{"id":38864,"date":"2018-08-28T07:11:37","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T04:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=38864"},"modified":"2022-03-22T08:30:10","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T06:30:10","slug":"dinah-the-silent-twelfth-child-of-jacob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/dinah-the-silent-twelfth-child-of-jacob\/","title":{"rendered":"Dinah, the Silent Twelfth Child of Jacob"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[532,365,548],"acf":{"old_id":"38864","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38634,"related_cahpter":"34","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"How might have her story been different if Dinah been given a voice to speak out or talk back?","content":"

In chapter 32 we read about Jacob\u2019s preparations prior to meeting Esau: \u201cThe same night Jacob arose, took his two wives, two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.\u201d Eleven children? Jacob had twelve children at this point — eleven boys plus Dinah. The midrash claims eleven is written because Jacob hid Dinah in a box so Esau would not seek to marry her. Jacob was so afraid of his twin\u2019s animal appetites that he concealed Dinah in a coffin to keep her safe.<\/span><\/p>\n

That may seem ironic when we reach the very next story in our chapter: Dinah heads out to visit with the local ladies. Shechem, the son of the local prince, sees her, grabs her, and rapes her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the ensuing narrative, Dinah never speaks. \u00a0Shechem, the rapist speaks, as does his father. Jacob\u2019s sons talk, as does Jacob. But Dinah\u2019s voice is entirely absent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think of all the times and places in human history when women haven’t been able to tell our stories. That silencing constricts freedom as surely as Jacob’s box constricted Dinah. The people and the structures of power responsible for silencing us may think they’re keeping us “safe” — but we see from the Torah that keeping a woman hidden or silent offers no protection.<\/span><\/p>\n

How might have her story been different if Dinah had participated wholly in the journeying of her family — if, like her brothers, she had been able to walk freely in the open air — if, like her brothers, she had been given a voice to speak out or talk back? How might our stories be different if every woman in the world were granted those freedoms as a matter of course? Tragically, Dinah’s story challenges us with its very familiarity. A woman rendered invisible and silent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the structures which silence women today are invisible. Societal expectations, peer pressure, the desire to be liked, the fear that if we speak what’s true for us we will be shunned or left alone — not to mention the outrage and active silencing coming from men who don’t like it when we get uppity. Around the world one in three women\u00a0has been abused, beaten, or coerced into sex. And most of these stories are never told, because girls are taught — in ways both obvious and subtle — that if we speak out, we will be punished further. We have learned that it is safer to remain silent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s honor Dinah, the silent twelfth child of Jacob, by changing the world we live in so that it is no longer one in which this story could happen.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":103270,"id":103270,"title":"-62396cb381b44--62396cb381b45gen34-blurry form silent erased.jpg","filename":"62396cb381b44-62396cb381b45gen34-blurry-form-silent-erased.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62396cb381b44-62396cb381b45gen34-blurry-form-silent-erased.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/dinah-the-silent-twelfth-child-of-jacob\/62396cb381b44-62396cb381b45gen34-blurry-form-silent-erased-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"62396cb381b44-62396cb381b45gen34-blurry-form-silent-erased-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":38864,"date":"2022-03-22 06:29:07","modified":"2022-03-22 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