In parashas Vayetzei, the Torah recounts the birth of Yaakov Avinu’s children. Toward the end of this section, the Torah tells us in quick succession of the birth of Deenah to Leah and then the birth of Yosef to Rachel. Chazal and the commentaries reveal that beyond their closeness in age, Deenah and Yosef were deeply connected throughout their lives.
The Gemara in Berachos tells us that when Leah was pregnant with her seventh child, she came to a startling realization: She knew that twelve tribes were destined to be born from Yaakov. She already had six boys, and the two maidservants, Bilhah and Zilpah, had two each. Rachel had no children, and Leah realized that if she were to have a seventh son, then Rachel would have fewer boys than the maidservants. To spare her sister this embarrassment, Leah prayed for a girl, and indeed the male fetus inside her was miraculously transformed. Thus, Leah gave birth to Deenah, and Rachel soon bore her first child, Yosef HaTzaddik.
The Alshich HaKadosh observes that Deenah’s male origins affected her personality nonetheless. The Torah prefaces Shechem’s abduction of Deenah by informing us that “Deenah went out.” The Midrash says that she did so just as her mother had gone out to greet Yaakov. The Alshich points out, however, that these two “goings out” were very different – Leah’s was for a mitzvah, while Deenah’s was not. Therefore, he suggests that Deenah’s outgoing nature derived not from Leah but from her own male root, since males tend to go out.
Furthermore, Targum Yonasan states that Leah was in fact pregnant with Yosef, and Rachel with Deenah, but due to Leah’s prayers the two fetuses actually changed places. The Chida adds that the switching of the two fetuses affected their tendencies. According to Targum Yonasan, however, it is not that their actual genders changed. Rather, each entered a womb that was supposed to contain a fetus of the opposite gender. Therefore, each absorbed that gender’s tendencies, such as Deenah’s predisposition to go out.
Based on Targum Yonasan, there seems to be a far more profound and significant connection between Yosef and Deenah:
For years, Yaakov stayed with his devious uncle Lavan, remaining outside Eretz Yisrael for fear of his antagonistic brother, Esav. However, once Yosef was born, Yaakov demanded that Lavan let him and his family return home. Chazal explain based on a verse in the book of Ovadyah: “The House of Yaakov shall be a fire, and the House of Yosef a flame, and the House of Esav for straw.” A fire cannot destroy straw unless its flames spread. Accordingly, Yaakov alone could not overcome Esav without Yosef. And the Jewish people defeated Esav’s descendants, Amalek, only with the aid of Yosef’s. In fact, Yehoshua, a descendant of Yosef through Efraim, led the first battle against Amalek. And ultimately Mashiach ben Yosef will destroy our enemies and pave the way for Mashiach ben David.
Thus we have seen that Yosef, through his mother, Rachel, had an inborn ability to conquer the evil descendants of Esav. Where do we see this quality of fighting evil in Rachel? In her stealing her father’s idols to prevent him from worshipping them. This form of Divine service is described as sur merah, based on the verse in Tehillim, sur mera va’asei tov – “turn from evil and do good.” Leah was more inclined to the asei tov aspect of serving Hashem and therefore less gifted in overcoming evil than Rachel. Therefore, Rachel’s descendants defeated Amalek, the ultimate evil.
How does all this relate to Deenah? When Yaakov returned to the land of Israel to face Esav, Chazal tell us that he hid Deenah in a box lest Esav want to marry her. They criticize Yaakov for this action, because had Deenah married him, she may have caused him to do teshuvah. They also tell us that Leah had been destined to marry Esav, but her tearful prayers spared her this fate. Yet Leah is not faulted for her unwillingness to marry Esav. Why? If Deenah could have been a good influence on him, surely the righteous Leah could have too!
Perhaps Deenah was more capable of saving Esav than Leah. Leah’s strengths lay in accentuating the positive, not eliminating the negative. In contrast, despite being born from Leah, Deenah was influenced by her initial mother, Rachel, to overcome evil. However, whereas Yosef destroyed evil, Deenah reformed it. In this vein, when Deenah went out to visit the local girls, she may have intended to bring them to closer to HaShem. Therefore, had she married Esav, she very likely could have rehabilitated him. Accordingly, Yaakov is criticized for not allowing Deenah to marry Esav, but Leah is not taken to task for not wanting to marry him herself.
Fascinatingly, Deenah and Yosef’s connection culminated in their own lives. After Deenah was abducted by Shechem, she bore him a daughter, Osnas. This daughter was sent away in order to protect her from the wrath of Deenah’s brothers. She was adopted by none other than Potifar. After Yosef’s dramatic rise to power, he married her. In this way, Yosef and Deenah were truly connected!
One lesson we learn from Yosef and Deenah is that there are two approaches to fighting evil: destroying it and reforming it. The Chazon Ish, ztz”l, notes that certain halachos demand that we attack flagrant disregard for the Torah and its values. This harsh response was necessary in earlier days, he writes, when a person who strayed spiritually desecrated HaShem’s Name and was liable to influence others to do the same, particularly if he seemed successful in life despite his actions. Taking a firm stand against this offender would show that nothing could be gained by abandoning the Torah, thereby reducing the chillul HaShem and even creating a kiddush HaShem whereby people would realize that only Torah would bring them satisfaction.
However, the Chazon Ish continues, nowadays the situation is very different. Such aggressive action would no longer sanctify Hashem’s Name. On the contrary, onlookers would be appalled. Therefore, the Chazon Ish concludes, we must now reduce chillul HaShem not by confronting its perpetrators but by reaching out to them and demonstrating the beauty and truth of a Torah lifestyle. Thus, nowadays we must emulate Deenah, defeating evil by reforming it.
From the book “Beacons of Light”