First it says Job married Dinah. Then it says Job was Jewish except for the last case, which is where he married Dinah.
Q: How could he marry Dinah if he wasn't Jewish?
Barry Epstein, Dallas, USA
It was before the giving of the Torah, no one was Jewish.
D. Zupnik
That's fine - except Chazal always seem to make a big deal out of our
forefathers and mothers Jewishness. For example; Avraham converted the men
and Sarah converted the women. It seems quite clear that Dinah, as a
daughter of Ya'akov, would not only be Jewish, but insist on at least
conversion from anyone she would marry.....yet there's nothing to indicate
that Iyov ever converted.
Please explain.
Jeff Ram,
Jerusalem
There is also nothing to indicate that he didn't convert. The same proof that you have that Dina insisted on the conversion of anyone she would marry (that proof being the intuitive argument that, as a daughter of Ya'akov, it is quite reasonable that she would insist on conversion), tells us also that Iyov indeed converted.
D. Zupnik
My understanding is that Job was not necessarily a real person either. I thought that Job was a parable? (The Job we are talking about is Eyov correct?) Also, it was my understanding that after Dinah married Shechem, she no longer is mentioned. Is there a midrash regarding this?
This opinion is a minority opinion quoted in our Gemara. Additionally, Dina is mentioned in the Torah two more times after the incident with Shechem (Bereishis 34:26,46:15). The Torah does not mentioned explicitly that she married anyone. This was brought in our Gemara.
All the best,
Yaakov Montrose