Post: Since dybbuks, and dybbuk hoaxes, are in the news, this short and to the point devar Torah on last week's parasha, Vayishlach, is appropriate.
Dinah was a good, frum, Jewish girl. She grew up in Yaakov's household, and so learned to be meticulous not just in dinnim deOraysa but in derabbanans and minhagim as well. While the Avos learned in yeshiva Shem veEiver, Dinah learned in the very first Beis Yaakov. Yet, as we learn in Bava Basra, she later married Iyov.
Thus, it was Dinah who said to Iyov {2:9}:
ט וַתֹּאמֶר לוֹ אִשְׁתּוֹ, עֹדְךָ מַחֲזִיק בְּתֻמָּתֶךָ; בָּרֵךְ אֱלֹהִים, וָמֻת. | 9 Then said his wife unto him: 'Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? blaspheme God, and die.' |
This is mystifying. It boggles the mind that someone with such an upbringing -- who would have even reformed Esav had she married him -- could say such a thing. It is near impossible!
But then, during laining yesterday, I noticed the following pasuk, regarding Shechem ben Chamor:
ג וַתִּדְבַּק נַפְשׁוֹ, בְּדִינָה בַּת-יַעֲקֹב; וַיֶּאֱהַב, אֶת-הַנַּעֲרָ, וַיְדַבֵּר, עַל-לֵב הַנַּעֲרָ. | 3 And his soul did cleave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spoke comfortingly unto the damsel. |
As we know, his soul was dispatched towards the afterlife shortly thereafter, courtesy of Shimon and Levi. But this pasuk tells us that וַתִּדְבַּק נַפְשׁוֹ בְּדִינָה. This is the Biblical source, in nigleh, for dybbuk. While Dinah was more or less a good girl, she was possessed by the dybbuk of this rasha, Shechem. When she spoke to Iyov, telling him to curse God and die, she presumably spoke from her stomach, rather than her lips.