(1) בת לאה THE DAUGHTER OF LEAH — but why not the daughter of Jacob? But rather on account of her going out she is called Leah’s daughter, since she, too, was outgoing (Genesis Rabbah 80:1), as it is said (30:16) “and Leah went out to meet him”. And upon that they founded the saying: “Like mother, like daughter”.
...And Dinah went out. This makes it known that Dinah was not guilty in this, so that you shouldn't say that she burst out beyond the limit of modesty. For she was the daughter of Leah, who was modest in her tent, and was borne to Ya'aqov, for her birth was related to Ya'aqov, which was modest and appropriate. For her going out was not to go after the boys but rather to see the daughters of the land and their pathways.
,וישכב אתה. כבר נתבאר בס׳ ויקרא ט״ו ל״ה דבכ״מ דכתיב בשכיבת אשה לשון אותה משמעו באונס. וברצון כתיב עמה. אם לא שיש לזה איזה דרש. וה״נ כתיב אותה שהיה באונס:
...And he lay upon her. It has already been explained in Va-yiqra 15:35 that in every place where it writes of lying with a woman, the meaning of the expression "upon her" / otah is "by force". And "by [her] will" is written "with her" / 'imah, unless there is some [particular] explanation. And here too, it is written "upon her" since it was by force.
(ב) כתיב בישראל חשק ה' בכם ויבחר בכם (שם ז ז), וכתיב ויאהב את הנערה (בראשית לד ג), ואין אתה יודע מה היתה האהבה, [אלא ממה שנתן נפשו עליה את יודע מה היתה אהבה], הקב"ה שאמר לישראל אהבתי אתכם (מלאכי א ב), על אחת כמה וכמה, חשק ה' בכם, אין אתה יודע מה, אלא אנו למדין משכם, שנאמר שכם בני חשקה נפשו בבתכם (בראשית לד ח), אמר ר' אבהו נלמד מליחה סרוחה, כתב בשכם ותדבק נפשו בדינה בת יעקב, וכתיב בישראל ואתם הדבקים בה' אלקיכם חיים כלכם היום (דברים ד ד).
(2) It is written of Israel (in Deut. 7:7): THE LORD HAS DELIGHTED IN YOU AND CHOSEN YOU. It is also written (in Gen. 34:3): AND HE (Shechem) LOVED THE MAIDEN (Dinah). Now you would not know what that love was; [however, from the fact that he set his soul upon her, you do know what love was]. How much the more so in the case of the Holy One, when he said to Israel (in Mal. 1:2): I HAVE LOVED YOU! (According to Deut. 7:7:) THE LORD HAS DELIGHTED IN YOU; you do not know how. We do, however, learn from Shechem, as stated (in Gen. 34:8): THE SOUL OF MY SON, SHECHEM, LONGS FOR YOUR DAUGHTER. R. Abbahu said: We have learned from mere humans (lit., an evanescent drop). It is written about Shechem (in Gen. 34:3): AND HIS SOUL CLUNG TO JACOB'S DAUGHTER DINAH; and it is written about Israel (in Deut. 4:4): BUT YOU WHO CLUNG TO THE LORD YOUR GOD ARE ALL ALIVE TODAY.
(א) מהר פראנון מתן פרא פרנון והם כתובה ונכסי מלוג בלשון ירושלמי כלומר שיתן לה הוא משלו נכסים שיהיו שלה כנכסי בית אביה ויהיו אצלו כנכסי מלוג וטעם הפיוס הזה כדי שיתנו אותה לו לאשה ברצון כי הנערה לא היתה מתרצה אליו וצועקת ובוכה תמיד וזה טעם וידבר על לב הנערה ולכך אמר קח לי את הילדה הזאת לאשה שכבר היא בביתו ובידו ולא יירא מאחיה כי הוא נשיא הארץ ואיך יגזלוה ממנו להוציאה מביתו והחשק הגדול לשכם כי היתה הנערה יפת תאר מאד אבל לא סיפר הכתוב ביפיה כאשר עשה בשרה וברבקה וברחל כי לא ירצה להזכיר יפיה בהיותו אליה למכשול עון ובשבח הצדיקות דבר הכתוב ולא בזו וכן לא הזכיר מה נעשה בה אחרי כן ועל דרך הפשט עמדה עם אחיה צרורה באלמנות חיות כי היתה טמאה בעיניהם כדכתיב "אשר טמא את דינה אחותם" - ורבותינו נחלקו בה (ב"ר פ יא) והקרוב דברי האומר נטלה שמעון וקברה בארץ כנען והוא כמו שאמרנו כי היתה עמו בביתו כאלמנה וירדה עמהם למצרים ושם מתה ונקברה בארץ וקבורתה ידועה עד היום בקבלה והיא בעיר ארבאל עם קבר ניתאי הארבלי ויתכן כי העלה שמעון עצמותיה בחמלו עליה או שהעלו אותם ישראל עם עצמות אחיה כל השבטים כמו שהזכירו רבותינו (ב"ר ק יא)
...dowry / mohar. Paranon, a gift of para parnon [settling the marriage settlement], and that is the ketubah and income from agricultural lands, in the language of the [Targum] Yerushalmi. As if to say that he would give her assets of his that would be hers, like the assets of her father's house, and they would be like income from agricultural lands for him.
And the explanation of this assuagement was so that they would give her to him as a wife willingly, for the lass would not make herself willing towards him and would always cry out and weep. And this is the explanation for And he spoke to the heart of the lass, and therefore it says, Take for me this girl for a wife, for she was already in his house and in his power, and he did not fear her brothers for he was the leader of the land. And how could they rob her from him, to take her out of his house?!
And the desire of Shechem was great because the lass was very beautiful. But the text does not tell of her beauty, as it did with Sarah, Rivqah and Rakhel, for it did not wish to mention her beauty when it was a stumbling block for wrong to her. And so the text wrote in praise of the righteousness and not of that.
And similarly it does not mention what was done with her afterward. And in the ordinary reading, she would have stayed united with her brother in living widowhood, for she was tamei in their eyes, as it is written: that he had made Dinah their sister tamei. And our rabbis disagreed about this (Breishit Rabbah 80:11). And the closest [interpretation] is the one who says that Shimon took her and buried here in the land of Cana'an. And this is like what we have said: that she was with him in his house like a widow, and went down with them to Egypt, and died there and was buried in the land [of Israel]. And her grave is known until today in received tradition / qabalah and it is in the city of Arba'el with the grave of Nitai the Arba'eli, And it may be inferred that Shim'on brought her bones up in his pity for her, or that Israel brought them up with the bones of her brothers, all the tribes, as our sages have mentioned (Breishit Rabbah 90:11).
...for him as a wife. He didn't recount that he had lain with her in sexual license but rather requested for the future that they give her to him as a wife in the appropriate manner of marital relations.
...שכם בני חשקה נפשו בבתכם, שהחשק הוא מובדל מן האהבה והחפץ, שהחשק אין לו עינים ואין לו טעם, שלפעמים יחשוק אדם גדול בבת פחותים ובכעורה ובבעלת מום, כאומר שהוא חשק בלי טעם, כי ימצא יפות וטובות יותר ממנה בבני עמו, תנו נא אתה לו לאשה, ובזה תרויחו ...
...Shechem my son, his soul yearns for your daughter. For yearning is distinguished from love or desire, for yearning has neither eyes nor explanation, for sometimes a great man will year for the daughter of lesser people or one who is ugly or has a flaw, as if saying that it is yearning without reason, for he could find lovelier and better than her among his own nation. But please give her to him as a wife, and you will profit from it....
...with trickery. He would say to them: There is no shame for you in this matter, for I will take her [as a wife] and I will make her dowry and gifts great for her, for I have not touched her. And they would answer for her: This is no honour but rather additional shame, that we should give our daughter to an uncircumcised male!
(2) וידברו, אשר טמא; they said that the kind of voluntary offerings [i.e., circumcision] which Shechem and his father said they would do was not seemly after Shechem had already defiled [their sister. But they considered it] as אתנן זונה, offering the price paid to a whore [as a sacrifice].
ולא אחר הנער לעשות הדבר. היינו למול את עצמו גם טרם דיבר עם אנשי העיר ולא ידע אם יסכימו לדבר. מ״מ הוא הראה לדעת ,כי חפץ בבת יעקב. ולא מצד שהיא יפ״ת: ,והוא נכבד.וזה היה האות עד כמה השכיל על מעלת הרוממות של יעקב שאע״ג שהוא נכבד מכל בית אביו:
...And the lad did not delay to do the thing...That is, to circumcise himself, even before he spoke with the men of the city and did not know if they would agree to the thing. In any case, it showed his intent, that he desired the daughter of Ya'aqov, and not because she was a beauty. And he was honoured, and this was a sign how great was the exceptionality of Ya'aqov considered, that even though [Shechem] was most honoured of his father's house [he still wanted to marry Ya'aqov's daughter.]
(1) ויקחו את דינה; there is an aggadic commentary (Bereshit Rabbah 80,11) according to which Dinah did not want to leave [the house of Shechem] from shame until Shimon swore to her that he would marry her, and that this is the meaning of 46,10 [where among the issue of Shimon one is described as being named] “Sha-ul son of the Canaanite (woman).
(2) כלי חמס INSTRUMENTS OF VIOLENCE — This business of murdering is חמס in their hands [not rightly theirs]; it is part of the blessing conferred upon Esau; it is his business and you have usurped (חמסתם) it from him (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayechi 9).