Inevitably, this repression of Dina backfired. Living in a house with all brothers, and sheltered from all potentially harmful influences, Dina undoubtedly felt stifled and did what came naturally to her: she went out, and innocently enough. Our sages saw a smidgeon of fault in what Dina did and in what Yaakov did. The choices of both should not be overlooked simply because of the great evil perpetrated by Shechem.
In fact, Shechem’s evil is a given; that is why he wound up on the wrong side of a massacre. But to blame Shechem (or other evildoers) and end the discussion is misleading. We have to always examine our actions, responses, or conduct that provided the opening that allowed their evil to affect us.
Certainly we recognize that Yaakov’s intentions were good, as were Dina’s, and the Torah – again, in this instance – does not provide us with a ready, facile solution to their dilemmas. The question of how much we can properly shield our children from harmful influences, and at the same time prepare them to deal with a world that can be unsavory, does not lend itself to an easy, homogeneous answer. Ultimately, all parents draw a line, even knowing that the outcome of their decision will not be evident for decades.
