Harry Potter ideas related to the story of the Spies (Shlach)

Here are links to three Harry Potter and Torah articles I wrote last year:

The importance of self-confidence discusses the Torah's message that self-confidence and self-image determines a lot of how others see us and how successful we are, as much as our abilities:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/06/story-of-spies-and-importance-of-self.html

Magical wisdom and the magical Land discusses the magical wisdom that Jews can get from the air of the Land of Israel:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/06/magical-wisdom-and-magical-land-shlach.html

Fighting the right battles discusses the importance of fighting the true enemies:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/06/order-of-phoenix-and-fighting-right.html

More soon!

Harry Potter and Torah reader feedback

Anyone deciding whether to buy my book Harry Potter and Torah can read some reader comments here, including a new comment just left by a reader:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2008/01/harry-potter-and-torah-reader-comments.html

If you've read the book and have comments of your own, feel free to click the "Post a comment" link below, and leave your own opinion!

Ever-lasting fire

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix we learn about Gubraithian Fire , ever-lasting fire that's hard to conjure, that Dumbeldore makes as a gift for the giants.

The Torah tells us that the Tabernacle and the Holy Temple also had ever-lasting fire. In this week's Torah portion (Be'ha'a'lot'cha) we see Aaron commanded to light the Menorah. The Torah elsewhere tells us that this light has to be an ever-lasting fire that Aaron and his descendants are commanded to keep lit. This is commemorated nowadays by the "ner tamid" that virtually every synagogue has, a constantly burning light that shows us that Divine light is always coming into the world.

I plan to write more about this in the future, but for now, I encourage everyone to read an interesting article on the significance of ever-lasting fire, on the TorahLab web site at:
http://www.torahlab.org/calendar/article/a_history_of_the_shechinah/