BAIS HAVAAD ON THE PARSHA 5773 ~ PARSHAS VAYISHLACH ~ Avenging Crimes: Vengeance As Deterrence

And Ya'akov said to Shimon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot? The sons' retort does not seem to address the father's concern; he is worried about the consequences of their rash reaction, and they insist that Shechem's outrage is intolerable - but how have they answered his charge that they have brought mortal peril upon the family? Two interesting explanations of the sons' position are the Abravanel's suggestion that "death with honor is better than a life of disgrace and shame"[1] and the Or Ha'Chaim Ha'Kadosh's idea that they expected no retaliation, as they had been duly provoked and their actions would therefore be perceived as justified.[2] In this article, however, we focus on the second approach of the Or Ha'Chaim, that the brothers were engaged in the ruthless calculus of deterrence: they argued that on the contrary, were the nations to observe that a vulgar individual had had his way with the daughter of Ya'akov and subsequently been ignored, the family would stand no chance against them in the future, and it is precisely their horrific retaliation that would terrify the nations and thereby ensure their own security.[3] (AUDIO VERSION HERE) PRINT VERSION HERE