Parashat Vayishlag

Dear Friends,

Parshat Vayishlag relates to us the story of Dinah the daughter of Leah.

A very special Parasha for those individuals named Dinah and even more for those who name their child Dinah, and this includes us!

According to the Midrash, Leah’s seventh pregnancy began as a boy (Yoseph), but through her prayer, compassion, and through divine purpose, became Dinah.

How do we understand this unexpected divine transformation?

In general commentators like Rashi, the Abarbanel and the Ramban explain this unexpected twist to be reshaping of fate before birth.

A mere spiritual twist to elevate and reshape the family's destiny.

The sages say that even though Dinah was born female, she carried the same spiritual strength as Yoseph, who crossed boundaries, adapted, transformed, and brought blessing into new places.

Dinah therefore embodies the best of both world: gentleness with resilience, sensitivity with determination, feminine energy with inner power, kindness with courage.

She is blessed to be a child whose soul holds “both sides” of strength.

Children whose expectation is completely opposed to the one we had are often the ones who bring unexpected light to the world.

Just as the Torah’s Dinah we feel that our daughter Dinah carries that same theme of surprise, transformation, and divine intention.

We too, journeyed through pregnancy with one expectation, and then witnessed our child arrive with a destiny entirely her own.

Dinah comes into the world as a gentle reminder that we do not choose our children’s paths, but G-d and life shape them in ways we could never predict.

She is, like her biblical namesake, a soul whose arrival teaches humility, wonder, and the acceptance of the unexpected.

Dinah is literally born out of kindness from Leah to her sister Rachel.

Dinah arrived not by human plan, but through a journey wrapped in care, hope, and the desire and readiness to receive whatever soul G-d was sending.

In naming the child Dinah, one is almost saying:

“We welcome the soul that came to us, the exact one we needed.”

That is the deepest lesson we as parents can take away from this week's Parasha for any of our children.

The lesson is that Dinah exemplifies the deepest compassion a parent can offer a child - unconditional acceptance.

A beautiful lesson that my wife Leah Luisa deeply exemplifies.

Shabbath Shalom