Simon and His Descendant Zimri

Simon and Levi are brothers, weapons of violence are their kinship. Let my soul not come into their council; unto their assembly let my glory not be united; for in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they hewed oxen.      Genesis 49:5-6 “into their council” refers to Zimri [Numbers 25:6-8,14]; “for in their anger they slew men” refers to the residents of Sh’chem [Genesis 34:1-29].                      Breishit Rabba 88-89

Rabbi Yehonatan Eybschutz asserts that Zimri had converted the Midianite woman whom he took, otherwise his claim to Moses: “who permitted the daughter of Jethro to you” [see Rashi Numbers 25:6] would be meaningless. Rabbi Yehonatan supports his position by quoting the historian Yosifon, who states explicitly that the Midianite woman had been converted. Yet Moses and his rabbinical court considered the conversion to be invalid, since it was for the purpose of an intimate relationship, rather than for its own sake.

The residents of Sh’chem as well, were ready to accept conversion only as a means of intermarriage with the daughters of Israel, not for the sake of heaven. Thus, Jacob connected the two events: the fact that Simon and Levi killed the residents of Sh’chem clearly indicates that they considered their conversion to be invalid, therefore the conversion of the Midianite woman by Zimri must be considered invalid as well.