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Why were Shimon and Levi willing to risk the entire family by wiping out Shechem? The shiur develops a yesod from Rashi (רש"י) that Yaakov was punished for hiding Dinah from Esav—he failed in his obligation of mesirus nefesh for a brother. True brotherhood means being willing to sacrifice and endure discomfort to bring family back to Torah (תורה), even when halachically permitted comfort would be easier.
The shiur opens with the difficult dialogue between Yaakov and his sons Shimon and Levi after they destroyed Shechem. Yaakov protests that they have endangered the family, making them odious to the inhabitants of the land who will now gather and destroy them. Shimon and Levi respond with a single cryptic line: "Should our sister be treated as a harlot?" This appears to be no answer at all—Yaakov already knew why they did what they did. What new information could they possibly be offering that would justify risking the annihilation of the family? Rabbi Zweig traces the answer back to an earlier Rashi (רש"י) in Parshas Vayishlach. When Yaakov met Esav, the Torah (תורה) counts eleven sons, yet he had twelve children including Dinah. Rashi explains that Yaakov hid Dinah in a box so Esav wouldn't see her. For this, says Rashi, Yaakov was punished—had he offered Dinah to Esav (not given her away, but used her as leverage to negotiate Esav's return to proper conduct), perhaps Esav could have been brought back to virtuous behavior. Instead, Dinah fell into the hands of Shechem as a punishment.
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Bereishis 34:30-31 (Parshas Vayishlach)
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