Golda Meir once remarked, “I can forgive the Palestinians for killing my boys, but I cannot forgive them for making my boys kill.” Meir’s statement expresses the inherently corrupting nature of murder, even when it is unavoidable.

This theme is echoed in this week’s parashah in the story of Shimon, Levi, and Shekhem. After Dinah is raped, Jacob’s sons agree to allow Dinah to marry Shekhem on condition that the men of his tribe circumcise themselves. On the third day after their circumcisions, Shimon and Levi wipe out all the men in the town. Afraid that Shimon and Levi’s actions will lead to the Canaanites and Perizites ganging up against them, Jacob rebukes his sons. Shimon and Levi get the last word, asking (Genesis 34:31), “should our sister be treated like a prostitute?” But at the end of Jacob’s life when he blesses his other sons, he curses Shimon and Levi (Genesis 49:5-7). Jacob curses their anger, saying that he does not want to be counted among them.

Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz explains that despite the justification offered by the two brothers, their actions are cursed nonetheless. Murder is an inherently stained and accursed action, and all the arguments in the world are unable to cleanse it.