"Bigdei Kahuna" Parsha page by Rabbi Yehuda Katz

Vayioshloch

"...................and they looted the city that had defiled their sister" (34:27)

Dinah , daughter of Jacob, was molested by Shechem (the prince of the city of Shechem). The sons of Jacob outraged by such an act exacted justice for their sister by destroying the city. The Sforno comments as to why the city needed to be destroyed if only Shechem was to blame for such lewd behavior....................................... The Sforno answers as follows: " For Shechem would never have commited this crime if it had not been considered acceptible and common practice for the princes to be able to take any girl they desired without her consent as wives or concubines......................................"(end of quote) In other words, the city had condoned such behavior. This by itself had allowed Shechem to act out his base instincts without constraint. We can learn ,Bezrat Hashem, a very valuable lesson from the Sfornos comments concerning the city of Shechem. A person must hate and abhor evilness wherever it is found, and fight against it with all means neccesary. Condoning evil is tantamount to acting evil. The city of Shechem allowed their noblemen to act in a lewd manner , they therefore must be held accountable for this type of complicity. We see that because of this ,a horrific act was perpetrated against an innocent girl and her noble family .This also brought destruction to an entire city. Woe to us ,if we allow evil to blossom. The consequences can surely be devastating indeed.....................................The noval concept (CHIDUSH) the Torah is teaching us is that not only are the actual evil doers accountable for their acts of evil, the witnesses who do not stand up against evil are also held accountable for they could have stopped it from blossoming in the first place.Perhapes the "bystanders" are more to blame.................................................. If the city of Shechem would have been outraged by such activity, perhapes their prince Shechem would have been shamed into acting in a more dignified manner. This behavior must have been a common accurance in the city of Shechem. We can only ponder as to how many other woman were being abused by Shechem and his ilk. Yet when the sons of Jacob were confronted with evilness, they acted to quell it before it has the opportunity to develope.The house of Jacob knew the differnce between right and wrong, and acted to rectify the wrong. This is a testiment to their greatness................Have a good Shabbos