Hate all Evil – The greatness of Shimon and Levi

In Parshas Vayishlach we read of the shocking and brutal kidnapping and rape of Dinah – daughter of ya’akov, by Shchem – son of Chamor.

The response by Dinah’s brothers (particularly Shimon and Levi) was fierce and convincing. They proceeded to trick the males of the city into circumcising themselves and then attacked and killed out the entire city.

It is not the purpose of this essay to explore whether or not their actions were justified; this has already been dealt with at length by many notable commentators. What I do wish to explore here is their emotional reaction to their sister’ rape, which I believe was not only justified but actually reflects on their greatness of character.

A person’s actions are highly reflective of the way they feel “inside”. If Shimon and Levi were driven to such drastic and fierce actions, one can only imagine the type of disgust, rage and disdain they felt at what had just transpired. They were affected so deeply by what Shchem did to their sister that they were literally sent into a frenzy.

Shimon and Levi felt an extreme loyalty and closeness with their family. Dinah’s rape was their rape and her pain and suffering was theirs. They couldn’t remain distant and cold; to them this was very very personal.

But I don’t think this alone would’ve brought them to act as they did. There is one more component which is key to understanding their emotional response and that is their disgust towards corruption and evil.

The ultimate sign of a noble character is its reaction to evil. A “good” person must hate evil and all that it stands for. Tolerance for and excusing of evil is reflective of a flawed character. Shimon and Levi were the ultimate “good” people and their character was noble to the extreme. This is why they responded so vehemently to the despicable and heinous crime of Shchem; it shook them to their very core and attacked their very heightened sense of morality.

This is in no way a defense of their subsequent actions in killing out the city. The argument could still be made that they should’ve kept their emotions in check and sought out a different resolution. What should not be questioned however and what is clearly admirable about them is the intensity of how they felt and how disgusted they were at Shchem.


We are living in an unprecedented era of freedom and tolerance. We have become less prejudice as a society and more forgiving and accepting in general. But we are starting to see the consequences of extreme acceptance and tolerance. When a society fails to call evil by what it is and denounce it and hate it in the strongest way; it is the beginning of the end. We cannot lose our heightened sense of morality and we cannot be accepting and tolerant towards evil. What we choose to actually do about it is an entirely separate discussion but the way we feel about is the true test of our character. 

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