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Morality for Muggles: Ethics in the Bible and the World of Harry Potter
Whether you are a student of religious learning, a fan of Harry Potter, or just someone who likes to consider the important questions of life, this book is for you! Moshe Rosenberg, a rabbi and educator, uses Jewish tradition and Harry Potter as the twin prisms through which to examine everything from friendship to free choice, prejudice to prophecy, and rule-breaking to repentance. Along the way, he demonstrates how popular literature like Harry Potter can be used to teach timeless, ethical concerns, from coping with loss to affirming human dignity in ourselves and others.
This revised and expanded edition contains multiple new chapters, 10,000 additional words, and a discussion guide for parents and teachers.
This revised and expanded edition contains multiple new chapters, 10,000 additional words, and a discussion guide for parents and teachers.
117 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 1, 2017
It's surprising to me how often I had to pause during this short book and say to myself, "I never thought of it that way." This would be a perfect book to get Jewish tweeners and teens into heated discussions about ethical issues.
August 19, 2012
Cute book, picked it up from the library and read it in a day. It plays with things I've thought about myself - that we can often find religious and moral teachings in children's literature. When I was in Israel studying with Modern Orthodox Jews we viewed Groundhog Day and talked about the teachers' suggestion that it is "a very Jewish movie." And it is. Harry Potter, too, is a very Jewish book, though one could make a further argument that the moral and ethical teachings it is espousing are at the root of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism -- probably most world religions.
It reads fast in part because it reads like what it is - a teacher sharing some of the insights he's come to after working with kids providing Jewish education using Harry Potter books. He even includes some of the words of his students in the back of the book, though these are mostly paraphrasing things he's already said himself.
It reads fast in part because it reads like what it is - a teacher sharing some of the insights he's come to after working with kids providing Jewish education using Harry Potter books. He even includes some of the words of his students in the back of the book, though these are mostly paraphrasing things he's already said himself.
October 14, 2012
Rosenberg is a Jewish day school principal who compares the Harry Potter books to stories from the Bible, the Talmud and the Hasidim. The book is divided into chapters by the values that Rosenberg wants to teach. I am waiting for my son to be finished with the series so he can read this without being spoiled.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews