The Torah According to Potter
Rabbi Isaac Serotta
Yom Kippur 5766

The past two summers at camp I have had the opportunity to witness a unique phenomenon. I have been at Camp Olin-Sang-Ruby on Harry Potter Day. Even those of you who have not read the books or seen the movies are probably familiar with the cultural juggernaut of Potter-mania, but it is really something to see it first hand with hundreds of children.

The Potter books tell the story of a boy becoming a man against the backdrop of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. This magical place is an imaginary location in the real world but hidden from the non-magic eye. Camp is also a magical place. In the world of Hogwarts, wizard mail is delivered by owls who come flitting in with packages and letters attached to their legs. At camp, the more prosaic delivery service is FedEx. 24 hours after the Potter books are released, hundreds of packages arrive at camp at once, as parents send their children books by overnight mail. Those who don't have copies of their own, bide their time and wait for a friend to finish and then devour the books for themselves. One boy I saw, shared his book by reading chapter one, tearing it out of his book and passing it on to his friend so that they could read the book in one sitting together nearly simultaneously.

I have never seen anything read with more enthusiasm, or absorbed more fully by young people than these books. On the one hand I could wish that our children would have the same hunger for the stories of Torah as they do for Harry Potter. But, on the other, the joy is infectious. I have been sharing these books one by one with my own son Hudy. Now he is old enough to read them on his own, but the ritual we've established is so firmly entrenched that he still allows and in fact desires that I read it to him at night, chapter by chapter. I suspect that once the last Potter book is done next year, that will be the end of an era for me as well, as I may be done reading aloud to my son as well.

These books are not the greatest literature ever written. They are not even the greatest children's books, but that doesn't mean that they're not good. They are far better than many of the books that offer children little encouragement to think. They are filled with fun and fantasy and they are stories that generate conversations well worth having.

And, in a way, they open minds to faith and Torah as well. They certainly appeal to the imagination. And imagination is crucial to religious faith. We cannot explain religion in scientific terms. We are called to believe in an invisible God, battle unseen forces, and even to do good to those who harm us. This is stuff that really requires a religious imagination. We must see more than the eyes can see. We are asked by faith to believe in more than our senses can apprehend. Such imaginative openness to life's possibilities may well require a cultivation of imagination. The Harry Potter books do exactly that. They cultivate in us a willingness to look for the things that are unseen, but not unreal. Magic is real in the books, but the real magic of them is that they tell remarkable tales of friendship, valor, and virtue. These stories can be a gateway that allows religion to be plausible rather than implausible. If you can suspend disbelief for the magic of Harry Potter, then the stories of miracles in the bible that are the backdrop for the moral lessons of Judaism can be open to the whole Harry Potter generation.

These books are not Torah in the strict sense of the word, but in a broader way, wherever we learn, whatever gives us moral insight and helps us to live better lives, this too is Torah. So today I would like to say a few words about the Torah of Harry Potter.

The Harry Potter books are filled with magical creatures that we are familiar with from mythology. There are werewolves, witches, wizards, centaurs, unicorns and dragons, but the author, J.K. Rowling, has come up with some original creatures as well. There are three kinds of evil creatures that she has created: boggarts, dementors, and death eaters. Though I can't be sure how much planning goes into these books, I think that these three creations are remarkable metaphors. In her books evil is a parasite that feeds on human beings.

The first of these creatures, boggarts, are magical creatures that feed on our fears. Whatever our greatest fear is, when the boggart is let out of the box that is what we see. Every one of us has a boggart hidden away in a box somewhere. It is not so much that the boggart is evil, but the boggart prevents us from doing good. The boggart is paralyzing because we don't know where it will pop up and rather than try to conquer our fears we learn to live with them. Professor Lupin, the friendly werewolf, who explains boggarts to the students at Hogwarts says, "Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces ... wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks – I've even met one that had lodged itself into a grandfather clock" (Prisoner of Azkaban, p. 133).

A boggart is the personification of fear. It, in essence, lives off of our fears. When in the box the boggart, "has not yet assumed a form, (ibid)" but when it comes out it is our worst fear. It is a parasite that feeds off our fear. Without the fear, it simply goes back to dark enclosed spaces and sits alone.

What a clever creation on the part of the author. We have all learned to live with our fears. Fear of heights, fear of flying, fear of making a mistake, fear of losing a job, fear of finding out we are not as important as we think we are, fear of rejection. When you add up all the boggarts under the bed it's a wonder that we can function at all.

The way to fight a boggart is to make the fear ridiculous. When the students are able to focus their energy and use what the book calls the "redikkulus charm" then the boggart is reduced to a humorous figure. For instance, a stern professor shows up dressed like your grandmother in one of the book's examples. Instead of being paralyzed by the boggart we can neutralize its power, when we can make our fears seem smaller, then we really can reach out to each other, then we really can open our hearts and minds and then we are capable of great leaming and great love.

The second evil creature that Rowling created is far more insidious; the dementors. The dementors, another kind of parasite, actually feed on our happiness.

The scariest thing about dementors is their "soul kiss." They are able to swallow a soul whole through the opposite of mouth to mouth resuscitation. Rather than blowing air into a body, they actually suck out the soul. The dementor's kiss reduces the victim to a terrible, drained state. Dementors are horrible in appearance. They are terrifying to behold, but beyond the physical appearance, you can feel when they are nearby. One character describes it, "I felt them. Everything went cold and this was a warm summer's night, mark you. And I felt. As though all happiness had gone from the world ... and I remembered dreadful things..." (Order of the Phoenix p.145). The presence of a dementor brings a physical sensation of cold. It floods the mind with numbing unhappiness, the memory of "'dreadful things."

This is beyond just fear. The dementors bring with them a numbness that does not pass so easily, a depression that lasts and lasts. Dementors sap us of our happiness. We can see only darkness. There are dementors in our world. They are the real mind bending catastrophes that threaten to sap our energy, our strength, our humor. These things are difficult to fight. In a bit of whimsy, Rowling says that one thing that helps when you've been in the area of a dementor is to eat some chocolate. Works for me. I love the idea of a chocolate prescription. I'll take any excuse, and for many, chocolate is a happy experience. It is important to keep a sense of humor when there are dementors around.

But the real defense against the dementors is to either steer clear of them, or to defend yourself with a spell that Rowling calls a Patronus. If dementors have the capability as their name implies of dementing us, of destroying our mind and spirit, then the Patronus spell as its name suggests has the ability to protect us like a patron, like a father. The way to beat a dementor is to increase our mental health through leaming, and action for others, and perhaps even through prayer. The spells and incantations of Harry Potter are in essence prayers for strength and protection. And like our own prayers they are answered not by some external force but by our own ability to transcend ourselves and persevere. The Patronus comes from our own desire to succeed against the dementor or any other evil. In the books it is a spell that must be practiced. At first it can't be accomplished at all, but through practice the Patronus gains in strength. It is possible for us to succeed against adversity, but the struggle is not easy and we will have to work to beat the forces that would tear us apart.

The last of the evil creatures that Rowling created for her series of books are the death eaters, the followers of the evil leader Lord Voldemort, those who succeed only through the death of others. They are an amalgamation of all the evil hordes the world has ever known. They are particularly similar to the Nazis, a totalitarian, racist band (they do not approve of wizards who are not of pure blood though they are led by a half-blooded evil wizard), and they are bent on world domination. The name of their leader, considered so evil that his name is rarely spoken aloud, is Voldemort. The root of this name is something like "world death.” Voldemort is not only the leader of an evil mob, he may be the apocalypse. His dominion would be, at the very least, the end of the world as the good characters in the book know it.

But what makes Voldemort the most evil of all the characters in the books is that he in fact has a choice. Boggarts are boggarts, creatures that live on fear. Dementors eat happiness, that is their nature and they have no choice. But Voldemort and his death eaters have free will. They have a choice between good and evil, just as we do, and they choose evil. This is made quite clear in the deliberate juxtaposition of Harry Potter with Voldemort. The great battle in the book that is not yet written will be between these two. They have been fighting since Harry was a baby, but the books have gone to great lengths to show us how similar they are.

Both of them grew up without parents, living in a world of mortals: Voldemort in an orphanage, Harry in a room under the stairs, unloved by his aunt and uncle. Both find themselves at Hogwarts and learn that there is a place for them in the world. Both are parsel tongues, meaning that they have the ability to speak to snakes. Both are good students, but both are willing to cut corners to get what they want. Harry is on his way to becoming the most powerful wizard of his generation. Voldemort is an extremely powerful wizard as well. The difference between the two is in the choice they make. Voldemort chooses dominion, while Harry wants justice and righteousness. Voldemort chooses loneliness, while Harry looks for love.

Voldemort is ruthless in destroying anyone who gets in his way. As Professor Dumbledore says, "he shows just as little mercy to his followers as to his enemies" (Chamber of Secrets). Notice he does not say friends but followers. To have friends one must be a friend; not to understand love is to make friendship – and life itself – impossible.

When we first meet Voldemort, he is quite literally a parasite. He says, "[I am] mere shadow and vapor ... I have form only when I can share another's body (Sorcerer's Stone p.293)." Just as boggarts and dementors live off of others, Voldemort is living within the body of one of the professors. But Voldemort was not always a parasite. The books tell us how handsome the young Voldemort is, comparing him once again with Harry, but by the time we meet him as an adult, he is described as having "the most terrible face Harry had ever seen." It is "chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils like a snake (ibid)."

Voldemort is constantly trying to wipe away all traces of his humanity. The recent book explains that when Voldemort commits a brutal murder he divides his soul. He takes the portion that divides off, and places it in a storage vessel. So that he has only a fraction of his humanity within, but he is also difficult to destroy because bits of his soul are scattered in different places. Evil actions transform a human being into an animal. But in these books the change is not only figurative but literal. Voldemort transforms from a handsome young man into a human serpent. Our tradition teaches, that the one who does not act rightly, loses the power to know what is right. The more we make the wrong decision, the further we get from our own humanity, the more our soul is diminished and the more difficult teshuvah, repentance, becomes. Our Torah portion today tells us that we have the choice, choose good, choose life. But the farther we travel down the wrong path, the harder it is to choose good, the harder it is to reunify our souls.

Voldemort becomes so inhuman, that he has not only lost human appearance, but all real identity. He is a fraction of his former self. He rejects his own name and adopts the name of Voldemort, and then good people refuse to say his name at all. The evil-doer undergoes a dehumanizing and self-destructive transformation when he commits evil acts. With every evil act the self-destruction becomes greater as the evil-doer consistently makes the wrong choice. Voldemort is oblivious to the fact that he is the cause of his own destruction, and that he is capable of stopping it. He ignores any possibility of reforming himself, instead becoming more and more intent on revenge.

Harry on the other hand, has friends and he has love, even though he has gone through so much heartbreak; the death of his parents, the death of his friends. He has seen more than a boy should see. Yet, even so, he can reach out to others with love. "Given everything that has happened to you, it is a great and remarkable thing. You are still too young to understand how unusual you are. (Half-blood Prince, p.509)"

Too often we misunderstand. We overlook the importance of love, of caring. We make the wrong choice. No one says, "I choose to forgo love, happiness, and peace for a dreary friendless, loveless world in which I seek power alone, power that will probably destroy me along the way." But it is true that people in the end must choose.

One lie about evil is that people are predestined for evil because of their ancestry, the alignment of the stars, or some quirk of fate that requires one to choose evil. Harry worries about this when he is nearly assigned to the House of Slytherin, the house within the school where Voldemort was a student. Meanwhile his aunt and uncle tell him he is born bad because of his magic background, and in class, his Divination teacher teaches the students that there is no free will and everything is written in the stars. Harry and his friends reject this idea. People are not puppets acting out a script written by fate.

" [I only got put into] Gryffindor, said Harry in a defeated voice, because I asked ... Exactly, said Dumbledore beaming once more, "which makes you very different from [Voldemort]. It is our choices, Harry, that show that we are truly far more than our abilities. (Chamber of Secrets, p.333)."

It is in our power to choose, but too often we choose the easy way. As it says in the good book – and by that of course I mean Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone – human beings "have a knack for choosing the worst (Sorcerers Stone, p.297)." It is easier to go along with an angry crowd, a corrupt institution, or even our own emotions, than to stop, determine what the truth is, and then make the right decision. The key is to keep trying to make teshuvah, make a turn in the right direction.

These stories are about morality. They teach us that we are responsible for our own choices just as Harry and Voldemort are. Our actions and choices determine what kind of people we become. Voldemort's choices lead to his ruin and suffering as well as the suffering of others. Harry's choices lead to a life of courage, loyalty, friendship, and love.

That is not only the message of Harry Potter, the Torah of Harry Potter, if you will. It is the message of Judaism, of our Torah, and our high holy days. "I have put before you this day, life and good, and death and evil. Therefore choose life, that you and your children may live."

We are called on to do what is right, not what is easy. We are called on to turn away from our misdeeds, to transcend our fears, to not be paralyzed by what we see in the world, to not allow evil to live on our fears or our actions. Instead we are to pursue life and joy and blessing. Then we will not just live, we will live a life that is blessed. The choice is ours to be the virtuous school boy like Harry Potter, a "yeshiva bucher," a mensch, or to be debased and dehumanized by our wrong choices.

Yom Kippur gives us the opportunity to turn from our choices before they reduce our humanity. It gives us the path to turn back from whatever has reduced us. No matter how difficult it is. As Dumbledore advises Harry, "It [is] important to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then [will] evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated. (Half-blood Prince, p.645)" We can fight that good fight. We can come back to God, to love, to hope and peace and joy. We are not so lost or broken that there is no hope. There is always a path if we choose to walk on it. That is what God wants for us. It is not magic. It is not a spell or even a miracle. It is our choice. The stakes are real even if the books are not. The key is to try to see clearly, to recognize good and evil for what they are, to act for the good and against the evil, to choose life that we and our children may live.

D'var Torah January 22, 2009
Cantor Michael Davis

This sermon was originally given at Shabbat services on January 2 in the first week of the IDF’s military campaign in Gaza.

I have a special fondness for this week’s Torah portion, Vayigash. Almost 30 years ago this week, I had the opportunity to be at the Western Wall and chant the portion for my Bar Mitzvah.

We learned in last week’s Torah portion of Joseph’s miraculous rise to the height of fame and influence in Egypt. As the interpreter of Pharaoh’s dream, he had anticipated the collapse of the Egyptian food system, envisioned a long-range plan to prepare for the difficult years ahead and was immediately appointed by the Pharaoh to oversee the plan. From being an immigrant slave in the Pharaoh’s prison, Joseph was elevated to high office, second only to Pharaoh . Joseph - or as he is now known, Tzafenat Pa’aneach, the revealer of secrets, marries the daughter of the high priest.

Now, with the onset of the famine in the region, Joseph’s half-brothers – the ones who had betrayed him - arrive in Egypt to buy food. Tzafenath Pa’anaeach, the high official of Egypt hears of their arrival and he recognizes them immediately. The brothers are accused of crimes they did not commit. They are held hostage. Joseph demands that his full brother Benjamin be brought to him from Jacob’s home in Canaan. The other brothers, fearing that Tzafenath Pa’aneach will imprison Benjamin, refuse.

And so we come to the climax of the story at the beginning of this week’s Torah portion. Assuming the mantle of leadership, Judah steps forward as the brothers’ spokesman. The name of this week’s Torah portion "Vayigash" is the first word of the portion. Vayigash means "he drew near." Judah approached Joseph and spoke…. The ancient Midrash Rabbah discusses Judah’s intent:

Rabbi Eliezer says: let us reconcile these views - Judah approached Joseph prepared pray, to talk, and if necessary to fight. Judah and the brothers have been wronged by Joseph’s capricious cruelty. Their elderly father, Jacob waits for them in the Land of Israel. Judah is ready to be taken prisoner, to die if necessary, if Tzafenath-Pa’aneach will not back down.

There is a curious detail here. The word "Jewish" comes to us from "Judah". ( Yehudi, from Yehudah in Hebrew). To be Jewish is to act like Judah. Jews stand up for each other.

I’ve been thinking a lot about relations between brothers and sisters this past week, looking at the news from Israel and Gaza.

After a period when it seemed Israel was calm, we have sadly seen Middle East violence become daily headlines news. What it must be like to live under the constant threat of missile attacks one can only imagine. There have been sporadic missile attacks on the Israeli side of the border for some time with occasional periods of respite under the houdna or ceasfire agreement. For the 1.5 million residents of Gaza, life has also become a fragile state with the occasional attacks by Israeli forces on top of the hardship and isolation imposed by the Israeli’s military’s encirclement. As we have seen in the news over the past week, one unintended consequence of Israel’s military operation last Saturday - those 3 mins 40 seconds of aerial bombardment - is that the security situation in Israel has deteriorated. Large population centers being drawn into the violence for the first time. This morning I spoke on the phone with a relative who lives near Beersheba. She told me of Israelis leaving their homes near Gaza to come to her kibbutz. People are scared. People need a break from the constant threat of missile attacks.

This close, family relationship between diaspora Jewry and Israel is particularly true with regard to the Jewish community in Chicago and the Israeli towns and villages under Hamas bombardment. The bulk of the Chicago Jewish Federation’s fundraising on behalf of Israel goes to these towns, villages, rural communities in the south of Israel.

A few months ago I was asked to be an interpreter at a meeting at the JUF offices downtown and mayors and other leaders from Israel’s southern region. The Israeli delegation had flown in to Chicago to discuss for discussions on budget allocations for the future. I was present at the first day of meetings. This day was dedicated to sharing views and discussing the relationship between Chicago Jews and the south of Israel. People spoke from the heart of their dreams. I was struck by how dedicated both sides were to having a meaningful relationship that went well beyond the giving and receiving of funds.

As many of you know, I lived in Israel for half of my life. After graduating high school I served in the Israeli military, the IDF for three years. I learned how to fire an Uzi, how to assemble an M-16. I may not look like much of a soldier today and I’m not too sure I did back then either. My highest military accomplishment was to win an award for marksmanship. I am happy to report that this is a skill which I have not had much use for since.

For three years I wore this on a chain around my neck. It is my Israeli military ID – my "dogtag." As you can see it is perforated down the middle.

This is a fire-proof metal plate with my name in Hebrew and my military ID number embossed in metal on both sides of the plate. As soldiers we were instructed that if we were ever taken captive by the enemy, we were to snap the dogtag down the middle and discard the broken half on the ground. Our forces would find the dogtag and know that we were alive and hold the enemy accountable for our wellbeing. This dogtag was the IDF’s guarantee to me that, no matter what, I would not be forgotten if I fell into enemy hands. We have seen this commitment in the concern Israelis have for Cpl. Gil’ad Shalit, currently held captive in Gaza. This is the commitment Jews make to each other.

Two and a half years ago, following one of several attacks on Israeli soldiers on Israel’s northern border, the Israeli military launched a military offensive on South Lebanon. The immediate result was that the entire north of Israel came under Katyusha attack for that summer. In Israel: internal refugees, disrupted lives and loss of life. You may remember how the missiles continued to rain into Israel unabated throughout Israel’s military campaign. The stated goal of the operation was not achieved: the missiles did not end despite a sustained military effort including a ground offensive. The secondary goals of projecting Israel’s might into Lebanon, breaking popular support for Hizbollah and blocking the shipment of arms from Iran to South Lebanon all ended in embarassing failure. The low-grade tit-for-tat across Israel’s northern border continues too this day. Although there was some dissent among policy-makers about the wisdom of this course of action, unfortunately, this did not come to light until after the hostilities ended.

And so we come to the current situation on Israel’s border with Gaza. Since last Saturday, the direct result of Israel’s military operation is alarmingly similar to the Lebanese operation in 2006. The missiles continue to rain in on Sderot, Netivot and now the Mediterranean town of Ashkelon and the Negev’s capital, Beersheba. For the first time in many months, there has been loss of life on the Israeli side. Three civilians and one soldier have been killed. Many homes have been damaged. In Gaza, over 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli explosives. Nobody can say for sure how many of them were combatants or innocent civilians. For the first time ever, long-range missiles have been fired from Gaza throughout the Negev and southern part of Israel, threatening hundreds of thousands of Jews and Arabs. There is the possibility there will be a ground invasion too.

There are different opinions about who first violated the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. The Israelis believe the Hamas fired the first shots. Palestinians in Gaza cite Israel’s air raid on Rafah, killing at least on Palestinian. Israelis counter….we do not need to go into the " who started" game. No good can come from that.

It is characteristic for modern warfare that each of the two fighting sides is convinced his is a war of defense….daily we read in the press that the war we are engaged in is one of defense, because, surely, we have been attacked. And we do not see the facts as they are in reality. (A Land of Two Peoples p. 226)

I have spoken to many Israelis over the past week and they acknowledge that Israel’s attacks will not solve the problem. In fact, the missile attacks continue. 30 missiles were fired just today. In the meantime, the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, compounded by the Israeli barrage will– according to Israeli military predictions – bring on a new wave of suicide bombings in Israel.

We are Israel’s brothers and sisters. This saddens us.

We are Israel’s brothers and sisters. We cannot stand idly by.

JUF and Save the Children – Gaza.

In this week’s Torah portion, Judah does not resort to violence. Seeing Judah approach, Joseph breaks down in tears. Tzafenath Pa’aneach reveals his true identity; the family is reunited. We, as the spiritual descendants of Judah know that violence can never solve the problem.

Looking inward to our Jewish tradition we see powerful messages of peace. The prophetic reading for the Shabbat that the military operation began (December 27), ends with these words to the builders of Zion: "Not by might and not by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord."