Readers have told me that this blog isn't blog-like enough. While I doubt there's any single definition of "blog-like," I thought I'd write up some things I've found in other blogs that relate to Harry Potter and Torah.
Jack's Shack mentioned my blog here, and a comment writer wrote that I have a simplistic view of witchcraft. I'm happy to agree, everything I know about witchcraft comes from reading the Harry Potter books a dozen times each. (If anyone has anything to add to anything I write to give a more sophisticated view of witchcrast, feel free to leave comments.) The commenter then went on to say that I "too much tow the party line," which is fun to read since there are others who seem to think my book is evil for being too far from the party line! But if the party line means Judaism based on traditional Jewish scholarship, I'm guilty as charged.
A blog called WeirdJews mentioned my book here, and commenters there were trying to figure out what I meant by donating a tenth of my profits to schools "without a Torah oath." That's what prompted my explanation here.
My cousin mentioned the book here, prompting some interesting comments. The first comment about "kishuf," which is Hebrew for prohibited sorcery, is a case in point about my comment above about my book's not quite towing the party line. The issue is discussed in several chapters of Harry Potter and Torah, including the chapter on "magical work on Shabbat" and "magic shows." Whether the magic taught in Hogwarts would be called kishuf or not (if it were real), the material in Harry Potter and Torah is cerainly not kishuf.
Well, enough for now...
1 comment:
Fascinating blog! And thanks for the comment on my "The Wizards and the Jews" post a couple of weeks ago. I'll be adding you to my blogroll next time I update.
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