Before confronting his brother Esav after many years of estrangement, Yaakov quietly transfers his four wives and eleven sons to the other side of the river Yabok. Rashi famously asks, “And Dinah - where was she?” He cites a Medrash that Yaakov had placed Dinah in a sealed box so that Esav would not lay eyes on her and seek to marry the young girl. Despite the fact that Yaakov was trying to protect his daughter from an evil man, Yaakov was punished for preventing his pious daughter from possibly influencing Esav and returning him to goodness. Instead, she fell into the hands of Shechem where unspeakable actions were done to her.

     How could Dinah be made to suffer for Yaakov’s failure to allow her to positively influence his brother? Does the Torah not state: "איש בחטאו ימתו" - “Every person is responsible for his own sin!” (Devarim 24:16) There is no such thing as an innocent person punished for the sin of another!

     Rabbi E. Buchwald shlit’a provides an interesting insight in the name of the Darshan of Jerusalem. According to the Medrash, when Yaakov put Dinah in the box, she was six years old and Esav was 97 years old. How would it be possible for such a young girl to influence a grown man whose fierce attitudes had already been shaped? After all, his own father Yitzchok was unable to influence him, nor was his mother Rivkah, or his brother Yaakov? How then could this little child be expected to influence Esav?

     The Darshan of Jerusalem answers with three simple words: “A Yiddishe veib!” A Jewish wife. When a Yiddishe veib - and a Yiddishe Mama (mother) for that matter - puts her mind to something, is there anything she can’t accomplish? She has the strength of character, the wisdom of the ages, and the power of her position to get anything done! If she wishes to influence her husband, she has the ability to turn him from bad to good, from harsh to kind, from negative to positive. A Jewish wife can have more influence on her husband than even Yitzchok, Rivkah or Yaakov! Any Jewish wife - even one so young as Dinah - has the power to change the world!