Dinah's Rebellion: A Biblical Parable for Our Time (review)

Volume 10, No.1 Fall1991 133 Dinah's Rebellion: A Biblical Parable for Our Time, by Ita Sheres. New York: Crossroad, 1990. 148 pp. $17.95. Dinah's Rebellion: A Biblical Parable for Our Time, by Ita Sheres, begins appropriately with the text of Genesis 34, thus making the story easily accessible to the reader. The study is set up in five chapters with an appendix. The task of the author's probe is to determine whether there was another Dinah story that the redactors chose to change, ignore, or cut for reasons that were not just literary. Sheres sees the ultimate premise of the story to be the redactor's belief that there is a deep link between moral behavior, political commitment, and the individual's position in the universe. The historical essence of the story is political and land-oriented. Structurally, Dinah's' "going out" places this text in a whole genre of accounts dealing with women and men on the way to self-discovery who end up paying the price of loss of voice for trying to break away from tradition. The opening chapter of the book sets up the framework for the tale of Dinah with a discussion of the position of women in Genesis. Narrative sources associated with the courts of the early monarchy and post-exilic deuteronomic compilers are discussed. Sheres believes that the overall impression created in the text is that since women were supposed to be mentally and physically weak and flawed, they needed direction and protection from men for their very survival. For that reason there is affinity between women and "strangers" in the nationalistic elan, to the detriment of both. Following that discussion, the second chapter presents a comparative study of Eve and Dinah, underscoring the redactor's perspective describing women as sexually oriented. The two women are viewed as representative of all womankind. They are transgressors who made an effort to widen the realm of their experience and in the process offended patriarchal values. Eve's contact with the stranger/serpent in the garden caused restrictions on women's sexual activity. Dinah's contact with the stranger/Hivites brought about severe restrictions of Hebrew w~men's freedom to decide for themselves about their futures and their moving out of the house. Both women were brought down to earth, isolation, and silence. The exposition proceeds in the third chapter by juxtaposing the two important matriarchs Rebekah and Rachel with Dinah. Rebekah and Rachel seem to play by the patriarchs' rules and therefore function successfully, albeit marginally, from the tent. Dinah disobeyed the rules spelled out by men and served as a stark example of the consequences of "going out" to the foreboding outside. All three indicate directions for the community: 1) Accept Yahweh and his covenant and gain Canaan; 2) Restrict women to men's tents and gain tribal exclusivity; and 3) Shield women from uncircumcised strangers and gain power and wealth. Ironically, though Dinah did not abide 134 SHOFAR by the patriarchal rules, her "going out" contributed to the brothers' perversely acquiring material rewards. The Dinah story itself is analyzed in Chapter 4 with a view to assessing its use of the circumcision motif and Dinah's misfortune in encountering dangers outside the house. Redactors adjusted the Genesis stories to new ideological cOmponents working toward national permanence and commitment that was lacking in the Hebrews' more nomadic culture. The final chapter attempts to analyze the Dinah affair by the method of comparative, midrashic, and intertextual evaluation. Sheres states that there is no attempt to characterize historically the contemporary problems facing Israel and its neighbors. However, she argues that while the idea of covenant laid out the grounds for a superb philosophy of dialogue and understanding, it also encouraged questionable positions about morality and political behavior impacting on Jews and Western civilization alike. The author calls for a consideration of Dinah in a new light, as an active political figure who tried to steer the Hebrews away from brutal confrontations . Dinah's "going out" must be understood as wise and desirable, serving as a model for many Israeli women who struggle to form a coherent political, pacifistic group with...