Who did Jacob’s son’s marry (beside Joseph when the Torah tells us)? The Cannanities were looked down upon and were to be strongly avoided in the case of Isaac and Jacob. After Jacob’s encounter with Laban, I don’t think he would have sent for wifes from the old country. Ishmalites???
The Talmud discusses your question and offers two answers. One suggestion is that each son was born with a twin girl. They therefore married the other daughters of Jacob.
The other answer is that they in fact married Canaanite girls. I presume the difference between them and Isaac and Jacob is that by this point they were more established as a family. They would influence the women they married, rather than their wives influencing them. That is just a speculation.
Problem with twin girl theory is that they are not
mentioned in the Torah except Dina, so if it was
important enough to mention Dina, why was it not
improtant to mention twins. Also you then have
brothers marrying 1/2 sisters, so if the midrash about
forefathers following Torah is correct (ignoring Jacob
as he was tricked), then that is prohibited.
If we assume that they mentioned Cannanites, they why
does the Torah go out of its way to mention that only
Simon had a Cannanite wife (Shemot 6:15). If we
assume that the midrash that the Cannanite wife was
really his 1/2 sister Dina, then we still don’t know
why the Torah would call Dina a Cannnanite but the
“real” Cannanite wives are not noted as such.
Thanks for your help.
The classical commentators discuss all of your questions. The best place to look is in Gur Aryeh in Parshas Vayigash where he has a very lengthy discussion of these issues. He discusses the forefathers keeping the Torah. Several possible answers, all of which are based on the notion that although they kept the Torah, they had the option to ignore any given law when they understood it was necessary, since the Torah had not yet been formally given.
1) Ramban says only applied in Eretz Yisrael (hence Rachel dies right before reentering the land).
2) Maharal says concept doesn’t apply to negative commandments, only to positive ones.
The Torah mentions things only when they are relevant. Dina is brought up only because of the story involving her, which was so significant in the development of Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael and in the development of the tribes of Shimon and Levi. In addition there is much to be learned from the behavior of the brothers and Yaakov in that story, as well as from the behavior of Dina herself.
The two opinions as to whom the brothers married argue also as to the identity of the Canaanaite wife in question. The one who holds the brothers married Canaanites holds that Shimon’s wife was a regular Canaanite. (That raises the question as to why she is singled out, I don’t have an answer at this time.) The other who holds the brothers married half-sisters is the one who says Shimon married Dina. (BTW, Ramban interprets that to mean that Dina lived in Shimon’s household, not that they were actually husband and wife.)
I hope this helps some. If you have access to that Maharal in Vayigash (I don’t have the verse in front of me now — its on the pasuk in the list of the 70 who came down to Egypt) and the Ramban who discuss the forefathers keeping the Torah (Vayetzei or Vayishlach) — they are very valuable.
All the best.