The story of Dinah in Parashat Vayishlach is more than a tragic incident—it is a mirror into the fractures inside Jacob’s family long before Shechem ever appeared. To understand why Jacob responded one wayand why his sons responded another, we must go back to the beginning.

Night settled slowly over the camp, pulling its long shadow across the tents of Jacob and his children. The torches burned low, and the sound of livestock quieted. A heavy stillness lay over the camp—a stillness Jacob felt inside his chest.

Vayishlach (“And he sent”) opens with Ya’akov Avinu (Jacob our Father) preparing to meet Esav after twenty years of separation—twenty years filled with fear, guilt, and unanswered questions.