Jewish perspectives on the upcoming Harry Potter movie

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?

The following scenes of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix are
the motivations of chapters in Harry Potter and Torah:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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?

4. 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.

5. Unity: The need for good people to stay united in combatting evil
is a continuing theme in Order of the 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:

http://www.harrypottertorah.com/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847532373?tag=hpt-20
..
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...&pubid=K118759

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Potter.../dp/1847532373