Redemption of Captives, the Rape of Dinah and Israel's Failure in Lebanon

This past week's Torah portion (the section of the Torah read in Synagogue on a weekly basis, so that the entire scroll is read each year in cycle) was the Parsha (section) of Vayishlach, in which the story of the Rape of Dinah is recounted.

Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was abducted by Shechem, son of Hamor, and prince of the powerful city of Shechem. (Currently known as Nablus) He raped her, and then sought to obtain her hand in marriage - though he kept her captive at all times, and would have had her as a concubine in any event.

The sons of Jacob decided to trick Shechem and his soldiers, claiming that the bride-price for their sister would be the conversion (read: circumcision) of all males of the city. To this part of the plan, Jacob agreed.

The trick was that after Shechem and his men circumcised themselves, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, went into the city and slew them all, rescuing their sister in the process. Jacob, understandably, was furious at them, for the deceit, the killing, and the fact that the surrounding nations would look at his family differently. He cursed the two sons to never act in concert like this again.

In Judaism, redemption of captives is a sacred obligation, called Pidyon Shvuyim. It is both a temporal and spiritual obligation. Each week in synagogue, a prayer is recited for the safety of the captives, beseeching God to bring them home. From Ron Arad to Gilad Shalit, these men have been constantly remembered to God each week during Sabbath prayers.

But there is a temporal component as well. In the time of Dinah's abduction and rape, it fell to Jacob and his sons to rescue her, regardless of whether the vengeance wrought upon the city was appropriate or even necessary.

And it was this obligation that the Olmert administration of Israel failed to keep this past summer when it went to war with Hezbollah in Lebanon after Gilad Shalit was abducted.

The bottom line is that for the Jewish State, citing a sacred obligation to explain its action can never be a rubber stamp. Not only did Olmert's unacceptably incompetent military action fail to set Hezbollah back to any appreciable degree, he failed utterly to accomplish an objective that was, simply put, non-delegable.

The plight of an Israeli held by a terrorist organization is impossible to describe. How can one who hasn't experienced it discuss the sheer hopelessness that must be felt at the knowledge that even your bones will probably never be found, much less sent back to your country and family? How can one survive the torture and utter despair of knowing that comes with the complete absence of hope?

It is to be hoped that the Captives are somehow aware that we have not forgotten them, and that our prayers continue to ask God for their safety and release.

But that is not enough. The Israeli government has a sacred obligation to get them back, and without fulfillment of that, there can be no justification of its actions. Ehud Olmert has failed to even address his failures regarding Lebanon, much less the captives themselves. Perhaps the next Israeli government will finally fulfill its dual obligation and bring these men home.