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Harry Potter is Jewish! A Useful Metaphorby Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
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.”
منبع:http://www.ou.org/ncsy/projects/5764/oct31-64/harry_potter_is_jewish.htm
