Vayeitzei. Interesting Consequences of Gender Change.

This is an introductory question which will lead us to two fascinating observations about gender changes.

How many Shevatim come from Rachel, and how many from Leah.

The answer, of course, is two from Rachel and six from Leah.

A more correct answer is, three from Rachel and seven or eight from Leah.

Yosef's sons, Ephraim and Menashe, were counted as two independent Shvatim, which gives Rachel three. And according to the Pirkei D'Rebbi Eliezer (38), Yosef's wife, Asnas, was his niece, Dinah's daughter, and Dinah was Leah's daughter, so Asnas was Leah's granddaughter. Therefore, her two sons were from Leah as well as Rachel. Since when you count Ephraim and Menashe separately you usually drop Levi, Leah's total was either seven or eight.  So: How many shevatim are from Rachel? Three. How many shevatim are from Leah? Seven or eight, depending on whether you count Levi. Two of these are shevatim that share both Rachel and Leah.

→   I think this is another example of the aphorism of Baalei Musser, פון וויתר פארלירט מען נישט, you never suffer a loss by foregoing what you are entitled to for another's benefit. Here, Leah, out of sympathy for her sister, gave up the opportunity to be the mother of another shevet (Brachos 60a). But she regained that shevet as a grandmother, and she regained it with interest.

The idea that identity goes through the maternal side is not without precedent. You have, for one example, the Gemara in Megilla (12a that Mordechai was called HaYehudi because his mother was from Shevet Yehuda. Anyway, our concept of yichus does not matter. Women have their own ideas of yichus, and they decide on their own who is "theirs." Their definition probably doesn't match (and doesn't need to match) what it says in Halacha.  If  you're not married, trust me on this. The ones that just gave her nachas are from her side, and the troublemakers are yours.



The relationship of Ephraim and Menashe to Leah resulted from a combination of many events. Leah davenned that Hashem should change the fetus she was carrying from a boy to a girl, and that was Dinah. Dinah was the victim of Shechem's assault, and the child of the pregnancy that resulted from that assault ended up being adopted by Potiphera, and then married to Yosef.

Reb Yaakov in his Emes L'Yakov points out that just as Dinah was supposed to be a boy but turned into a girl, one of Rachel's kids should have been a girl, but turned out to be a boy (in order that Rachel should have two Shevatim and to attain a sum of twelve boys.) Let's assume that would be Yosef.

→  Reb Yaakov says that although Dinah was born female and Yosef was born male, they retained some character traits from their original gender. Or their mazal, or whatever you want. That is why Dinah was a יצאנית/gregarious and outgoing (not like Rashi in Vayishlach that it came from Leah,) and why Yosef was מסלסל בשערו/excessively concerned about his physical appearance.  

Reb Yaakov is saying that sometimes a person is born with a personality that does not quite match the stereotype of their physical gender. This is a self-evident truth - we all know people like this. Still, I think that this particular vort would have been better left in the realm of Torah she'Baal Peh.


NOTE:
Reb Avrohom Wagner brought up the Targum Yonasan and the Paytan that say that the fetuses were switched, not altered. Would Reb Yaakov's idea work according to them?

I responded that current research seems to provide evidence that the uterine hormonal environment contributes significantly to sexual expression, to the extent that a female twin of a male will have measurable gender related biological differences from single female fetuses.  I pointed out the abstracts of two relevant studies:
https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/262525
and
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0018506X06001462?via%3Dihub

If someone started out carrying a male fetus, and it was exchanged for a female fetus, or the reverse, it seems reasonable that there would be significant consequences.