(Written in Dec 2017)
THE INNOCENCE OF DINA (pronounced: Deena)
The Tora tells us about cases of sexual abuse and sexual corruption.
This week’s Parasha, for example, tells us about the kidnapping and rape of Dina, the daughter of Ya’qaob. When Dina leaves her home to visit the town “to meet the girls of the place,” she thinks she is in a safe place for a woman, an place with decency, like the house where she grew up. In several Biblical texts, it is suggested that the women of Israel could walk safely in the streets and were respected by men, thanks to the observance of the law of the Tora. An example: Psalm 48, the one we read every Monday, says that in Yerushalayim “the daughters of Yehuda” walked “happy” through the streets of Jerusalem “thanks to your laws” (תָּגֵלְנָה בְּנוֹת יְהוּדָה לְמַעַן מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ). In other words, when Jews respect the Tora, there is no place for sexual abuse or harassment.Dina surely thought that she was among decent people. And she paid a high price for her innocence.
YOSEF and THE WIFE OF POTIPHAR
The first and most famous case of sexual harassment recorded in the Tora was not committed by a man but by a woman, the wife of Potiphar, an Egyptian minister. For all we know, she was a rich and probably boring woman. The victim of this woman was none other than Yosef, the brother of Dina, the son of our third patriarch Ya’aqob.Yosef had been deceived by his brothers and sold as a slave to Potiphar, who put him in charge of all the household chores. Presumably, for this reason, Potiphar’s wife was in constant contact with him. The woman approached Yosef several times and suggested that he be with her. Yosef, respectfully rejected her advances. But one day there was no one else in the house and Potiphar’s wife took Yosef by his clothes. Yosef left his clothes and escaped. Potiphar’s wife began to scream and when the people arrived, she told them that the Hebrew slave tried to abuse her. And as evidence of the crime she showed his clothes. When Potiphar found out, he sent Yosef to the dungeon, where he remained for several years.What do we learn from Yosef’s story that we can apply to modern cases of sexual harassment?
MAN, WOMAN or POWER?
First, it is surprising that in the first recorded case of sexual harassment, the victim is not a woman but a man. But if we look closely we will see that this difference is only superficial. And that like in the modern cases of harassment and abuse, the abuser, beyond gender, was a person in a position of power. Similarly, I believe that in all cases that were reported in the last month, the abuser is an employer or a boss, current or potential, who takes advantage of his subordinates. Potiphar’s wife was the “owner” of the house and Yosef, a vulnerable slave, was part of that house. From Yosef’s story we learn that sexual harassment has more to do with abuse of power than with testosterone. And that yesterday and today, in the case of men or women, sexual harassment has to do fundamentally with the corrupting effects of the power that a person exerts over his or her subordinates.
REDISCOVERING THE WISDOM of YIHUD
No matter how obsessed Potiphar’s wife was with Yosef, her first advances were limited because there were other individuals present. She tried to seduce Yosef by force only when they were alone. About 3,000 years ago King David and his court established a new law: called in Hebrew “Yihud”, which means, “isolation”, that is, being alone with another person of the opposite sex. This law, very intelligently, prohibits a man and a woman from isolating themselves or from finding themselves in a locked room, when there is nobody else there. When a man, and especially when a woman, is aware of this prohibition and avoids meeting or staying alone with a person of the opposite sex, the probabilities of sexual abuse are minimized dramatically. Since the abusers, in general, take care not to be exposed in public, and they wait for or prepare the opportunity to be alone with their victims.
If we observe the details in the wave of sexual harassment complaints in recent weeks, we will appreciate that with very few exceptions, all cases took place when there are NO witnesses present. Victims of abuse recognize that they fell into the trap of the abuser at the time they agreed to meet, be or stay alone with him or her. This was probably their biggest innocent mistake …
There are many more lessons we can be learned from Yosef’s brief but significant story on this subject.
And perhaps it is time for modern society to turn its eyes towards the Tora and analyze what are the factors that trigger, and the value of YICHUD, that can help to prevent this horrific social crime effectively.
