The Pain of the People of Shechem

Parshat Vayishlach

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Seen on a Jewish satire webpage: 

Q: Why weren’t Shimon and Levi afraid of the consequences / repercussions from the surrounding nations, for killing out the people of Shchem? 

A: That’s exactly why they converted them first. Since they only killed Jews no one cared! 

Maybe you find it funny, maybe you don’t. 

The truth is that I saw a teaching along these lines many years ago (from the Haktav V’Hakbbalah) that suggests that Yaakov’s sons caused the Shechemites to have no allies because through the act of circumcision their former neighbors saw them as rejecting the old ways, and joining with the Jacob clan. 

Once looking at things through this lens, it becomes apparent that some of the verses we are familiar with need to be read in a different light.

In 34:15, the brothers make it clear to Shechem (the young man) that “you must be like us, all males circumcised.” In the next verse when they outline that the males of each family will marry the females of each family, they conclude saying “And we will be one nation.” 

The Torah goes on to describe that Shechem circumcised himself right away, and he and his father went to convince (or inveigle) the townspeople to go along with circumcising themselves. 

 The Torah then says that on the third day, when they were in pain, Shimon and Levi came in and executed everyone. There are many justifications given for this action, even though Yaakov was very upset by the actions of his sons. Some point to the whole town supporting Shechem’s rape of Dinah. Some say they all took a turn! Some say they did not establish courts to hold everyone accountable. There are very many analyses of this question – including a nice one by Nechama Leibowitz, as well as many individual commentaries.

A few commentaries note, however that the word “pain” – in the Torah כאבים, has a different meaning. It means turning to idolatry. 

 In other words, the Shechemites were cajoled into thinking that the bombastic and selfish prince was looking out for their best interests in telling them of the benefits of joining Yaakov’s clan and circumcising themselves. In short, they had buyer’s remorse and regret. 

 Within 3 days, they were back to their old ways. They had no intention of sticking with monotheism, and had no interest in making the effort to marry into Yaakov’s family. Someone who has joined the Jewish people and then returned to idolatrous ways may be subject to the worst kind of outcome. 

There is no question that the Shechem story is a human tragedy in every direction. The only people who seem to feel OK with their role in the story are Shimon and Levi who judged the people of the city and found them guilty of a capital crime. Or, perhaps as some commentaries put it, they went in to attack Shechem and his enabler-father, and the people of their city came to their defense and were all killed in the heat of some kind of battle. 

 At the very least, what that third day looked like is vague. We have a tradition that Avraham did a lot of running (to greet guests) on the third day after his own circumcision, which lends itself to suggest that in that time circumcision wasn’t all that debilitating. 

 The Jewish people are at a crossroad in our relationship with our non-Jewish neighbors worldwide. While I don’t believe there are as many anti-Semites as there seem to be, the loudest ones are typically the most brash and the most violent, and the ones that seem to get the most media attention.

Which leads us to ask ourselves, are we of the Yaakov mentality or the Shimon and Levi mentality? 

No, I am not suggesting that we circumcise everyone or kill anyone. 

 The question is more of do we focus on passivity, which seems to be Yaakov’s approach to confrontation with the family of Chamor and the people of Shechem. Yaakov’s route of choice is silence in the aftermath of what was done to Dinah. [It is an interesting study in how Yaakov reacts to Shechem versus how he has taken charge in confronting Lavan and Eisav respectively.] 

Or do we take the path of the brothers, saying “An abomination was done against our sister. We will stand for her honor and we will stand for our honor. Even if it makes us unpopular in the eyes of our father, and perhaps other neighbors. This is a risk we are willing to take, to show that Jewish blood is not cheap.” ? 

Those who follow the Yaakov approach may be surprised by how much Jewish blood has been spilled in the past, the argument having always been, “don’t rile them up. You’ll just make it worse.” As if being murdered, tortured and raped on a small scale is acceptable as long as it is not on a big scale. 

 The brothers’ approach of strength is the kind we need more than ever. Again, this is not a call for the murder of anti-Semites. But it is a call for us to remind ourselves that it is through strength that we are respected, and it is through weakness that we are further diminished. 

 May Jewish leaders today stand by this lesson. And may those who have the ability to fight back to show Jewish blood is not cheap demonstrate to the world and to our enemies that we know what we stand for – for goodness, for peace, for God, for the Torah. Those who respect our values we accept as neighbors. And those who want to destroy our values and who live for death and destruction – we are ready to fight such a notion because nothing is more pure and holy than knowing that the goodness you stand for is just, right and good, and that if necessary it is worth fighting for to defeat evil, and a culture bent on terror and devastation.