- Harry Potter and the Power of Repentance:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/08/harry-potter-and-power-of-teshuva.html - Percy's repentance:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/09/percys-teshuva-repentance-and-yom.html - Even Malfoy's or Wormtail's repentance counts:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/09/rosh-hashana-even-malfoys-or-wormtails.html - Harry Potter's advice of feeling remorse:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/09/yom-kippur-take-harry-potters-advice.html - More notes about repentance:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/09/final-thoughts-about-harry-potter-and.html - Harry Potter, Shofar and Jewish Unity
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2011/09/harry-potter-shofar-and-jewish-unity.html - Dumbeldore's repentance (teshuva) - a sign of a leader, or unbecoming of a leader?
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2009/09/dumbeldores-repentance-teshuva-sign-of.html
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Preparing for Rosh HaShana the Harry Potter way
As we get closer to Rosh HaShana, I'd like to share some old articles that relate to the High Holidays, teshuva (repentance), blowing the shofar, and the like. I hope that they help make your (or your childrens) holidays more fun and meaningful.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Happy Shavuot!
I want to wish everyone a happy and meaningful Shavuot holiday!
Below are links to a few articles in the spirit of Harry Potter and Torah, all relating to Shavuot.
Harry Potter fans know all about the mirror of ERISED, which shows people what they truly desire. I think that Shavuot teaches us about the Torah of LAITNETOP, which can show each of us how great our potential really is. Read more here:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/02/torah-of-l-i-t-n-e-t-o-p.html
Shavuot also teaches us about what G-d considers important, first and foremost of which is how we interact with other people. Our interactions with others have a truly magical power all their own. Read more here:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/05/magic-of-how-we-interact-with-other.html
An article I really enjoyed discusses Shavuot and the Greatful Dead. I wrote some of my own thoughts on Judaism and music, relating also to Shavuot, here:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/05/shavuot-and-grateful-dead.html
If you're reading this and don't know what the Shavuot holiday is (it's not as widely celebrated as Passover or Yom Kippur) you can read some great articles on it at:
http://www.aish.com/h/sh/
Below are links to a few articles in the spirit of Harry Potter and Torah, all relating to Shavuot.
Harry Potter fans know all about the mirror of ERISED, which shows people what they truly desire. I think that Shavuot teaches us about the Torah of LAITNETOP, which can show each of us how great our potential really is. Read more here:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/02/torah-of-l-i-t-n-e-t-o-p.html
Shavuot also teaches us about what G-d considers important, first and foremost of which is how we interact with other people. Our interactions with others have a truly magical power all their own. Read more here:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/05/magic-of-how-we-interact-with-other.html
An article I really enjoyed discusses Shavuot and the Greatful Dead. I wrote some of my own thoughts on Judaism and music, relating also to Shavuot, here:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/05/shavuot-and-grateful-dead.html
If you're reading this and don't know what the Shavuot holiday is (it's not as widely celebrated as Passover or Yom Kippur) you can read some great articles on it at:
http://www.aish.com/h/sh/
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Passover salvation and Harry & Voldemort's final battle
Below is a thought about Harry Potter and Passover that I wrote a few years ago, that I thought people would enjoy again. For more Harry Potter-related thoughts for Passover, see here (Passover and unity) and here (matza and bogarts) and here (magical protection at the splitting of the sea).
Passover salvation and Voldemort's rebounding curses
A lot of people have discussed a particular aspect of Harry's victory over Voldemort at the end of Deathly Hallows, that in fact Harry didn't destroy Voldemort, rather Voldemort killed himself, with a curse that rebounded on him when it collided with Harry's curse. I've written previously (here) that I actually don't like this aspect of the story, since I think that Harry should have killed Voldemort directly, but as I write below, there's a definite analogue to this in the Torah.
In fact, we see throughout the Harry Potter stories that Harry's defeats of Voldemort are most often because of something that Voldemort himself did. When Harry was a baby he defeated Voldemort because of Voldemort's having killed Harry's mother unnecessarily. The same enabled Harry to defeat Quirrel (posessed by Voldemort) at the end of Sorcerer's Stone. Harry beats Voldemort at the end of Goblet of Fire because of Voldemort's wand. He escapes Voldemort at the end of Order of the Phoenix because of Voldemort's damaged soul. Over and over, Harry defeats Voldemort because Voldemort's own actions turn against him.
This is a theme that we see throughout the Torah as well. Jewish salvation is very often enabled specifically by the things that our enemies themselves do.
In the Passover story, we know that Moses was raised in Pharoh's house, as Pharoh's son. The plagues are each brought as a consequence of Pharoh's actions as well. In the Purim story, Haman's downfall is due to Esther's position as queen, which was a result of Haman and the King's immoral process of choosing a new queen.
This is even hinted in the Passover Hagadah, in the song "ve'hee she'amda." We say "This (G-d's pact with Abraham) supports us forever, because not only once but in every generation someone stands up against us (the Jews) to destroy us, but G-d always saves us from their hands." The phrase "from their hands," in Hebrew "mi-yadam" (מידם), hints to us that G-d's salvation always utilizes our enemies "hands" in bringing about our salvation - G-d always saves us through our enemies hands.
Besides learning about the nature of Divine salvation, that it seems to operate similar to Voldemort's rebounding curses, we can see a new perspective on things that others do to us. Not only do we know that G-d will always save us, we can look at things that our enemies do as the potential sources of our future Divine salvation.
I'd like to wish everyone a happy and meaningful Passover, both the seder and the holiday itself.
Passover salvation and Voldemort's rebounding curses
A lot of people have discussed a particular aspect of Harry's victory over Voldemort at the end of Deathly Hallows, that in fact Harry didn't destroy Voldemort, rather Voldemort killed himself, with a curse that rebounded on him when it collided with Harry's curse. I've written previously (here) that I actually don't like this aspect of the story, since I think that Harry should have killed Voldemort directly, but as I write below, there's a definite analogue to this in the Torah.
In fact, we see throughout the Harry Potter stories that Harry's defeats of Voldemort are most often because of something that Voldemort himself did. When Harry was a baby he defeated Voldemort because of Voldemort's having killed Harry's mother unnecessarily. The same enabled Harry to defeat Quirrel (posessed by Voldemort) at the end of Sorcerer's Stone. Harry beats Voldemort at the end of Goblet of Fire because of Voldemort's wand. He escapes Voldemort at the end of Order of the Phoenix because of Voldemort's damaged soul. Over and over, Harry defeats Voldemort because Voldemort's own actions turn against him.
This is a theme that we see throughout the Torah as well. Jewish salvation is very often enabled specifically by the things that our enemies themselves do.
In the Passover story, we know that Moses was raised in Pharoh's house, as Pharoh's son. The plagues are each brought as a consequence of Pharoh's actions as well. In the Purim story, Haman's downfall is due to Esther's position as queen, which was a result of Haman and the King's immoral process of choosing a new queen.
This is even hinted in the Passover Hagadah, in the song "ve'hee she'amda." We say "This (G-d's pact with Abraham) supports us forever, because not only once but in every generation someone stands up against us (the Jews) to destroy us, but G-d always saves us from their hands." The phrase "from their hands," in Hebrew "mi-yadam" (מידם), hints to us that G-d's salvation always utilizes our enemies "hands" in bringing about our salvation - G-d always saves us through our enemies hands.
Besides learning about the nature of Divine salvation, that it seems to operate similar to Voldemort's rebounding curses, we can see a new perspective on things that others do to us. Not only do we know that G-d will always save us, we can look at things that our enemies do as the potential sources of our future Divine salvation.
I'd like to wish everyone a happy and meaningful Passover, both the seder and the holiday itself.
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