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Wednesday, January 04, 2006

OrTorah: Harry Potter is Jewish!

Harry Potter is Jewish!
by EduPlanet Rectorate (daniEl I. Ginerman) - Thursday, 5 January 2006, 04:37 AM
 
Harry Potter is Jewish!
(A Useful Metaphor)


by Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
www.ou.org/ncsy/projects/5764/oct31-64/harry_potter_is_jewish.htm

No, sorry to say, the character of Harry Potter is not Jewish. I
think the books are quite clear on that, what with Christmas being
a major plot point what seems like every six weeks. But I think the
theme of the Harry Potter series is quite Jewish.

Some religious people of different faiths, including Judaism and
Christianity, have opposed the Harry Potter series. (I wouldn't be
surprised to find that Moslems, Hindus and others have objected, as
well.) After all, it does appear to glorify a lifestyle quite at odds with
the one they espouse. But I think they're missing the point. Harry
Potter doesn't advocate witchcraft as a lifestyle choice any more
than the Terminator movies advocate the killer android from the
future lifestyle. Harry Potter is about a boy who just happens to be
a wizard.

Personally, I think the Harry Potter story may be a perfect metaphor
for what many Jewish teens encounter in their quest for religious
growth. You see, Hogwarts isn't a school of wizardry. It's a yeshiva.
It's Yarchei Kallah. It's a Shabbaton. It's wherever you want to go to
grow in Torah observance and get closer to G-d. We'll talk more
about Hogwarts specifically soon enough.

All about Harry

Harry is Jewish. His parents died so that he might survive and
carry on their legacy. Voldemort isn't an evil wizard, but he does
represent the forces of evil. He is Egyptian slavery. He is the
Syrian-Greeks. He is Haman. He is the Roman persecution. He is
the Spanish Inquisition. He is pogroms and Crusades and the
Holocaust and the Intifada. He thought he had destroyed the
Potter family, but you know what? They survived in Harry, much the
same way the Jewish people lives on in you.

Harry didn't know the gifts he had. He knew that talking to snakes
at the zoo was a little strange, but he didn't understand the power
he had inside. Maybe you've sometimes felt different from your
peers. Maybe you've felt that spark inside you, but not known what
it was. That's your Jewish soul, baby! It's looking to get out and
express itself!

So, like you, Harry got his wake-up call. His came by owl post. Yours
probably didn't. But if you're reading this, somehow or some way
G-d sent you an invitation. It didn't say "Hogwarts" on it, but it said
"Torah." G-d invited you to come claim your heritage.

Dealing with the Dursleys

Harry had the Dursleys, his aunt and uncle, who tried to stand in his
way. They were scared of witchcraft. They said it was because it
wasn't "normal," but that wasn't the real reason. It was because Mrs.
Dursley was jealous of her sister, Harry's mother, who was a witch.
Lily Potter had something special that Petunia Dursley lacked and
she hated her for it. Historically, a lot of people have hated the Jews
for exactly the same reason: G-d gave us something special that they
don't have.

You probably have Dursleys in your life, too. In America in the 21st
Century, your Dursleys probably aren't overt anti-Semitism (thank G-d),
but there are plenty of others. People who belittle your interest in Torah
can be Dursleys. But Dursleys can also come from within. The yetzer
hara can be a big Dursley. ("Yetzer hara" is usually translated "the evil
inclination. If you were a cartoon, the yetzer hara would be a little guy
in a red suit who sits on your shoulder and tells you to keep a wallet
instead of turning it in.) Laziness, fear of change, peer pressure -
Dursleys all. Harry overcame his Dursleys. You can beat yours, too.

(But you have to be careful! Harry goes home every summer and has
to outwit the Dursleys again and again. Your Dursleys will never stop
trying to deter you from growing in your "magic," so you must be
ever-vigilant!)

Harry and his Friends at Hogwarts

Harry finally made it to Hogwarts. While he was there, he met other
witches and wizards from all different types of backgrounds. Ron
Weasley's family is all-wizard. He doesn't know any other lifestyle. He
takes for granted so much of what is new and magical to Harry.
Hermione Granger's family is all-muggle (non-wizard), but unlike the
Dursleys, Hermione's family appreciates what being a witch has done
for their daughter and they encourage her growth. Harry is a little
jealous of this positive relationship. After all, Hermione can bring her
muggle relatives to Diagon Alley (sort of like inviting them to your
Shabbos table), something Harry can never do with his family.

At Hogwarts, Harry studies magic. His course of studies includes such
varied courses as the History of Magic, Potions and Care of Magical
Creatures. This is like our study of Torah. (This gets a huge lehavdil,
which is what we say when we compare two things that really aren't
alike.) The Torah is not just a book of laws. It's the history of our
people.
It's self-improvement. It's how to treat other people. Harry's course of
study is diverse and so is ours.

Casting Spells

Harry and his friends cast spells, but the charms they cast don't always
turn out as intended. Hermione didn't mean to turn herself into a cat
with the polyjuice potion. Ron didn't want slugs pouring out of his mouth.
Gilderoy Lockhart didn't intend to remove all the bones in Harry's
broken arm. To a degree this can be compared to davening. (No, really.)
I'll explain.

We "cast our spells" (a big lehavdil, again) and ask Hashem to do
certain things for us. Sometimes He does as we ask. But, like a spell
gone awry, sometimes G-d says no. Not because He's capricious, but
because He knows what's best for us. (It's like when you refuse to stuff a
three-year-old with candy until they get sick. They think you're "mean,"
but you know that you're doing them a big favor.)

It's not a perfect parallel. Spells will probably succeed or fail based on
the wizard's proficiency, which is not the case with our prayers. But, as
with the spells, when our prayers don't get the results we asked for, that
doesn't mean they dissipate in the atmosphere. They still have an effect.
No, they won't make slugs come out of your mouth. The effect of prayer
is invariably positive, even when G-d says no.

Voldemort Returns

But all is not perfect in Harry's world. Voldemort returns and he's out
for blood. Yet, even with his meager abilities, Harry manages to defeat
him. A little magic can go a long way, but after each year at Hogwarts,
Harry becomes much more proficient! Similarly, whatever Torah we
have is what we need to defeat the forces of evil. Even a little is powerful

stuff, but every step brings us much more "power."

Harry would not have been safer back on Privet Drive, never knowing
he was a wizard. Voldemort still would have come after him, because he
considered Harry's very existence a threat. Without Hogwart's, however,
Harry never would have had the tools to survive.

It's the same with you and Torah. Those who would oppose you because
you are a Jew don't care whether you are learned or ignorant, observant
or assimilated. They consider you a threat simply because you're a Jew.
Without Torah, you lack the basic tools to defend yourself and banish the
darkness. Refusing to take up your arms, i.e. the Torah, is what they want
you to do.

I could go on, but I won't. You can draw your own parallels. A metaphor is
just a metaphor. (Or, as I like to put it, "A metaphor is like a simile.")
Harry Potter is just a book. It may be well-written and critically-acclaimed, but at the end of the day it's the product of human hands and imagination. Like all humans, J.K. Rowling is just dust and ashes. She may have her five
Harry Potter books, but we have the five Books that G-d gave to Moses on
Mount Sinai. (And we saw special effects far greater than anything ever
shown on the silver screen!) Those are the books that count. As much as
we can learn from Harry, Ron and Hermione, there is so much more we
can learn from the examples of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov (our
forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). May we merit to spend as much
effort analyzing the Torah, the true source of our real Jewish "magic."



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