Verse Gn34-07a discussing the rape of Dinah, who wandered into a third world neighborhood, states And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought a vile deed in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing is not done.

Rashi comments on the underlined phrase which thing is not done. Rashi explains You might argue contributory fault of the rape victim. After all, she should have known better than to go into a third world neighborhood (even if she was socializing with the girls). The Bible therefore emphasizes that although roughing people up and macho behavior is to be expected when you go to a third world neighborhood, rape is not to be expected. Even third world nations know the seriousness of Rape and have their own cultural methods, which usually involve heavy bonding in groups, to prevent people from going overboard. So Schem was the real rapist

Advanced Rashi: Someone asked me a few weeks ago if I deal with Rashi contradictions. We have such a Rashi contradiction in Gn34 since at Gn34-01 Rashi, commenting on the unusual genealogical phrase, Dinah the daughter of Leah states, Leah was frequently forward with her husband and set a bad role model for Dinah, who was forward with men. This led to her rape. But on Gn34-07 Rashi states that Schem was the rapist. Which is it? Did Leah cause the rape by showing Dinah how to be forward or was Schem solely responsibile for the rape. Or, perhaps Rashi is implying that Schem and Leah both contributed to the rape.

Before answering this contradiction I note that many non-Rashi scholars have vehemently attacked this Rashi, the lastest example, being the book The Red Tent. It would behoove those who comment on Rashi to at least inquire as to what he is saying. He couldn't have meant that Leah was the rapist since he goes out of his way to blaim Schem and remove any defense.

It appears to me that we can understand Rashi if we distinguish between blaim and guilt. Leah is not to be blaimed for Dinah's rape. She did not contribute to it. Indeed, Leah was Dinah's mother. Rather Leah, upon hearing of the rape, felt guilty that perhaps her forward behavior with Jacob sent an incorrect signal to her daughter that such behavior is always appropriate. She felt guilty that she never taught her the dangers of being forward with men So at Gn34-01 Rashi is explaining the natural feeling of guilt coming from a role model of female forwardness. The reader might ask How can you be blameless and feel guilty? The answer is that guilt is an emotion not a moral judgement. The symptoms of blameless guilt are thoughts such as the following: Maybe I should have spoke to her more about men? Maybe I should have been more discrete around the house. Maybe I could have done something and this wouldn't have happened. Blaim however is correctly pla on the rapist and Rashi goes out of his way to blaim him despite the fact that she walked into his turf - even criminals have boundaries and borders. Furthermore it is important for Rashi to comment on Leah's guilt since in all generations Jewish mothers do feel guilty when something happens to their daughters and they need appropriate role-models to identify with.