TAKE A PEEK: Inside The Hogwarts Haggadah
Make Passover a delight for alums of Slytherin and Gryffindor alike. Image by Moshe Rosenberg
Image by Wikimedia Commons
With the “Unofficial Hogwarts Haggadah” coming out any day now, here are some highlights:
Harry embarks on his own personal journey of exodus every year.
He leaves the Dursley’s to return to Hogwarts, his promised land. The miracle of the splitting of the sea is certainly matched by the wonder of platform 9 and three-quarters.
Prophecy is important in the Torah, as in the wizarding world.
In both, prophecy does not undermine free will. Harry exercised his free will throughout the story to fight Voldemort, as did Moses in standing up to Pharaoh.
Make Passover a delight for alums of Slytherin and Gryffindor alike. Image by Moshe Rosenberg
The Four Sons
Hogwarts provides a perfect model of educating each child according to his or her own needs, just as the Four Sons sons teaches us. Hogwarts even has four houses for different children, perfectly paralleling the four sons and four questions at the Seder.
What does Harry have in common with matzah?
The matzah we eat on Passover is the bread of affliction, representing humility. Harry is a perfect example of the humility of the matzah, in contrast to Voldemort’s narcissism.
Concluding with a goat
Rosenberg composed his own Potter version of Chad Gadya, the popular song about a goat sung at the end of the Seder: Harry disarmed Malfoy ‘cause Wormtail hesitated/ ‘Cause Harry saved his life/ Though he betrayed his mom/ Whose love had saved her son …
Contact Shira Hanau at hanau@forward.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
