Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Dina

When Yaakov finally confronted Esav after his return back to Eretz Yisroel, he hid Dina in a box so that Esav would not see her and ask to marry her. Our Sages say that for withholding Dina from his brother, Yaakov was punished and Dina was abducted by Shechem.

Yaakov withheld from his brother his only chance to repent. Surely, both Yitzchok and Yaakov did everything in their power to influence Esav to mend his ways, but to no avail. Here, the Torah clearly reveals to us the solitary force in the world that could uplift Esav and save him from his own evil - the power of a righteous woman. Had there been any doubt as to Dina's abilities, there would certainly have been no justification in punishing Yaakov for having a father's natural concern for his daughter's safety.

Yet Dina would have been successful. Even in the case of Esav, the epitome of evil, the power of the righteous woman would have overcome, and inspired him to teshuva.


(Biala Rebbe)