A lot of people have been asking me what I predict for the seventh and final Harry Potter book, which is coming out in about 2 weeks, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Many readers have asked me by e-mail, and it was the most popular question I received when I spoke recently in New York.
One prediction that I believe in strongly is based on a chapter in Harry Potter and Torah titled Mudbloods, Moabites, and Moshiach. I believe that Harry will defeat Voldemort, and that he will specifically do so by benefiting in some way by his having grown up among Muggles. In other words, Harry will defeat Voldemort using some power that he has by virtue of his not being pureblood.
Anyone interested in the details of why I believe this will need to read the chapter in Harry Potter and Torah, but in short, Torah philosophers teach that the Jewish Moshiach (savior), and in fact King David and the entire Jewish royal bloodline, is specifically descended from immoral people and immoral relationships. Two reasons are given for this. First, saviors are distinguished from their origins by being very different from their origins. Being a moral person descended from immoral circumstances makes the savior a "new creation" of sorts. Second, rising from immoral circumstances shows that the savior has the ability to transform personally, which is a prerequisite for transforming the world.
Obviously the "mudblood" concept in Harry Potter is different from immorality in the Torah, but I think that the lesson is analogous. Something in Harry's being the "savior" in the Harry Potter series requires that he grew up among Muggles, both to make Harry distinct from his origins and to give him the demonstrated power to transform himself magically, and I predict that this will be part of the power that he uses to defeat Voldemort.
Comments welcome, either as blog comments or by e-mail to author@harrypottertorah.com
Showing posts with label Torah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Torah. Show all posts
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
The magic of how we interact with other people - A Harry Potter message for Shavuot
Harry Potter learns from Professor Dumbeldore several lessons about the magical nature of people doing good things for each other.
For example, at the end of Prisoner of Azkaban (chap 22), he says that it was a good thing that Harry saved the life of an evil person:
There are many other examples as well, such as Dumbeldore's saying that the power of love is more powerful than black magic, in Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince.
We see a similar idea in Jewish thought if we look in detail at the Ten Commandments, received by the Jewish people at Mt Sinai and celebrated on the holiday of Shavuot, this year on May 22-23, 2007.
In the book Beit Elokim Rabbi Moshe ben Yosef Trani (known as the Mabeet, lived in the 16th century in Tzfat) explored in great detail all the Midrashic descriptions of the Ten Commandments (Shaar HaYisodot chap 12). While there are multiple opinions in Jewish thought as to exactly how the stone tablets looked, the Mabeet's conclusion is that the stones were rectangular-shaped, the first stone with the first five commandments (those discussion our relationship with G-d) and the second stone with the last five commandments (those that discuss our relationship with other people). The two stones were the same size, and both were filled with writing, with the entire surface of the stone used for the writing of the Holy Commandments.
He then asks the following question about this description: How could it be the case that the two stones were the same size, and both were completely filled with the writing of the Commandments? The first five commandments, concerning our relationship with G-d, are made of up of several long sentences each, while the last five commandments, concerning our relationship with other people, are mostly two words each (Don't kill, don't steal, etc). How could the large number of words on the first stone take the same amount of space as the much smaller number of words on the second stone?
He concludes, to paraphrase in modern terminology, that G-d wrote the last five commandments, concerning our relationship with other people, in a much larger font (larger letters) than the first five. By engraving the last five Commandments larger, G-d made them take as much space as the first five Commandments took in smaller letters.
Why did G-d do this? Because he wanted it to be the case that as Moses carried the two stone tablets down Mt Sinai, the Jewish people would see the last five commandments first. This is because, the Mabeet writes, people naturally have a stronger temptation to violate the Commandments concerning our relationship with other people, so G-d wanted to emphasize these laws.
Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon, formerly from the Yeshiva of Gateshead, England, elaborated on this point. When Jews want to approach Torah, when we want to explore how Torah can contribute to our lives, the Commandments between people and G-d naturally feel more spiritual to us. Prayer, Sabbath observance, and other Commandments that we do for G-d's sake only feel more spiritual than helping other people, caring about other people's feelings, paying people to whom we owe money, helping people who are carrying heavy things, and other Commandments of this sort. But we need to know, Rabbi Solomon said, that the Commandments between people are equally spiritual, are equally reflecting G-d's desires, and have the same spiritual effects in heaven as the Commandments that we keep exclusively for G-d.
So we see, without overdoing the comparison between Torah and Harry Potter, that Torah thought has led us to a conclusion very similar to that in Harry Potter that we quoted above: Our bonds with other people, and the things that we do for other people, can be as spiritual, as magical, as more overly spiritual or magical acts can be. All we have to do, I think, is focus our energy on adherence to the Commandments between us and other people, and keep in mind that all the things that we do for other people are a fulfillment of G-d's Commandments.
And when we're celebrating the holiday of Shavuot, or thinking about the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, we can remember a lesson that G-d wanted the Jewish people to learn at the time: the importance and priority of how we treat other people.
I hope everyone has a happy holiday, enjoys their cheesecake or blinces, and enjoys having something extra to think about when thinking about the Ten Commandments.
For example, at the end of Prisoner of Azkaban (chap 22), he says that it was a good thing that Harry saved the life of an evil person:
Harry looked at him aghast... "But - that makes it my fault, if
Voldemort comes back!"
"It does not," said Dumbeldore quietly.... "You did a very noble
thing, in saving ----'s life."
"But if he helps Voldemort back to power---!"
"He owes his life to you. When one wizard saves another wizard, it
creates a certain bond between them... This is magic at it deepest, its
most inpenetrable, Harry. But trust me... the time may come when you will
be very glad you saved ----'s life."
There are many other examples as well, such as Dumbeldore's saying that the power of love is more powerful than black magic, in Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince.
We see a similar idea in Jewish thought if we look in detail at the Ten Commandments, received by the Jewish people at Mt Sinai and celebrated on the holiday of Shavuot, this year on May 22-23, 2007.
In the book Beit Elokim Rabbi Moshe ben Yosef Trani (known as the Mabeet, lived in the 16th century in Tzfat) explored in great detail all the Midrashic descriptions of the Ten Commandments (Shaar HaYisodot chap 12). While there are multiple opinions in Jewish thought as to exactly how the stone tablets looked, the Mabeet's conclusion is that the stones were rectangular-shaped, the first stone with the first five commandments (those discussion our relationship with G-d) and the second stone with the last five commandments (those that discuss our relationship with other people). The two stones were the same size, and both were filled with writing, with the entire surface of the stone used for the writing of the Holy Commandments.
He then asks the following question about this description: How could it be the case that the two stones were the same size, and both were completely filled with the writing of the Commandments? The first five commandments, concerning our relationship with G-d, are made of up of several long sentences each, while the last five commandments, concerning our relationship with other people, are mostly two words each (Don't kill, don't steal, etc). How could the large number of words on the first stone take the same amount of space as the much smaller number of words on the second stone?
He concludes, to paraphrase in modern terminology, that G-d wrote the last five commandments, concerning our relationship with other people, in a much larger font (larger letters) than the first five. By engraving the last five Commandments larger, G-d made them take as much space as the first five Commandments took in smaller letters.
Why did G-d do this? Because he wanted it to be the case that as Moses carried the two stone tablets down Mt Sinai, the Jewish people would see the last five commandments first. This is because, the Mabeet writes, people naturally have a stronger temptation to violate the Commandments concerning our relationship with other people, so G-d wanted to emphasize these laws.
Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon, formerly from the Yeshiva of Gateshead, England, elaborated on this point. When Jews want to approach Torah, when we want to explore how Torah can contribute to our lives, the Commandments between people and G-d naturally feel more spiritual to us. Prayer, Sabbath observance, and other Commandments that we do for G-d's sake only feel more spiritual than helping other people, caring about other people's feelings, paying people to whom we owe money, helping people who are carrying heavy things, and other Commandments of this sort. But we need to know, Rabbi Solomon said, that the Commandments between people are equally spiritual, are equally reflecting G-d's desires, and have the same spiritual effects in heaven as the Commandments that we keep exclusively for G-d.
So we see, without overdoing the comparison between Torah and Harry Potter, that Torah thought has led us to a conclusion very similar to that in Harry Potter that we quoted above: Our bonds with other people, and the things that we do for other people, can be as spiritual, as magical, as more overly spiritual or magical acts can be. All we have to do, I think, is focus our energy on adherence to the Commandments between us and other people, and keep in mind that all the things that we do for other people are a fulfillment of G-d's Commandments.
And when we're celebrating the holiday of Shavuot, or thinking about the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, we can remember a lesson that G-d wanted the Jewish people to learn at the time: the importance and priority of how we treat other people.
I hope everyone has a happy holiday, enjoys their cheesecake or blinces, and enjoys having something extra to think about when thinking about the Ten Commandments.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Two months until the next Harry Potter movie Order of the Phoenix
The next Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, hits the theaters in only two months, on July 13, 2007. Parents and teachers, are you going to give up talking to your kids as this date approaches, and watch them slide into never-ending discussions of the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius's death, curtains, prophecies, and Voldemort's return? Or are you going to use Harry Potter and Torah to learn for yourself how to open the kids up to discussions of morality, philosophy, and Torah?
For more about Harry Potter and Torah, see the book's home page, or buy it at Amazon (even in the UK) or Barnes and Noble.
The following scenes of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix are the motivations of chapters in Harry Potter and Torah:
For more about Harry Potter and Torah, see the book's home page, or buy it at Amazon (even in the UK) or Barnes and Noble.
The following scenes of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix are the motivations of chapters in Harry Potter and Torah:
- Sirius's death: Harry's parent's friend Sirius is killed at the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and falls through a curtain in a magical room called the Death Chamber. This curtain is remarkably like a curtain discussed several places in the Talmud and Jewish commentaries, discussed in-depth in a chapter on Ghosts and Curtains in Harry Potter and Torah.
- The prophecy: The end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix presents us with a fateful prophecy about Harry's destined battle with the evil Voldemort. "Neither can live while the other survives." This is interestingly close to the eternal conflict between the Jewish people and the descendants of Esau, as discussed in the Harry Potter and Torah chapter titled When One Rises, the Other will Fall.
- Dreams: The theme of prophetic dreams is a big one in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, with Harry's dreams showing more and more of what's happening in Voldemort's mind. What does the Torah, Talmud, and Jewish law say about truth of dreams? This is discussed in Harry Potter and Torah's chapter Dreams: Divination or Digestion?
- Ghosts: At the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (at least in the book) we hear an interesting theory of ghosts, particularly who becomes a ghost and why many people don't. What does Torah thought say about ghosts? Many examples appear in the chapter Ghosts and Curtains in Harry Potter and Torah.
- Unity: The need for good people to stay united in combatting evil is a continuing theme in Order of teh Phoenix, and has a chapter of its own in Harry Potter and Torah.
These story themes and many more can be used to motivate discussions of Torah, the supernatural, morality, and spirituality, if parents and teachers are prepared. For more on how to prepare, see Harry Potter and Torah's home page, or buy it at Amazon (even in the UK) or Barnes and Noble.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Parsha Emor and killing curses
I didn't have a chance to post this last week, but the Torah portion that we read this past Shabbat, May 5, 2007, was the Torah portion of Emor, which includes at the end a story that relates to Biblical killing curses. It's not included in the book Harry Potter and Torah, but I wrote about it in a previous blog message:
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/01/moses-egyptian-and-killing-curse.html
I hope that everyone had a good Shabbat and a fun weekend!
http://harrypottertorah.blogspot.com/2007/01/moses-egyptian-and-killing-curse.html
I hope that everyone had a good Shabbat and a fun weekend!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
The Magical Land (part one)
This message is the first installment discussing an idea that does not appear in Harry Potter and Torah, but which similarly finds parallels in the Torah to a theme from the Harry Potter series.
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The Magical Land (part one)
Throughout the Harry Potter series we read of magical places, places that have magical spells on them that cause them to effect people in certain ways. For example, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (chapter eight) Mr. Weasley explains how non-magical people ("muggles") were prevented from finding the huge stadium built for the Quidditch World Cup:
"Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. Muggle-repelling charms on every inch of it. Every time Muggles have got anywhere near here all year, they've suddenly remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again...."
Other magical places similarly can't be seen by Muggles, such as the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix (book five) and the Leaky Cauldren pub (first book). The Hogwarts school look like a deserted wreck (complete with signs of danger) to Muggles that walk by.
The Torah tells us that the Land of Israel is similarly magical. While we need to keep in mind the distinction between religious truth and fiction, it's interesting to explore the similarities and differences.
The Torah (in this past Shabbat's Torah portion) describes the Land of Israel as "a land that vomits out its inhabitants" when it becomes defiled (Lev 18:25). When people living there go against G-d's Divine Will, the land itself reacts in a supernatural way and spits them out. The Torah lists improper actions that violate G-d's laws, and says that "the people who lived in the land before you (the Canaanites) did all these things, and defiled the land. You (the Jews) should not cause the land to vomit you out from your impurity, as it spit out those before you" (Lev 18:27-28).
It's clear from the Torah's strong language that the Land of Israel is imbued inherently with a kind of magical spiritual essence, that reacts supernaturally to immoral behavior that happens within its borders. The Jewish people's later exiles from the land are described Biblically as the land's reaction to their actions at the time.
Obviously human behavior and morality is multi-faceted, and complex to judge, and only G-d can judge whether people's actions are moral or not. Many commentaries elaborate on reasons that people might not be vomited out by the land after commiting immoral acts (see, for example, Ramban and Ohr HaChayim on Lev 18:25). But the general principle seems clear from the Torah, that the Land of Israel has a magical supernatural reaction to immoral behavior.
Interestingly, this aspect of the Land of Israel is used in Jewish thought as a yardstick by which to try to understand G-d's perspective. The book Em HaBanim Smeicha (chapter 3) makes the point that if the Land of Israel spits out people that are Divinely judged as being immoral, then it stands to reason that any people NOT spit out by the land are apparently worthy of living there. In other words, even if we see people living in the Land of Israel who engage in seemingly immoral actions, there are obviously mitigating circumstances in G-d's eyes, because the land hasn't spit them out. (This point is clearly debated by others, eg Derech Hatzoloh chapter 128, and this is not intended to be a complete discussion of the issue.)
So we see that the Land of Israel has a magical power very similar to the magical places in Harry Potter that welcome only magical people and not muggles. One difference, however, is that the land's magical powers are tied to G-d's wanting moral behavior, not to any arbitrary distinction meant to keep people away.
This magical power of the Land of Israel is clear from recent history. Mark Twain in 1867 visited the Holy Land and wrote that "it truly is monotonous and uninviting... the valleys are unsightly deserts... it is a hopeless, dreary, heart-broken land... Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes, over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies... Palestine is desolate and unlovely. And why should it be otherwise? Can the curse of the Deity beautify a land?" (Innocents Abroad, chapter 56).
Yet 140 years later we see blossoming kibbutzim and growing modern cities, suburban towns and lives of high-tech. Even without claiming to understand G-d's ways, it's clear that the land which spit out its inhabitants is now welcoming the Jewish return.
We'll also see other examples of magical behavior in the Torah's descriptions of the Land of Israel that seem similar to other magical places in the Harry Potter series. I'll continue this theme in a later message....
As always, click here for more about Harry Potter and Torah, or here to buy it from Amazon.
...
Saturday, April 7, 2007
The seventh day of Passover: In the merit of Joseph's magical protection
Hi everyone, I hope you all had fun and meaningful Passover seders.
Sunday night and Monday is the seventh day of Passover (along with Monday night and Tuesday for those of you outside of Israel). Besides being a YomTov holiday day, the seventh day of Passover commemorates the splitting of the sea, which happened a week after the Exodus from Egypt itself.
As I discussed at length in Harry Potter and Torah, the splitting of the sea is discussed by the Talmud as happening in the merit of Joseph, whose bones were being carried by the Jews for reburial in Israel. This is because Joseph earned magical protection by resisting temptation when he first arrived in Egypt. Click here for a previous blog message where I discuss this in more detail.
The splitting of the sea is also another example of magic wands in the Torah, since Moses was instructed by G-d to split the sea miraculously by raising his staff over the sea. This is discussed in depth in the book.
Sunday night and Monday is the seventh day of Passover (along with Monday night and Tuesday for those of you outside of Israel). Besides being a YomTov holiday day, the seventh day of Passover commemorates the splitting of the sea, which happened a week after the Exodus from Egypt itself.
As I discussed at length in Harry Potter and Torah, the splitting of the sea is discussed by the Talmud as happening in the merit of Joseph, whose bones were being carried by the Jews for reburial in Israel. This is because Joseph earned magical protection by resisting temptation when he first arrived in Egypt. Click here for a previous blog message where I discuss this in more detail.
The splitting of the sea is also another example of magic wands in the Torah, since Moses was instructed by G-d to split the sea miraculously by raising his staff over the sea. This is discussed in depth in the book.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Harry Potter and Torah now available directly from Amazon in Europe and worldwide
Harry Potter and Torah is now available directly from all the Amazon stores all over the world. You can buy the book at any of them as a gift for someone there, for faster and localized service.
USA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847532373?tag=hpt-20
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/Harry-Potter-Torah-Dov-Krulwich/dp/1847532373/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Potter-Torah-Dov-Krulwich/dp/1847532373
France: http://www.amazon.fr/Harry-Potter-Torah-Dov-Krulwich/dp/1847532373
Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/Harry-Potter-Torah-Dov-Krulwich/dp/1847532373
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/Harry-Potter-Torah-Dov-Krulwich/dp/1847532373/
And as I mentioned before, you can also buy from Barnes and Noble:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781847532374&itm=1&lkid=J14933426&pubid=K118759
or directly from the publisher: http://www.lulu.com/content/545231
Enjoy!
USA: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847532373?tag=hpt-20
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/Harry-Potter-Torah-Dov-Krulwich/dp/1847532373/
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Potter-Torah-Dov-Krulwich/dp/1847532373
France: http://www.amazon.fr/Harry-Potter-Torah-Dov-Krulwich/dp/1847532373
Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/Harry-Potter-Torah-Dov-Krulwich/dp/1847532373
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/Harry-Potter-Torah-Dov-Krulwich/dp/1847532373/
And as I mentioned before, you can also buy from Barnes and Noble:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781847532374&itm=1&lkid=J14933426&pubid=K118759
or directly from the publisher: http://www.lulu.com/content/545231
Enjoy!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Barnes and Noble online store now selling Harry Potter and Torah
Great news: Harry Potter and Torah is now for sale at barnesandnoble.com, and at a discount!
Instead of selling it for $19.95, you can buy it there for only $17.95.
And if you're a barnesandnoble.com member, it's only $16.15!
Click here to see and buy the book at Barnes and Noble:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781847532374&itm=1&lkid=J14933426&pubid=K118759
Of course, you can also continue to buy the book at Amazon or directly from the publisher.
Questions? E-mail me at author@harrypottertorah.com or click below to add a blog comment.
Instead of selling it for $19.95, you can buy it there for only $17.95.
And if you're a barnesandnoble.com member, it's only $16.15!
Click here to see and buy the book at Barnes and Noble:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781847532374&itm=1&lkid=J14933426&pubid=K118759
Of course, you can also continue to buy the book at Amazon or directly from the publisher.
Questions? E-mail me at author@harrypottertorah.com or click below to add a blog comment.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Harry Potter and Torah now for sale on Amazon
If you've been waiting to buy a copy of Harry Potter and Torah until it's available on Amazon, now's the time! Just click here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847532373?tag=hpt-20
The book will also be available soon on other on-line bookstores.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847532373?tag=hpt-20
The book will also be available soon on other on-line bookstores.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
A Passover thought related to Harry Potter: The importance of Jewish unity
In preparation for Passover, I'm posting some Passover-related material from Harry Potter and Torah. This is only an excerpt, and a lot more details are available in the book.
At the end of Goblet of Fire, Professor Dumbeldore delivers some well-chosen words about the need for unity among students and all "wizardfolk" who oppose the evil wizard Voldemort:
This theme, the importance of unity, is found throughout Jewish thought as well. Harry Potter and Torah has a chapter full of examples of this from through the Torah and holidays.
We see the theme of unity in one of the more puzzling symbols in the Passover Seder. Passover ("Pesach" in Hebrew) is probably the holiday most full of symbols -- matza for redemption coming quickly, maror (bitter herbs) for the bitterness of slavery and exile, charoset (charoses) for the cement used in the hard labor of slavery, leaning on pillows during the meal signifying our having become like royalty after getting out of Egypt, and the list goes on. Chock full o' symbols!
One of the symbols which is harder to understand is mentioned in the 4th of the 4 questions: "On all other nights we do not dip our food even once, on this night (the Seder) we dip twice." This is referring to the two things that we dip during the seder, the karpas (vegetable) in salt water and the maror (bitter herbs) in charoses.
Leaving aside the fact that we do occasionally dip our food during the year (especially the salsa or guacamole lovers among us), what is the symbolism of dipping food? Why does dipping rank up there with the symbols in the other 3 questions, matza, maror, and leaning?
Rav Matisyahu Solomon quotes a number of commentaries that connect these two "dippings" to two events that happened in the Bible involving dipping. The first was when Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, and then "dipped" his coat (the "coat of many colors") into animal's blood to make their father (Jacob) believe that Joseph had been killed. The second was right before the exodus from Egypt, when the Jews were commanded to "dip" a bundle of hyssop branches into animal blood and paint it on their doorposts, which would prevent the plague of the first born from affecting the house, and instead would make the plague "pass over" the Jewish houses.
The point of dipping branches in blood and painting it on our doors is not that they acted like pagans. The point, Rav Solomon says, is that they were symbolically taking the same act that was done previously in hatred (when Joseph's brothers sold him and dipped his coat in blood) and doing it now in Jewish unity. The "dipping" of hatred led to the exile and slavery in Egypt, while the "dipping" in Jewish unity led to the exodus and redemption. By "dipping" and painting blood on the doorposts, they were demonstrating the removal of animosity from among the Jewish people.
This is the lesson of "dipping" during the seder. Dipping can take a perfectly good tasting vegetable and make it salty, or can take something bitter and reduce the bitterness. The same action can lead to exile or exodus. While we're remembering the exodus during the seder, we have to remember how we became worthy of Divine redemption: by taking animosity between Jews and turning it into unity.
This Shabbat, March 17 2007, we also say the prayer welcoming in the new Jewish Month, which starts next Tuesday. This prayer, called Kiddush HaChodesh, includes a paragraph of hope for the Messianic era to come soon:
"May He who performed miracles for our ancestors, and took them from (Egyptian) slavery to freedom, may he redeem us too, soon, and gather us from the four corners of the earth. All Jews are friends, Amen."
This prayer is clearly connecting both the redemption from Egypt and our hope for future Divine redemption to friendship and unity between Jews.
I hope everyone has a great Passover Seder, and will post other Passover-related ideas here between now and the holiday.
Shabbat Shalom everyone!
At the end of Goblet of Fire, Professor Dumbeldore delivers some well-chosen words about the need for unity among students and all "wizardfolk" who oppose the evil wizard Voldemort:
"Every guest in this hall ... will be welcomed back here, at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you all, once again - in light of Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
"Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can only fight it by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." (Goblet of Fire, chapter 37)
This theme, the importance of unity, is found throughout Jewish thought as well. Harry Potter and Torah has a chapter full of examples of this from through the Torah and holidays.
We see the theme of unity in one of the more puzzling symbols in the Passover Seder. Passover ("Pesach" in Hebrew) is probably the holiday most full of symbols -- matza for redemption coming quickly, maror (bitter herbs) for the bitterness of slavery and exile, charoset (charoses) for the cement used in the hard labor of slavery, leaning on pillows during the meal signifying our having become like royalty after getting out of Egypt, and the list goes on. Chock full o' symbols!
One of the symbols which is harder to understand is mentioned in the 4th of the 4 questions: "On all other nights we do not dip our food even once, on this night (the Seder) we dip twice." This is referring to the two things that we dip during the seder, the karpas (vegetable) in salt water and the maror (bitter herbs) in charoses.
Leaving aside the fact that we do occasionally dip our food during the year (especially the salsa or guacamole lovers among us), what is the symbolism of dipping food? Why does dipping rank up there with the symbols in the other 3 questions, matza, maror, and leaning?
Rav Matisyahu Solomon quotes a number of commentaries that connect these two "dippings" to two events that happened in the Bible involving dipping. The first was when Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, and then "dipped" his coat (the "coat of many colors") into animal's blood to make their father (Jacob) believe that Joseph had been killed. The second was right before the exodus from Egypt, when the Jews were commanded to "dip" a bundle of hyssop branches into animal blood and paint it on their doorposts, which would prevent the plague of the first born from affecting the house, and instead would make the plague "pass over" the Jewish houses.
The point of dipping branches in blood and painting it on our doors is not that they acted like pagans. The point, Rav Solomon says, is that they were symbolically taking the same act that was done previously in hatred (when Joseph's brothers sold him and dipped his coat in blood) and doing it now in Jewish unity. The "dipping" of hatred led to the exile and slavery in Egypt, while the "dipping" in Jewish unity led to the exodus and redemption. By "dipping" and painting blood on the doorposts, they were demonstrating the removal of animosity from among the Jewish people.
This is the lesson of "dipping" during the seder. Dipping can take a perfectly good tasting vegetable and make it salty, or can take something bitter and reduce the bitterness. The same action can lead to exile or exodus. While we're remembering the exodus during the seder, we have to remember how we became worthy of Divine redemption: by taking animosity between Jews and turning it into unity.
This Shabbat, March 17 2007, we also say the prayer welcoming in the new Jewish Month, which starts next Tuesday. This prayer, called Kiddush HaChodesh, includes a paragraph of hope for the Messianic era to come soon:
"May He who performed miracles for our ancestors, and took them from (Egyptian) slavery to freedom, may he redeem us too, soon, and gather us from the four corners of the earth. All Jews are friends, Amen."
This prayer is clearly connecting both the redemption from Egypt and our hope for future Divine redemption to friendship and unity between Jews.
I hope everyone has a great Passover Seder, and will post other Passover-related ideas here between now and the holiday.
Shabbat Shalom everyone!
Friday, March 9, 2007
The magically levitated Torah (Parshat Ki Tisa)
The magically levitated Torah
The Torah portion of Ki Tisa has the story of the golden calf: Moses is up on the mountain getting the Torah from G-d, and meanwhile the Jews begin to freak out. "Moses has been gone too long," they said, "he's never coming back!" Things get more and more out of control, the people let their freaking-out get more and more irrational, and despite all the miracles they saw in the Exodus from Egypt, they end up making a golden calf.
Meanwhile, up on the hill, G-d says to Moses "get down there, the people are freaking out." Well, not in those words, but that's the idea. Moses goes down the mountain, taking the two tablets of stone that G-d had written the Ten Commandments on. He sees the golden calf, and proceeds to drop the tablets of the Ten Commandments on the ground, smashing them.
The Midrash adds a very strange level of detail to the story. The two tablets of the Ten Commandments were obviously huge. How did Moses carry them? The Midrash tells us that as Moses walked down the mountain, the Divine letters of Torah that G-d had written on the tablets magically elevated the stone, so that Moses didn't have to bear their weight. This is why the Torah describes the scene of Moses going down the mountain with a lot of details of the lettering on the stones (Ex 32:15-16), which would otherwise seem out of place. The Midrash says that when Moses got close to the scene of the Jews worshipping the golden calf, the letters of Torah flew off the stones and went back to heaven. Once they weren't there anymore, the stones stopped being levitated by the letters, and reverted to being too heavy for Moses to carry. This is when he dropped them on the ground, smashing them.
This Midrash may be fun for Harry Potter fans to read, because it brings images of Locomotor charms, but what is it trying to tell us? What's the message or lesson from this Midrash?
The Bais HaLevy (the great-grandfather of the Solovetchic family in America) interprets this in way that I find very interesting, as follows: (Note: I'm paraphrasing heavily in explaining the Bais HaLevy, anyone interested can see Drasha 14 in the back of the Bais HaLevy.)
G-d originally wanted to make the Torah easy to understand. Instead of the written Torah being as we know it now, in which laws and moral lessons are phrased cryptically and need to be inferred and reasoned out from the words, the original form of the written Torah that G-d gave Moses had everything spelled out clearly. All of G-d's moral lessons were written explicitly, all the laws were clearly elaborated, and in general everything we needed to know was fully explicit and easy to understand from the text of the written Torah. The Torah in this form obviously was a lot longer, since every phrase and sentence in the Torah as we have it had to be written out with all of its elaborations. But this Torah was easy to learn, easy to acquire, metaphorically easy for Moses to carry down the hill at Mount Sinai.
But when G-d saw the Jews worshipping the golden calf, just weeks after the splitting of the sea and the exodous from Egypt, he (so to speak) changed his mind, deciding that the Jewish people needed the Torah in the form that we have it today. He saw that the Jewish people needed to invest effort in understanding Torah and applying it to our lives. Without investment of effort, Jews could go straight from a spiritual high seeing miracles at the Exodus from Egypt to a spiritual low of worshipping an idol. But true lasting greatness comes when people invest their efforts in something. "No pain, no gain." Or "no guts, no glory."
This is why, according to the Bais HaLevy, the tablets of Torah were levitating as Moses carried them down the hill. They were easy. They weren't "heavy" in the physical or metaphorical senses. But when Moses got down to where the Jews were worshipping the calf, the extra letters, the explanation and elaboration that the first version of the written Torah had included, flew back to G-d, leaving the heavy, hard to understand, form of the Torah that we have today. This is what Moses then dropped under the newly heavy load.
This is why the Torah is so precise when describing G-d's command to Moses to later carve new tablets to receive the Torah the second time, in Ex 34:1: "Carve yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke." First, the second tablets were carved by Moses -- the Torah now required human effort. Second, G-d would write the words that were on the first tablets when Moses broke them, after the extra elaboration letters had flown off. Without this understanding, the words "that you broke" would be superfluous, but with the Bais HaLevy's understanding it all makes sense.
When we read Harry Potter books, or when we have to do something hard in life, we often think to ourselves how great it would be to have a magical way of making things easy. Why shouldn't things be easy? Doesn't G-d want religion to be easy? Doesn't G-d want morality to be easy?
The answer we see above is that easy things aren't always the things that can last. The spiritual high from seeing miracles can disappear in an instant, but the spiritual high that we invest effort in will stay with us. This is true of spirituality and of everything else in life -- the things that we put effort into are the things that truly matter to us.
This concept applies to a lot of areas of life. In Harry Potter, it relates to Hagrid's saying that the magical world stays hidden because otherwise muggles (non-magical people) would constantly be wanting magical solutions to all their problems. In the modern world, it relates to Bill Gates's famous statement that he would give his daughter enough money to do whatever she wanted with her life, but not enough money that should could do nothing. Exercise requires effort. Knowledge requires studying. No pain, no gain.
So the next time we start wanting something to be easier, whether it's wanting religion and morality to be easier or wanting our homework or jobs to be simpler, we can remember: G-d has made the world to take effort, but this effort isn't for nothing, it's what will make our accomplishments last longer and mean more.
Shabbat Shalom everyone!
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Passover is only a month away!
With Purim past us now, Passover is less than a month away!
Harry Potter and Torah mentions Passover and the Exodous from Egypt 4 or 5 times, and I'll be posting Passover-related material here over the next few weeks. Of course, if you want to have it all handy at your Seder, you still have time to buy the book now if you haven't yet.
One thing I do each year in preparation for Passover is to buy a new Haggadah, with a new perspective or commentary that will add something new to my Seder. One that I recommend is the Passover Survival Kit Hagaddah, pictured below on the right. There are literally hundreds of others on Amazon and in Jewish bookstores -- click here for a complete list on Amazon. I'll post later with some of my personal favorites.
Harry Potter and Torah mentions Passover and the Exodous from Egypt 4 or 5 times, and I'll be posting Passover-related material here over the next few weeks. Of course, if you want to have it all handy at your Seder, you still have time to buy the book now if you haven't yet.
One thing I do each year in preparation for Passover is to buy a new Haggadah, with a new perspective or commentary that will add something new to my Seder. One that I recommend is the Passover Survival Kit Hagaddah, pictured below on the right. There are literally hundreds of others on Amazon and in Jewish bookstores -- click here for a complete list on Amazon. I'll post later with some of my personal favorites.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
The Torah of L-A-I-T-N-E-T-O-P
A few weeks ago the weekly Torah portion, Yitro, discussed the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. One of the things that we discussed at Shabbat lunch was an idea presented by the Midrash that every Jew at Mt. Sinai heard the giving of the Torah from G-d slightly differently, each one according to his or her individual potential.
This is a very intriguing concept, because clearly the commandments of the Torah were not different for each person. The Torah says clearly that its laws apply to all Jews. The same Sabbath is the Sabbath for all Jews, pork is non-Kosher for all Jews, etc. But nonetheless the Midrash says that each Jew at Mt. Sinai received his or her own personal telepathy from G-d, hearing the Torah in a special way that reflected his or her own potential. The laws were the same, but each Jew was shown the spirituality, inner meaning, and special connection that he or she could find with each particular law.
When I raised the subject at lunch I hadn't intended to relate it to Harry Potter. (Not every word out of my mouth has to do with Harry Potter, sorry!) But one of my kids (I've trained them well!) realized that this concept, that each Jew receives Torah in a personalized way that reflects their own potentials, is analogous to the "mirror of ERISED" in chapter twelve of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The mirror, as Harry Potter fans all know, magically shows each person the deepest desire of their hearts, reflecting (so to speak) their strongest personal desire. Harry saw himself with his parents, Ron saw himself standing out from the rest of his brothers, and we're told that the most content person would see himself exactly as he is.
It's interesting to contrast seeing your deepest desire with seeing your potential for greatness. Neither reflects your current reality, and neither may be in your future. One is what you'd like the most, but which you may never achieve. One is something you have the ability to achieve, but might not want to enough to try.
Of course, anyone who gets the most enjoyment out of achievement, out of personal accomplishment, would probably have their potential greatness be similar to their deepest desire. Maybe they'd desire to be even greater than their potential, but presumably they'd be similar. But for most of us, our deepest desire are for other things, not for our own greatness but for something we're missing or something that would give us the most pleasure.
The message of the Midrash is that each of us has unique abilities to be great, and that the Torah can somehow help us all achieve that greatness. Someone might be great in the "chessed," helping others, that they can do. Someone might be great in truly caring for other people as he/she cares for themself. Someone might be great in achieving truly spiritual prayer or meditation. Someone might be great in scholarship. But somehow each of us has a truly unique way that we can be great.
I think that this tells us something about how we look at Torah. A lot of schools and books push us to look at Torah "the right way," to see Torah and Judaism all in the same way. But this seems to be missing the point. While we are all commended to keep the Torah's laws, we also need to look at Torah in our own unique ways, to find how we can all reach our potentials.
The Torah is not a mirror of ERISED, focusing us on whatever we most want. But psychologists know that what we most want may not be what's best for us. The Torah is, I think, a mirror of LAITNETOP, reflecting all of our unique potentials for greatness.
Comments welcome, either by clicking on the "comments" link below or by sending e-mail to author@harrypottertorah.com
I hope everyone has a good week and a great Shabbat.
This is a very intriguing concept, because clearly the commandments of the Torah were not different for each person. The Torah says clearly that its laws apply to all Jews. The same Sabbath is the Sabbath for all Jews, pork is non-Kosher for all Jews, etc. But nonetheless the Midrash says that each Jew at Mt. Sinai received his or her own personal telepathy from G-d, hearing the Torah in a special way that reflected his or her own potential. The laws were the same, but each Jew was shown the spirituality, inner meaning, and special connection that he or she could find with each particular law.
When I raised the subject at lunch I hadn't intended to relate it to Harry Potter. (Not every word out of my mouth has to do with Harry Potter, sorry!) But one of my kids (I've trained them well!) realized that this concept, that each Jew receives Torah in a personalized way that reflects their own potentials, is analogous to the "mirror of ERISED" in chapter twelve of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The mirror, as Harry Potter fans all know, magically shows each person the deepest desire of their hearts, reflecting (so to speak) their strongest personal desire. Harry saw himself with his parents, Ron saw himself standing out from the rest of his brothers, and we're told that the most content person would see himself exactly as he is.
It's interesting to contrast seeing your deepest desire with seeing your potential for greatness. Neither reflects your current reality, and neither may be in your future. One is what you'd like the most, but which you may never achieve. One is something you have the ability to achieve, but might not want to enough to try.
Of course, anyone who gets the most enjoyment out of achievement, out of personal accomplishment, would probably have their potential greatness be similar to their deepest desire. Maybe they'd desire to be even greater than their potential, but presumably they'd be similar. But for most of us, our deepest desire are for other things, not for our own greatness but for something we're missing or something that would give us the most pleasure.
The message of the Midrash is that each of us has unique abilities to be great, and that the Torah can somehow help us all achieve that greatness. Someone might be great in the "chessed," helping others, that they can do. Someone might be great in truly caring for other people as he/she cares for themself. Someone might be great in achieving truly spiritual prayer or meditation. Someone might be great in scholarship. But somehow each of us has a truly unique way that we can be great.
I think that this tells us something about how we look at Torah. A lot of schools and books push us to look at Torah "the right way," to see Torah and Judaism all in the same way. But this seems to be missing the point. While we are all commended to keep the Torah's laws, we also need to look at Torah in our own unique ways, to find how we can all reach our potentials.
The Torah is not a mirror of ERISED, focusing us on whatever we most want. But psychologists know that what we most want may not be what's best for us. The Torah is, I think, a mirror of LAITNETOP, reflecting all of our unique potentials for greatness.
Comments welcome, either by clicking on the "comments" link below or by sending e-mail to author@harrypottertorah.com
I hope everyone has a good week and a great Shabbat.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Prohibited magic -- Harry Potter themes in parshat Mishpatim
This week's Torah portion, parshas Mishpatim, includes the commandment that "you should not allow a sorceress to live." (Ex 22:17). Lots of questions can be raised about this:
1. Does this mean that the Torah would require that Harry Potter (or Hermione) be given the death penalty?
2. Are magic shows prohibited?
Harry Potter and Torah includes a chapter that talks about these two questions in depth.
In a nutshell, it appears that the Torah's prohibition of sorcery, like most of the Torah's laws, is only meant to apply to Jews. The Torah was given to the Jews, and the laws were taught to Moses to teach to the Jews, so they for the most part do not apply to non-Jews. As long as a non-Jews's sorcery didn't involve idol-worship, the Torah has no problem with it. It's only Jews that are prohibited from using sorcery.
As for magic shows, all authorities agree that there's no concern at all for Jews to attend magic shows performed by non-Jews. As I said about regarding sorcery, non-Jews are not bound by the Torah's laws, and there's no reason for a Jew not to enjoy a magic show from a non-Jew.
The harder question is about magic shows being performed by Jews. Anyone really interested in the subject should read the chapter in the book, but the bottom line is that the biggest authorities on Jewish law nowadays say that it's fine for Jews to perform magic shows, or to attend magic shows performed by Jews, because nowadays everyone knows that magic shows are not real sorcery. Until the past hundred years Jewish magic shows were prohibited by most authorities because the magic was considered by the audience to be sorcery, and therefore the actions were prohibited as what was called "achizat einayim," fooling the eyes. But again, contemporary authorities, at least for ashkenazim, permit magic shows because everyone knows that they're just tricks.
Shabbat Shalom everyone!
--Dov
For anyone interested, the contemporary authorites that permit magic shows for the reasons I discussed are Igros Moshe vol 8 siman YD 4:13 (confirmed with the letter recipient) and Teshuvos ve'Hanhagos vol 1 siman 455.
1. Does this mean that the Torah would require that Harry Potter (or Hermione) be given the death penalty?
2. Are magic shows prohibited?
Harry Potter and Torah includes a chapter that talks about these two questions in depth.
In a nutshell, it appears that the Torah's prohibition of sorcery, like most of the Torah's laws, is only meant to apply to Jews. The Torah was given to the Jews, and the laws were taught to Moses to teach to the Jews, so they for the most part do not apply to non-Jews. As long as a non-Jews's sorcery didn't involve idol-worship, the Torah has no problem with it. It's only Jews that are prohibited from using sorcery.
As for magic shows, all authorities agree that there's no concern at all for Jews to attend magic shows performed by non-Jews. As I said about regarding sorcery, non-Jews are not bound by the Torah's laws, and there's no reason for a Jew not to enjoy a magic show from a non-Jew.
The harder question is about magic shows being performed by Jews. Anyone really interested in the subject should read the chapter in the book, but the bottom line is that the biggest authorities on Jewish law nowadays say that it's fine for Jews to perform magic shows, or to attend magic shows performed by Jews, because nowadays everyone knows that magic shows are not real sorcery. Until the past hundred years Jewish magic shows were prohibited by most authorities because the magic was considered by the audience to be sorcery, and therefore the actions were prohibited as what was called "achizat einayim," fooling the eyes. But again, contemporary authorities, at least for ashkenazim, permit magic shows because everyone knows that they're just tricks.
Shabbat Shalom everyone!
--Dov
For anyone interested, the contemporary authorites that permit magic shows for the reasons I discussed are Igros Moshe vol 8 siman YD 4:13 (confirmed with the letter recipient) and Teshuvos ve'Hanhagos vol 1 siman 455.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Moment Magazine reviews Harry Potter and Torah
Moment Magazine's review of Harry Potter and Torah just came out, in the issue that's reaching subscribers and newsstands today, Feb 11, 2007.
As always, comments are welcome. Just click the "comments" link just below this message, or send e-mail to author@harrypottertorah.com
As always, comments are welcome. Just click the "comments" link just below this message, or send e-mail to author@harrypottertorah.com
Sunday, February 4, 2007
More about magic on Shabbat
In Harry Potter and Torah there is a chapter that explores whether performing real magic (such as creating fire) would be considered a violation of the Sabbath. The conclusion, based on writings in the Talmud and Jewish law, is that magic may violate the Torah's prohibition of non-Jewish sorcery, but is not considered "constructive work" (melacha in Hebrew) that is prohibited on Shabbos.
In yesterday's Torah portion, Beshalach, I saw a discussion of this that I hadn't seen before. As I discussed previously (click here), the manna that the Jews ate in the desert for 40 years could magically change to taste like whatever the person eating it wanted it to taste like. The book Talelei Orot (p252) quoted a Midrash that said that this included the method of preparation: if the eater wanted it to taste baked, it would taste baked, and if the eater wanted it to taste cooked, it would taste cooked. The Torah says explicitly that the manna had to be baked or cooked before Shabbat, leading to the conclusion that magically making the manna taste cooked or baked would be considered a violation of the Sabbath.
So the sources quoted by Talelei Oros seem to contradict what I wrote in the chapter in Harry Potter and Torah.
I think, however, that the Midrash quoted in Talelei Oros is a minority opinion. Rashi's commentary to the Torah interprets the verse about cooking and baking the manna (Ex 15:23) differently: "Whatever you want to bake in the oven, bake today (on Friday) for two days, and whatever you need to cook in water, cook today (on Friday). Baking refers to bread, and cooking to boiled things." Rashi specifically is saying that the Torah's prohibition of cooking and baking on the Sabbath is true baking in an oven or cooking in water, not to causing the manna to be cooked or baked through thought.
I haven't yet looked at more commentaries on the Midrash to see if this is discussed, but it seems that Rashi's commentary is consistent with all the sources in Torah writings that I quoted in the book, that conclude that magical acts are not prohibited on Shabbos, and that the Misrash quoted in Talelei Orot must be a minority opinion.
I'll post more if I find more on the subject.
In yesterday's Torah portion, Beshalach, I saw a discussion of this that I hadn't seen before. As I discussed previously (click here), the manna that the Jews ate in the desert for 40 years could magically change to taste like whatever the person eating it wanted it to taste like. The book Talelei Orot (p252) quoted a Midrash that said that this included the method of preparation: if the eater wanted it to taste baked, it would taste baked, and if the eater wanted it to taste cooked, it would taste cooked. The Torah says explicitly that the manna had to be baked or cooked before Shabbat, leading to the conclusion that magically making the manna taste cooked or baked would be considered a violation of the Sabbath.
So the sources quoted by Talelei Oros seem to contradict what I wrote in the chapter in Harry Potter and Torah.
I think, however, that the Midrash quoted in Talelei Oros is a minority opinion. Rashi's commentary to the Torah interprets the verse about cooking and baking the manna (Ex 15:23) differently: "Whatever you want to bake in the oven, bake today (on Friday) for two days, and whatever you need to cook in water, cook today (on Friday). Baking refers to bread, and cooking to boiled things." Rashi specifically is saying that the Torah's prohibition of cooking and baking on the Sabbath is true baking in an oven or cooking in water, not to causing the manna to be cooked or baked through thought.
I haven't yet looked at more commentaries on the Midrash to see if this is discussed, but it seems that Rashi's commentary is consistent with all the sources in Torah writings that I quoted in the book, that conclude that magical acts are not prohibited on Shabbos, and that the Misrash quoted in Talelei Orot must be a minority opinion.
I'll post more if I find more on the subject.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Harry Potter themes in Parshat Beshalach
Parshas Beshalach contains the following Harry Potter themes:
- Why did Harry Potter's boggart effect him like a dementor: Written just for this blog! Click to read part 1 and part 2.
- In Ex 14:16 Moses uses his staff in a magic-wand-like way to split the sea, in Ex 17:5 he uses it to magically bring water from a rock, and in Ex 17:9-12 he uses it to magically win the war with Amalek. Magic wands are discussed in depth in Harry Potter and Torah, and summarized here.
- The splitting of the sea (Ex 14:13-31) is described in Psalm (114) as "the sea saw and fled." What did the sea see? The Midrash says that the sea saw the bones of Joseph, that were being transported to Israel for burial, that had a magical protection from his act of dedication to G-d years earlier. This is described in Harry Potter and Torah's chapter on Magical Protection, part of which is excerpted here.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
PART 2: Why did Harry Potter's boggart effect him like a dementor? (Beshalach)
In part one I introduced two (fictional) magical creatures from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: boggarts and dementors. In short, boggarts are shape-shifters that take on the form of whatever will scare the person nearby, and dementors are creatures that suck all the happiness from nearby people, leaving them feeling only despair. In the Harry Potter stories, the thing that Harry most fears is a dementor, so boggarts near him take the form of dementors. Surprisingly, they then effect him like a dementor, leaving him feeling despair. This leads to the question of why Harry's boggart should effect him like a dementor, since boggarts only take the form of the feared thing, they don't become the feared thing.
Obviously there is no discussion in Torah literature about boggarts and dementors, since (to my knowledge) these creatures are purely imaginary. But we can ask a more general question: if something has the ability to magically take the form of something else, would it have the essence of that thing, or only the form of that thing?
In the Torah we learn of the manna ("mon" in Hebrew) that Divinely fell from the sky when the Jews were in the desert after leaving Egypt. The Midrash (Shmot Raba) says that the manna contained the tastes of all foods, and that it magically tasted like whatever the person eating it wanted it to taste like. Someone who wanted pizza would eat manna that tasted magically like pizza. Someone who wanted steak would have manna that tasted magically like steak.
Rephrasing our question from above, did the manna in the desert remain essentially manna, and simply taste like steak or pizza, or did it actually take on the essence of the pizza or steak? To explore this, we can consider a few discussions in Torah literature in which this distinction between taste and essence is important.
Suppose on Passover in the desert the Jews had taken manna and desired it to taste like matza, the unleavened bread eaten at the Passover Seder. Could they then have eaten this manna/matza at their Seder and fulfilled the commandment to eat matza? The Ritva commentary on the Talmud (Kiddishin 38a) describes the sequence of events when the Jews arrived in the Land of Israel after the forty years in the desert. Ritva says that the Jews ate manna until the 16th day of the Jewish month of Nissan, as described in the Torah, but that on Seder night, on the 16th day of Nissan, they ate matza made from new crops of wheat. (This is significant in the Talmud's understanding some of the Torah's laws about agriculture.) This implies that the manna could not be eaten to fulfill the Seder's requirement of matza, and that the Jews had to instead eat from the new wheat crop. We can infer from this that according to the Ritva the manna did not take on the essense of the food being desired, only the taste.
Other Torah sources, however, are of the opposite opinion. The Igra De'kalla (*) is reported to have been of the opinion that manna could have been eaten as matza, and the appropriate Blessings could have been said exactly as if regular matza were eaten.
Suppose someone took a piece of manna and desired that it taste like a cheeseburger, a pork chop, or another non-Kosher piece of food. Would the manna have the non-Kosher taste, and would the eater transgress the Kosher laws by eating it? This too is the subject of a disagreement among Torah authorities. The Chiddushei HaRim (*) (from the Gerrer chassidic dynasty) stated that the manna would not take on the forbidden taste, implying that the manna does take on the essence of the desired food, and that G-d prevented it from causing a transgression. But the Chida (*) stated that the manna could in fact taste like forbidden foods, and that it was permitted to eat it, the obvious implication being that the manna adopted the taste but not the essence of the desired food.
Like many areas of Torah literature, we're left with a Rabbinic disagreement over whether manna adopted the essence or just the taste of the food that was desired. While Rabbinic disagreements in practical areas are most often decided conclusively, since people need to act in accordance with one of the opinions, in non-practical areas of Torah thought there is often no conclusive answer. This appears to be one of those times.
Returning to our original question, it appears that the Chiddushei HaRim and the Igra De'Kalla are of the opinion that something that magically takes on the form of something else also takes on the actual essense of the thing. This is analogous to Harry Potter's boggart effecting him like a dementor. But the Chida and the Ritva seem to say no, taking on attributes of something doesn't mean taking on the essense of the thing. In the analogy to Harry Potter, this would lead us to conclude that Harry's boggart should not have effected him in this way.
Obviously these analogies are meant for fun, to make us think about Torah concepts in new and interesting ways, and should not be taken too far. (See the preface of Harry Potter and Torah for more on this.) That said, we have seen some Torah thought that seems very analogous to the issue in Harry Potter, and this Torah thought is also something that many of us have not previously considered.
So if anyone reading this comes across some manna right before Passover, I do not suggest eating it as matza at your seder. And if you want to know more about boggarts taking the essence of the things they imitate, you'll have to wait for J. K. Rowling to finish the final book of Harry Potter. But if you're reading Harry Potter (or anything else), and some interesting thoughts come to mind, remember this: Somewhere, somehow, Torah literature has discussed the subject.
Torah sources marked with an (*) are those that I have not yet seen in the original, but were quoted in secondary sources. For more in-depth coverage of this subject, see the fascinating article in English by Rabbi Ari Zivitofsky, "Bacon bits and non-Kosher taste."
...
Obviously there is no discussion in Torah literature about boggarts and dementors, since (to my knowledge) these creatures are purely imaginary. But we can ask a more general question: if something has the ability to magically take the form of something else, would it have the essence of that thing, or only the form of that thing?
In the Torah we learn of the manna ("mon" in Hebrew) that Divinely fell from the sky when the Jews were in the desert after leaving Egypt. The Midrash (Shmot Raba) says that the manna contained the tastes of all foods, and that it magically tasted like whatever the person eating it wanted it to taste like. Someone who wanted pizza would eat manna that tasted magically like pizza. Someone who wanted steak would have manna that tasted magically like steak.
Rephrasing our question from above, did the manna in the desert remain essentially manna, and simply taste like steak or pizza, or did it actually take on the essence of the pizza or steak? To explore this, we can consider a few discussions in Torah literature in which this distinction between taste and essence is important.
Suppose on Passover in the desert the Jews had taken manna and desired it to taste like matza, the unleavened bread eaten at the Passover Seder. Could they then have eaten this manna/matza at their Seder and fulfilled the commandment to eat matza? The Ritva commentary on the Talmud (Kiddishin 38a) describes the sequence of events when the Jews arrived in the Land of Israel after the forty years in the desert. Ritva says that the Jews ate manna until the 16th day of the Jewish month of Nissan, as described in the Torah, but that on Seder night, on the 16th day of Nissan, they ate matza made from new crops of wheat. (This is significant in the Talmud's understanding some of the Torah's laws about agriculture.) This implies that the manna could not be eaten to fulfill the Seder's requirement of matza, and that the Jews had to instead eat from the new wheat crop. We can infer from this that according to the Ritva the manna did not take on the essense of the food being desired, only the taste.
Other Torah sources, however, are of the opposite opinion. The Igra De'kalla (*) is reported to have been of the opinion that manna could have been eaten as matza, and the appropriate Blessings could have been said exactly as if regular matza were eaten.
Suppose someone took a piece of manna and desired that it taste like a cheeseburger, a pork chop, or another non-Kosher piece of food. Would the manna have the non-Kosher taste, and would the eater transgress the Kosher laws by eating it? This too is the subject of a disagreement among Torah authorities. The Chiddushei HaRim (*) (from the Gerrer chassidic dynasty) stated that the manna would not take on the forbidden taste, implying that the manna does take on the essence of the desired food, and that G-d prevented it from causing a transgression. But the Chida (*) stated that the manna could in fact taste like forbidden foods, and that it was permitted to eat it, the obvious implication being that the manna adopted the taste but not the essence of the desired food.
Like many areas of Torah literature, we're left with a Rabbinic disagreement over whether manna adopted the essence or just the taste of the food that was desired. While Rabbinic disagreements in practical areas are most often decided conclusively, since people need to act in accordance with one of the opinions, in non-practical areas of Torah thought there is often no conclusive answer. This appears to be one of those times.
Returning to our original question, it appears that the Chiddushei HaRim and the Igra De'Kalla are of the opinion that something that magically takes on the form of something else also takes on the actual essense of the thing. This is analogous to Harry Potter's boggart effecting him like a dementor. But the Chida and the Ritva seem to say no, taking on attributes of something doesn't mean taking on the essense of the thing. In the analogy to Harry Potter, this would lead us to conclude that Harry's boggart should not have effected him in this way.
Obviously these analogies are meant for fun, to make us think about Torah concepts in new and interesting ways, and should not be taken too far. (See the preface of Harry Potter and Torah for more on this.) That said, we have seen some Torah thought that seems very analogous to the issue in Harry Potter, and this Torah thought is also something that many of us have not previously considered.
So if anyone reading this comes across some manna right before Passover, I do not suggest eating it as matza at your seder. And if you want to know more about boggarts taking the essence of the things they imitate, you'll have to wait for J. K. Rowling to finish the final book of Harry Potter. But if you're reading Harry Potter (or anything else), and some interesting thoughts come to mind, remember this: Somewhere, somehow, Torah literature has discussed the subject.
Torah sources marked with an (*) are those that I have not yet seen in the original, but were quoted in secondary sources. For more in-depth coverage of this subject, see the fascinating article in English by Rabbi Ari Zivitofsky, "Bacon bits and non-Kosher taste."
...
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
"Without a Torah oath" (and Harry Potter unbreakable vows)
A few readers asked me what I mean when I promise to donate 10% of my book proceeds to Israeli schools "without a Torah oath."
I wrote this as a translation of the Hebrew phrase "bli neder." The idea is that while I'm promising to make this donation, and in fact I'm about to make the first one, I don't want to make this promise be an oath from the perspective of Torah law. Torah law takes oaths (swearing to do something or swearing not to do something) very seriously, and people are discouraged from making oaths even if they intend to keep them because of the seriousness involved. Basically taking an oath is seen by Torah law as creating an obligation that's as binding on the person as any Torah law is.
A Torah oath is actually similar in many respects to an "unbreakable vow" as described in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
So to be clear, I fully intend to make the donations, despite wanting on principle to avoid binding my soul in an oath.
I wrote this as a translation of the Hebrew phrase "bli neder." The idea is that while I'm promising to make this donation, and in fact I'm about to make the first one, I don't want to make this promise be an oath from the perspective of Torah law. Torah law takes oaths (swearing to do something or swearing not to do something) very seriously, and people are discouraged from making oaths even if they intend to keep them because of the seriousness involved. Basically taking an oath is seen by Torah law as creating an obligation that's as binding on the person as any Torah law is.
A Torah oath is actually similar in many respects to an "unbreakable vow" as described in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
So to be clear, I fully intend to make the donations, despite wanting on principle to avoid binding my soul in an oath.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Why did Harry Potter's "boggart" effect him like a "dementor?" (Parshat Beshalach)
I'm starting to develop and write a new thought on Harry Potter and Torah that relates to the Torah portion of Beshalach, which is read this year on Shabbat Feb 3, 2007. This doesn't appear in Harry Potter and Torah, I'm just thinking out the idea as I write it up now. But it's similar in style to chapters in the book.
I'd like to start with a question from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (the 3rd book and movie):
As background to the question, "boggarts" and "dementors" are both fictional magical creatures from the Harry Potter stories. Each one has magical powers that we learn about in the 3rd book.
Dementors are introduced in chapter ten, as Professor Lupin explains to Harry: "Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth... they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air... get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory, will be sucked out of you... you'll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life...."
Boggarts are introduced in seven, as Hermione answers in Defense class: "(A boggart) is a shape-shifter... It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most." As the story continues, the boggart proceeds to take the forms of whatever will most frighten the student closest to it. When Harry Potter faces a boggart in chapter twelve, it takes the form of a dementor, and, as dementors do, it causes Harry to relive the worst experiences of his life.
But this brings us to a question: Boggarts only take the form of whatever will frighten us, they don't actually become those things. The boggart facing the defense class didn't actually become Neville's grandmother or a mummy, it just looked exactly like them. So when Harry faces the boggart that looks like a dementor, why should it effect him like a dementor does?
I'd like to start with a question from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (the 3rd book and movie):
Why did Harry Potter's "boggart" effect him like a "dementor?"
As background to the question, "boggarts" and "dementors" are both fictional magical creatures from the Harry Potter stories. Each one has magical powers that we learn about in the 3rd book.
Dementors are introduced in chapter ten, as Professor Lupin explains to Harry: "Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth... they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air... get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory, will be sucked out of you... you'll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life...."
Boggarts are introduced in seven, as Hermione answers in Defense class: "(A boggart) is a shape-shifter... It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most." As the story continues, the boggart proceeds to take the forms of whatever will most frighten the student closest to it. When Harry Potter faces a boggart in chapter twelve, it takes the form of a dementor, and, as dementors do, it causes Harry to relive the worst experiences of his life.
But this brings us to a question: Boggarts only take the form of whatever will frighten us, they don't actually become those things. The boggart facing the defense class didn't actually become Neville's grandmother or a mummy, it just looked exactly like them. So when Harry faces the boggart that looks like a dementor, why should it effect him like a dementor does?
Believe it or not, we can see a perspective on this question from the Torah. Obviously beggarts and dementors aren't real, but the Torah does talk about things that are analogous to shape-shifting creatures in Harry Potter. I think we're going to find a disagreement between the Chiddushei HaRim and the Chida on the subject, but I'm still researching it. I'll start writing about it early next week. For now I'll just give you a hint -- it's related to the Torah portion of Beshalach, not this Shabbat's parsha but next Shabbat's parsha.
If you're reading this on the web and haven't subscribed to the blog, just click on the subscribe link to receive blog updates by e-mail. That way you won't miss each message as this idea is developed.
I hope everyone has a good Shabbos and a fun weekend.
If you're reading this on the web and haven't subscribed to the blog, just click on the subscribe link to receive blog updates by e-mail. That way you won't miss each message as this idea is developed.
I hope everyone has a good Shabbos and a fun weekend.
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