A daughter - Dinah

Howard's notes

14 July 2012 – Rabbi Jon Prosnit [his first stint at leading Torah study – a trial by fire]

30:21. And afterwards, she bore a daughter, and she named her Dinah.

• 30:21, Dinah is born, the first daughter.  She’s the eleventh: before, Leah had six; Bilhah and Zilpah, two each.
• What is not in 30:21 that’s in other verses involving birth (30:17, Issachar; 30:12, Asher; 30:10, Gad; 30:7, Naphtali; 30:5, Dan):
• Connection to Jacob; however in 34:1 Jacob is mentioned as Dinah’s father.  Also in 29:32-25, for the births of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Jacob is not specifically mentioned.
• Reason for (or explanation of) the name
• Mention of God

Bottom line: in those days, a daughter’s birth was not as significant as that of a son.  However, daughters usually married into another tribes often as way of forming alliances.

• Does this verse mark the end of a section?
• Perhaps it’s a later addition or gloss [Speiser, Anchor Bible, page 231] to provide context for story of rape of Dinah in 34:1ff.  In other words, this verse is from a different source than other verses.
• Alter (page 161) disagrees; the source of the name “Dinah” is not mentioned because she will not found an eponymous tribe.  “The absence of a naming etymology for Dina is by no means an indication … that this verse derives from a different source.”
• Parallel with today’s Torah portion involving daughter of Tzlafchad…
• Name “Dinah” 
• Rashi - Our Sages explained that Leah pronounced judgment (דָּנָה or דן) upon herself. [She reasoned:] If this is a male, my sister Rachel will not be [esteemed even] as one of the handmaids. So she prayed over him, and he was turned into a female (Mishnah Berachot 60a).

Leah’s having a daughter would enhance the status of Rachel; suggests cooperation rather than competition.  Leah was looking out for Rachel; she knew there would be 12 tribes, each for a son.  She wanted Rachel to have no fewer sons than maidservants.  In other places, narrative suggests competition, such as in the mandrake episode.

Summary of Jacob’s children’s births
Name	Mother	Verse
Reuben	Leah	29:32
Simeon	Leah	29:33
Levi	Leah	29:34
Judah	Leah	29:35
Dan	Bilhah (Rachel)	30:6
Naphtali	Bilhah (Rachel)	30:8
Gad	Zilpah (Leah)	30:12
Asher	Zilpah (Leah)	30:13
Issachar	Leah	30:18
Zebulon	Leah	30:20
Dinah (Not numbered because she did not establish a tribe – get over it, feminists!)	Leah	30:21
Joseph	Rachel	30:24
Benjamin	Rachel	35:17-18

• Rashi writes that the name דינה, “Dinah,” is connected to the term for judgment דין, “deen.” 

Our Sages explained that Leah pronounced judgment (דָּנָה) upon herself. [She reasoned:] If this is a male, my sister Rachel will not be [esteemed even] as one of the handmaids. So she prayed over him, and he was turned into a female (Talmud Berachot 60a).

• Leah reasoned that since Jacob was ordained to have twelve sons who each would found a tribe; she already had six; and the maidservants two each; then two more would be born.  If this child is a male, then Rachel will have only one son and will not be the equal of the maidservants [Scherman, The Chumash, Artscroll Series, citing Talmud B’rachot 60a; however, Midrash Rabbah says that Rachel made this deduction.].”  Thus, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah (also Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel) prayed together for a daughter.  The fetus was switched with the next child of Rachel (Joseph), who had been destined to have a daughter.
• Thus, the etymological link is “dayenu,” enough sons [Midrash Rabbah 72:6].
• Is changing the gender of fetus with a prayer a miracle?
• This prayer seems to be one in vain, where outcome is already known; an empty prayer.  Sex of fetus is already determined.  Therefore, Leah’s bracha is contrary to rabbinic tradition because she offered an empty prayer.  Gemara in Brachot 54a asks this and answers that in Leah’s case it was OK: an extraordinary miracle.  Mishnah Zedarim-Brachot 9:3 gives several examples where blessing for apparent miracles that benefit the Jews should be recited, such as ridding the land of idolatry; or certain natural phenomena -- temporary or permanent -- such as, earthquakes, thunder, winds, lightning, hills, seas, rivers, deserts, rain; or good or bad events.  Evidently, changing the sex of a fetus was such a miracle.
• But in Brachot 60a, 

[the Talmudic sages] cannot cite a miraculous event [in refutation of the Mishnah, which states (Zedarim-Brachot 9:3), if his wife was pregnant and he says, “May it be his will that my wife bear a male child,” this is a vain prayer]. Alternatively I may reply that the incident of Leah occurred within forty days [after conception], according to what has been taught: 

Within the first three days a man should pray that the seed should not putrefy; from the third to the fortieth day he should pray that the child should be a male;

From the fortieth day to three months he should pray that it should not be a sandal [A kind of abortion resembling a flat-shaped fish called sandal];

From three months to six months he should pray that it should not be stillborn;

From six months to nine months he should pray for a safe delivery. 

But does such a prayer [that the child should be a male] avail? Has not R. Isaac the son of R. Ammi said: If the man first emits seed, the child will be a girl; if the woman first emits seed, the child will be a boy? [Which shows that it is all fixed beforehand.]  — With what case are we dealing here, if, for instance, they both emitted seed at the same time?  [Soncino online edition with footnotes in italics]

• Today, is it appropriate to pray for genetic health of a fetus?  Modern rabbis say, no, it’s predetermined.
• Rachel and Leah prayed for sons before they got pregnant; outcome was not pre-determined.

30:22. And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and He opened her womb.

30:23. And she conceived and bore a son, and she said, "God has taken away my reproach."

• 30:22-23 - finally, Rachel has a son.
• Parallels story of Hannah (1 Samuel 19) and of Sarah in terms of opening womb because God “remembers.”
• But can God “remember?”  It’s really a metaphor per Rambam; God cannot be anthropomorphic. Humans are limited by language.
• Kaplan: “special consideration” – same verb use for God and Noach in 8:1.
• Fox: “kept Rachel in mind”
• Rashi (citing Midrash Rabbah 73:2-4) – God is the reason for the birth.  The Midrash asks, what was Rachel’s merit that God “remembered?” and cites a number of reasons.
• The conception was on Rosh Hashanah, a day of favorable remembrance for all Jews, because on that day, Jews proclaim allegiance to God.
• The merit of Abraham and Jacob in Psalm 98:3, He remembered His kindness and His faith to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God, in which the Midrash renders “His” as referring to Abraham for his kindness and Jacob for his faithfulness, contrary to the plain meaning of “His” as God.
• Rachel was Jacob’s primary wife, as stated in 46:19.  Elsewhere, Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah are not called “wife.”
• In Psalm 55:19, He redeemed my soul with peace from the battle that came upon me, because of the many [people who] were with me, it is David who is speaking, but the Sages write that this verse applies to Rachel, who was “redeemed” from the need to marry Esau (the “battle”).  The “many who were with me” refers to Rachel’s bringing Bilhah to conceive on her behalf; to Leah’s prayers; Rachel’s remaining silent when Leah was given to Jacob; and to other matriarch’s prayers.
• God’s attribute of strict justice אלוהים, is used here, though one would think יהוה, the attribute of mercy, would be more appropriate.  The Sages explain that Rachel deserved to be remembered because of the justice of bringing a rival Bilhah to bear Jacob’s sons.  This act changed justice to mercy in the same way that Leah was heard by אלוהים, in 30:17 so that she could bear Issachar; and like אלוהים remembering Noach in 8:1 so that the waters receded.
• Opening a womb (i.e., fertility) is one of three aspects of nature over which God has direct control.  The other two are resurrection and rain, for which the Midrash gives proof texts.  It is stated directly in 30:22 that God opened Rachel’s womb.
• Munk (page 412) – Rachel is by nature barren because her name had no ה, a sign of procreation or fertility. Abraham and Sarah had this letter added to allow them to procreate.  
• In Genesis 2:4, Rashi comments that the word בְּהִבָּרְאָם [could mean} He created them with the letter “hey,” as it is written (Isaiah 26:4):“for in Yah (יָה) , the Lord, is the Rock of eternity.” With these two letters [“yud” and “hey”] of the Name, He fashioned two worlds, and it teaches you here that this world was created with a “hey” (Menahot 29b)
• However, Rachel was given the providential ability to procreate even without the letter ה.  It was a miracle, especially since she was declared barren in 29:31.