says,
Husbands, love your wives, just as Messiah also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present to himself the assembly in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
The way Messiah transforms the assembly is from the inside out, transforming the world by nurturing the inner holiness within. This is why the Messiah may be compared to the Shechinah. In Jewish mysticism, it is interesting to note that the Shechinah is seen as the feminine aspect of Hashem (although it should be remembered that this is only allegorical and should not be taken literally; it is only seen in the way Hashem interacts with the world in a certain sense).
Both man and woman have the obligation to study Torah and carry out their respective mitzvos. But each gender has its own way in which it transforms and interacts with the world. A man is more of a conquerer and agressive by nature. A woman is able to nurture and develop the world into a dwelling for Hashem's Presence. She is the one who reveals the light that is within Creation. Yet, we must keep in mind, that because a woman transforms the world from her innerness, she cannot go out until she realizes what is within herself. Once that innerness is realized it is then possible for a woman to go out. She brings to maturation what the man starts. Because she effects change from within, this is more lasting change and a greater change than that of the man, a change brought about through conqering. A man has these qualities but they are not dominant whereas in a woman, these qualities are primary and this allows woman to perform her specific mission.
If Hashem has given the woman the ability to transform the world for the better then it is her obligation to do so but, as stressed in the previous blog, with the utmost modesty and not in violation of the laws of tzniut. This is why Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not succeed at the job that only Dinah could accomplish.
(1) Most of the information contained within this blog is based on the same sources from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt"l, listed in the previous blog as well as other discourses of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Chabad chassidim.
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