Rabbi Guy Matalon - Weekly Torah Portion: Parshat Vayishlach

thank you all right here we go we are in Pakistan and in the Parsha we have as far as I'm concerned one of the more difficult passages in the book of berations it starts it starts in chapter 34. verse 1. what the word chapter Genesis chapter 34 Verse 1. machine what so Dina is going out a man called schremen Caesar according to the before Jim Gill she's eight years old amen and he is the prince of this area of this town he grabs this girl and rapes him and if you read the pursue Kim he he liked her and he wanted to be with her he wanted to marry her so Shem says to his father hook me up I want this girl to be just mine this is after the rape so jankov hears what happened to his daughter and here comes hamor the father of Shem so if Shem is the prince what is hamar uh some keys the king is the prince has to be a king if you are a prince it means your father is a king was his name actually yes no no that's that's his name come on people are named look balac Ben what is tippo bird Yeshua bin what is known fish in Hebrew but noon is is a in Semitic language it means fish so there are lots of lots of people named you've ever met anybody named dove what's Bear Arya wolf right what yeah I think I know what we'd choose if we had to choose between lion horse and they're lion there yeah really what's she wait hold on why what would you choose lion you wouldn't choose donkey so who is called donkey what tribe uh why because they bear the weight of the Torah that's a one two I'm kidding okay okay come on it's not your average donkey yeah right no I'm just saying that there are qualities in animals that the Torah tells us very positive says you know look at the animals and you could learn middos from them as long as you have the Torah yeah if you don't have the Dara you won't learn The Meadows because what would you see you'd see all sorts of behaviors certain things you should take and certain things you shouldn't take chapter 34. in Genesis so right now we are in verse 8. so in verse 7 the children of yaakov come to hear what happened to their sister and how would you react if you were the brothers your eight-year-old sister was taken and raped by some guy the over for those guys would be over you'd be very upset not for a while what it wouldn't it wouldn't be over for a while you'd plan it there'd be a lot of torture torture okay oh that's my man so it is something that is I this is what I'll tell you why I chose to talk about this because I want you to get into the mindset of each of you know the people involved get the mindset of the children of yaakov get into the mindset of yaakov get in the mindset of you know the town people because we're going to look at it from all sorts of angles and see try to learn a few different things yeah why why did Jacob um I know I know it's some degree why y'all could rebuked his sons for destroying the whole city yeah but you're we're not there yet oh so but that's exactly what I want to ask so we're going to go through this and give you different cheetahs of why he rebuked them that's what I want to get to but first we have to everybody has to know what happened figuring out why they did it and so on and so forth okay so why did why did um why did yaakov's Delta get the kapara what do you mean I mean why why did this happen to her yeah maybe that's a long there's two mid rushing one Madrid says is because he hid dinner in a box from when he met with ASAP there's nothing wrong with that what he's protecting his daughter but it's not so passionate because she could have brought Asaf back to the Jewish people I said Leia would have Lily are you married so Dina would have Dina had the ability to bring ASAP back really and since he hit her but it's a long story it's a long okay let's pause with questions until I get through get to the mahalak and then we'll talk okay so hamar says look we want to marry your daughter my son wants to marry her he likes her yeah the rape uh you know I guess it's an issue but look let's let's make it right let's make it right we'll marry you know your daughters you'll give us you know we'll we'll marry with you you marry with us you'll sit with us you can we'll do business together because they saw that yaakov is very wealthy and Sam says look I I really you know want to make it right I'll do whatever you want you name her price would that make you feel any better about your sister if the guy says look yeah I raped her but name your price I'll pay it you would feel better so the banayakov said listen it's not going to work this way we can't do it why because you are not circumcised if you and all the town circumcise yourselves like us we would be willing to take your dot to give you our daughters to take your daughters and to become one people but if you won't listen to us this is in verse 8 17. we will take our daughter that is our sister and that's it say you know what we're in we're in we'll circumcise ourselves and so I'm going to the town explained to the town what they want to do so how do they sell it to the town look in verse 21 somebody read the English please these people are Peaceable with us let me settle in the land and trade in it foresee there is ample room in the land for them let us take their daughters for ourselves as wives and give our daughters to them good they have money we can make business with them they're good people so let's do this and so the people said look at look at what look at even more look at verse 23. their livestock their possessions and all their animals will they not be ours the hours we got all their stuff why will they get all their stuff because once they all become one people who's the king James that wasn't the deal that wasn't the deal that we're gonna let you be the ruler hence everything will be yours will be will circumcised but we get everything but wait we'll see what the why the brothers did what they did there's several she does and we're going to learn them so we'll see if this verse plays a factor or not what it's enough that one spot but they're all sort of you know right everybody agreed and they all nodded yeah you know I don't know who spoke at this time this is Rashi safe awesome um 12 11 Brothers no they did not connect to murder don't say that for that all right let's keep going we'll come back to this on the third day when they are most in pain because of the circumcision guess what yes that's mine so there's two sons of yaakov only two of them Shimon and Levy take their sword go into the City and kill every nail God God they kill every single male the ladies have a knack of going to kill people and then they took their sister they killed come on took their sister and left huh why was there only them two killed why that's the question and if you see just so you know the story tamima we're talking about all them a fortune these guys were 13 year olds two 13 year olds wiped the whole Township awesome 13 14 and 13. you know Jews okay so the question is that we have to decipher so wait one more thing because this is the point that Aaron brought up look at what yaakov says when they get back home verse 30. somebody read 30. Jacob said to Simeon and lady you discomposed me making the odious among the inhabitants of the land among the Canaanite and among the parasite I am few in number and should they band together and attack me I will be annihilated so what do they repeat what do they say what's the response verse 31 and they said should he treat our sister like a harlot yes are we going to let him treat our sister like a harlot nope no they're saying they're not asking for a yes or no it was done no no that's not what he says listen to the words that he said look what you're going to do to us what you did was a problem not what she did was a problem he doesn't say she had it coming no no because it says Dina was outgoing I don't want to get into that part I don't want to get back into that because I think that is a separate discussion that uh I don't know that I'm prepared to have right now at this stage so the question is what happened so let's go around the room very quickly and tell me do you think that what Shimon and Levy did was right or wrong right or wrong wrong right right you thank you you can't sit on the fence you have to vote wrong okay wrong right to right good two rights don't make it wrong are we talking about the response or what they did what they did right okay wrong is that wrong but you have to understand the reason why I guess why we're saying what's why is wrong okay so now let's hear the reasons why do you think it was wrong God they disgrace their father they disgraced their father okay they believed that they were protecting the honor of their father actions are here here so you agree with yaakov I agree with yaakov you think that okay I think I think what they I think their intentions were good but they but okay they weren't anybody else has it I want to explain why they were wrong yeah they were meant to keep the turn around obviously don't kill people oh good you don't kill for eagle reasons and this is ego yes you see an ego it should have if they were going to do it they should have gone straight away that they made them have a circumcision so by them doing that they're leaving them on assignments wrong okay that's far now very good anybody else that means they're wrong okay fine so now that's that is really the you know where we have to investigate what was the argument between the the yaakov and the sons so I'm going to show you a rambam the rambam writes as follows this is so chapter nine Allah 14. so he's talking about Benin Noah right non-jews the sons of Noah they are commanded to to maintain to have dinim to create a court system a justice system they are obligated to establish judges in every city and to adjudicate the six mitzvahs that the Torah requires them to keep so they have to establish a court system and they have to prosecute people who who violate the laws and have to punish them and he says that violated one of the seven laws that God gave him is killed by Scythe the sword okay how so so if there was one guy who worked who worshiped an idol or cursed God or spilled blood or raped one of the women that they're not allowed or stole something a part of an animal or a flesh or did any of these things if the people did not prosecute him Gil if the people did not prosecute him they are guilty and must be killed according to the sword what just therefore because of this all the people of Shem were high of Misa why because Shem stole they saw this and they didn't do anything they didn't prosecute him and then is killed with only one witness and with one judge with no warning even if a woman testifies you kill them bam so what does the rambam say did they do it right or they do it wrong they did it right because there's a few of on them according to their laws to prosecute him they were did not prosecute him therefore the whole town was essentially guilty so why is Yakov upset yeah got to be diplomatic I didn't see that in the Rambo man you can take a look you did the wrong thing oh did you hear did you hear what Aaron is hitting us with now so he just threw in a watermelon into the pool party party that's right he's bringing what the red was brought up so listen to the red Buzz there are advisor writes the following he says if you're going to say to me why was yaakov upset at them right because according to the rambam they killed him for sufficient cause we should say that since they accepted Mila since they were all circumcised right a Jew a person that converted to Judaism is like a brand new you know born baby newborn baby oh oh so now you're coming out with that stuff on me so you want to throw a little lemons now after the watermelon now what about this what about that what about this they clearly say that oh will get all their stuff so let's do it the wrong motives yeah so what was the motive of Shem to get the daughter to get the woman get the woman so there's a gamara vamos and arashba that says even if a person converts with ulterior motive the gear works so long as they accept the mitzvahs so I just threw it back at you oh what Torah good that's beautiful so now somebody just threw the four-year-old in the pool with a wet diaper what are you talking about there's no gears at the time back then because there's no Torah you can't convert to Judaism when the Torah wasn't given tomorrow says what yeah they all did avraham kept the Torah even ayurved of Chile the gemara says that in several places but by Russ speaks on rivka Eliezer goes brings Rifka to whom to marry right how is her right is what Eliezer was because that is a big kid right the Shalia comes and he gives the kid gives the kidushin to whom who is going to accept the kidushin loving is her brother the father but she would her father died say the before she moral explains that every wife before the avos married her was midgayer and accepted the Mitzvahs that avraham agreed to keep so even rivka converted and guess what who else converted and Rocco otherwise how could yaakov marry two sisters it's against the Torah come on so that's why correct because he they both converted so your cash is but there's no Torah but there's Mitzvahs and whatever the sheet of that was what it meant to be Jewish at the time and therefore the question is back on so their advice is not out yet you think you guys thought I didn't prepare for this like I'll walk in you'll throw stuff at me while I'm in the pool trying to knock me off my surfboard bury the Maryland because they both converted what yeah otherwise you can't marry juices Satori says no unless you want to argue there's a that we're showing him that they only kept Mitzvah assay and they didn't keep the mitzvah that's a separate no every Mission says you should not do then they didn't keep those they only kept mits with us there are those who say no they only kept the Mitzvahs and there is Israel since he married the two sister outside of veterans Israel there's no problem uh he comes into the Heritage Israel what happens is he married the Two Sisters in there it's Israel no is that a coincidence I don't think so foreign so all of you who said all of you who said that Shimmer and Levy were wrong you were up a creek with no paddles now I'm going to show you you have a hole in your boat okay so Gil like the Ramba Mr rambam says boom they did not do what they were supposed to do only one problem with that the ramban and the Run the ramban rights he's got probably the longest mahalak but it was a very very interesting mahalak that you have to learn commercial you have to learn it says the ramban many ask how could the children of yaakov the tadiqi the righteous people spill innocent blood so what does that mean there are some people who held before I told you about the rambam that there were people who were holding that at least some of the residents of the town we're innocent we're like children who are under the age or even neighbors or four blocks away there was a guy who's just living in the town so the rambam explains that no none of them were innocent because they had to adjudicate these cases they should have prosecuted for what he did since they didn't they were all guilty that's the rambam right then I says the rambam as far as I'm concerned is not correct says the ramban don't nobody thinks that I said the rambam is wrong the ramban says I don't think these are correct foreign go and kill them oh that's a good one right so now everybody switches here's what happens when you learn the sugya first everybody goes to this side and then oh everybody moves to the side and boy everybody goes this way and the camera guy is now mad at me for moving I won't move on stage yeah foreign okay I listen I'm trying so he says why was he mad at their sons and why did he curse them afterwards and why did he punish them they did a Mitzvah according to the rambam they did a mitzvah right and we see that what they trusted in Hashem and Hashem allowed him to succeed a 13 year old and a 14 year old going there's thought of the whole town they come out clean not even a scratch that means what they trusted in Hashem they did a Mitzvah everything's okay so he says then why is yaakov mad so the explanation of the random's got a problem that's where the ramban doesn't like it there's another more complicated reason of why the rambanon I don't want to really get into it because it's a whole sugeon itself um there's a question with regard to the Mistress of benign Noah if you're over on the mitzvah foreign it's one thing if you actively act out right but they didn't act anything they just chevalta say they didn't do anything they no the ramban but the ramban is sewing for that you don't have an example in the gemara that says that you're high of to look to to earn Mita for being Cheval and the Run says what do you want from them so I'll tell you what the Run says on this this is noon what is it base so he says sham when he was in charge he had the most all the power and they could not adjudicate him because there were many times in the history of Israel knew that they should have punished the Jewish people or the leaders of the Jewish people for their sins but they didn't have the power to because the guy was the king and there's nothing you can do if you don't have the power to you're not going to be guilty for not doing it right do you understand what he's saying was the leader he was the prince right he was in charge of the military and the police and all of that you can't go knock him out you can't charge him this is not the democracy doesn't work that way not because they didn't want to maybe they wanted to but they just couldn't they were too afraid do you hear the the argument here of the round make sense to you or no no why not what I SpaceTime is okay I'll come and get you I'll come and get just hold up your hand in the pool and I'll come and get you okay here we go there are time the Run says that sense was the prince that was the most powerful family in the town and you couldn't take them on this is not a democratic system where everyone's equaled by before the law it's a kingdom the King's son did something wrong you as the simple serf you can't do it there's nothing you can do so the run is saying to the rabbit how can you blame them for what they did they didn't do something they couldn't prosecute him because they didn't have the political power to so the Ramblin says I don't really care they have an obligation they should do it Durant says come on even Israel when they didn't have the power to punish leaders of the Jewish people that were evil they couldn't do anything about it you know nobody said now you're gonna have to kill kill them they couldn't do it they didn't have the power so let it go so for those two reasons the ramban doesn't like this reason he says here is not a brown so then there's a problem so the question is okay so we have two options either we go back and say that Shimon and Levy did something wrong or we have to give a different explanation of what they did that wasn't wrong hmm so how many of you want to go with the mahalik that they did what they did is wrong I hope that nobody right because they kept the Torah they were they were raised by yaakov obviously they were not rebelling against the Torah somehow what they did has to fit with some rule of the correct because the the twelve homes oh so that's a very good question you know why was yaakov angry because they converted right because the people converted what did they held what did they Shimon and Levy hold they said because they converted it doesn't mean that they didn't of death was removed from them because it's whether aguer is or not they held yeah a newborn baby that is even if you hold it it is they were newborn babies it doesn't mean that the punishment let's say a guy murdered right you have a you know a terrorist in an Israeli prison you know killed lots of Jews and then he says you know what I want to convert to Judaism so let's say he's sincere and he converts to Judaism does that mean we let him out of prison why not he's a brand new person that's what Shimon and Levy are saying the fact that they converted doesn't mean that they're off the hook says yaakov my whole point in my all respect that people respect me is because I follow the Torah Torah says you're not allowed to marry two sisters I told them that two sisters and they're not sisters because they are like brand new brand new people if you're saying that a conversion doesn't give back new people how does it make me look you're telling me I'm a hypocrite because I'm married two sisters that was the argument according to the sheet of the red Bots but now we're going through a differentiator to the shita of the ramban so the ramban says something else he says they were all hayavin Mita they deserve death they all deserve death because they did all sorts of things they worshiped Idols they were over Arias they did all the things and you give him throughout the Torah did they do this wait wait these brings that that the people who lived in eritskran were people that according to the Carlos bar who deserved that deserve that so here's what he says sons of yaakov sense that the anshesh were evil they wanted to to get Vengeance from them and they killed the king and all the people why because they were under his rule and since the King was evil they were evil because they were doing the evil Deeds of the king so he says even though so then the question is what they converted Thurman says no they converted only because their King told them to not because they really believed in what they were doing it's they own it's not a question of they said I'm only doing it for him yaakov says to him here you brought a danger to me why because we they had the possibility to do juva and by killing them you removed their ability to do that's what the ramban explains that yaakov was angry at them because okay you're right he says to the sons you're right they can they converted for ulterior motives they didn't do it but you know what give him a chance to do chuva that's what Judaism is all about ability to slaughter the whole town if Hashem didn't believe that they could now you're saying back to the second terrorists of the run but we're learning we'll get to there in a second so the rambans shita is that you're right they were guilty they converted they converted for the wrong reason and from the lesson of of the uh of the Ramba the ramban it's not much more of a gear it's not gerus it's not conversion they just did circumcision to please their master the Lush on here Uma they simply circumcised themselves just to please their King not because they believe they were coming Jewish down to the motive of why they're doing the conversion so the rambani is saying the ramban is saying their motive was simply to please their King but they could have done chuva that's the whole point of the ramban for following your opinion say how how long is the period we have to wait for them to do to show up say if they didn't do it then can they be killed yeah I mean it was three days it was three days so I'll show you I want to point out to you something regard to this there is an opinion that says it comes in one second there's an opinion that says the following when a person when the when a Jewish Court sentenced Sanhedrin sentence is a Jew to death because he deserves death and they say okay you get the death penalty and the guy says to the judges I'm doing chuva and he's crying and he says I'm sorry I'm sorry I will never do it again real sincere chuva do they say oh okay I guess we'll just uh let you go no they kill him correct that's what they're saying Jaco's saying true father they say they're guilty boom you give up what the ramban is saying maybe they would do chuva but Shimon and Levy are saying there's no din like this no so it's a challenge go bank or go over there and deal with it now I want to give you two more yeah and we have five minutes I I just want to give you more Malcolm your questions are important to me but the question is do you want two more alchem or you want to ask your question yes so on subjects whatever yeah for fun to make their King happy the king says guess what we're going to do this and like okay fine whatever whatever you want now we're going to talk about the aura Heim orchheim is amazing says what was the reason that they were allowed well I didn't give you the run I want to give you the run it's very important the Run says they had to die they deserve to die because of Abu dazara but they were not handed over to play yaakov to punish them yet they were not handed over to yaakov yet that's what yaakov is saying to them they were handed over yet by Hashem so you could you shouldn't have done that and what did they say Hashem allowed us to kill them it means that they were handed over to us that's the remake is saying that they were not handed over yet because now everybody else is going to come attack me it's not that only Shem you have to think about all of the economy all of the Canadians were not handed over to us that you shouldn't have heard you shouldn't have gone and attacked him that's what he's saying they're saying it doesn't matter about all everybody Shem was handed over we got we we took them out everyone should have been handed everything else because everyone should be worthy of death everyone when when we have authority over everyone says yaakov then you should have done it not now but they say you could see we succeeded so it's over that's the run very important run Simon and Levy went into the town for two things one is to bring their sister back home and two kill Shem they were attacked they were attacked and they were Road deaf and they had to protect themselves yes and when they protected themselves they killed everybody because they kept coming at them Bring It On I don't know that's definitely went down so then why is Jacob do you like that uh because he felt so he says this is the key he misunderstood what they did he said he said okay the fact that you told them to circumcise himself that's a good trick because you're gonna go get my daughter back that was okay but if you did the trick to kill the whole town that I don't agree there was no choice that's why that's what they're saying obviously a good thing but they did a little correct correct the Stefano says they shouldn't have used the tree that that yaakov was upset because they used a religious act the circumcision as a trick and he says that was the circumcisions no the sons did yeah doesn't say anything the last mahalak and will end is the mara the maral says very simple the rape of Dina was an act of war against the Jewish people and once they did it it's War and we'll end it here foreign