Dinah and Esav: The Lost Opportunity for Kingship in Israel

This shiur addresses a fundamental contradiction: Leah was praised for praying not to marry Esav, yet Chazal say Yaakov was punished for withholding Dinah from Esav. Rabbi Zweig explains that the contexts differ fundamentally. Had Leah married Esav before the formation of Am Yisroel, her children would have been Esav's descendants—excluded from Klal Yisroel entirely, following patrilineal descent before Matan Torah (תורה). Leah's tears were justified because she would have been excluded from the nascent nation. However, by the time of Dinah, the twelve tribes were already established. The question was not whether Esav's children would be Jewish, but whether Esav himself could be reformed and included. The Rambam (רמב"ם) in Hilchos Melachim explains that while Yishmael was excluded from being considered Avrohom's seed, Esav remains zera Avrohom (Avrohom's descendant) but is excluded from birchas Avrohom—the covenant and spiritual path. The Rambam states that only Yaakov inherited birchas Avrohom because he upheld Avrohom's ways. However, if Esav had reformed and adopted Avrohom's derech, he would have been obligated in milah and become part of birchas Avrohom. The shiur argues that marrying Dinah would have accomplished this transformation.