Difference between revisions of "Sin and Slaughter of Shekhem/1/en"
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<h2 name="Crime and Punishment">Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?</h2> | <h2 name="Crime and Punishment">Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?</h2> | ||
| + | <p><a href="Bereshit34" data-aht="source">Bereshit 34</a> opens with Shekhem's rape of Dinah, and his ensuing negotiations with Yaakov's family to marry Dinah and to fuse their two communities into one nation.  When Dinah's brothers condition this on the circumcision of all males of Shekhem's city, Shekhem himself hastens to oblige and persuades his people to follow suit.  At this point, Shimon and Levi take advantage of Shekhem's post-circumcision infirmity to kill all of the males in the city, and Yaakov's sons proceed to despoil the city.</p> | ||
| + | <p>While the Torah views Shekhem's act as an outrage ("נְבָלָה עָשָׂה בְיִשְׂרָאֵל"), the brutal response of Dinah's brothers raises serious moral questions.  First, rape of an unmarried woman is not considered to be a capital crime according to the Torah.  Devarim 22:28-29 merely obligates the rapist to marry the woman and financially compensate the woman's father, and Shekhem, in fact, was more than happy to fulfill both of these obligations.  On this backdrop, were Shimon and Levi justified in killing Shekhem, or was this an extra-judicial avenging of family honor?  Moreover, even if Shekhem himself deserved to die, on what grounds were all of his male compatriots executed?</p> | ||
<h2 name="">Bad Faith Negotiations?</h2> | <h2 name="">Bad Faith Negotiations?</h2> | ||
Version as of 02:00, 5 December 2014
Sin and Slaughter of Shekhem
Introduction
Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?
Bereshit 34 opens with Shekhem's rape of Dinah, and his ensuing negotiations with Yaakov's family to marry Dinah and to fuse their two communities into one nation. When Dinah's brothers condition this on the circumcision of all males of Shekhem's city, Shekhem himself hastens to oblige and persuades his people to follow suit. At this point, Shimon and Levi take advantage of Shekhem's post-circumcision infirmity to kill all of the males in the city, and Yaakov's sons proceed to despoil the city.
While the Torah views Shekhem's act as an outrage ("נְבָלָה עָשָׂה בְיִשְׂרָאֵל"), the brutal response of Dinah's brothers raises serious moral questions. First, rape of an unmarried woman is not considered to be a capital crime according to the Torah. Devarim 22:28-29 merely obligates the rapist to marry the woman and financially compensate the woman's father, and Shekhem, in fact, was more than happy to fulfill both of these obligations. On this backdrop, were Shimon and Levi justified in killing Shekhem, or was this an extra-judicial avenging of family honor? Moreover, even if Shekhem himself deserved to die, on what grounds were all of his male compatriots executed?
