[Avodah] Dvar Torah for VaYeshev/VaYechi: Magical Protection (from Harry Potter and Torah)

[Krulwich]

Magical Protection
Related to the Torah portions VaYeshev and VaYechi

The Dvar Torah below is exerpted from the book Harry Potter and Torah
by Dov Krulwich http://www.harrypottertorah.com/ The book contains more
than twenty similar chapters, containing Torah insights related to themes
from the Harry Potter series.

Below is the first portion of the Dvar Torah, the rest is available on-line at the site above.


Magical Protection

At the end of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone we learn of
the magical protection that Harry received from his mother's love,
particularly from her having sacrificed her life to save his:

"Why couldn't Quirrell touch me?"  [Harry asked].
[Dumbeldore answered] "Your mother died trying to save you. If there
is one thing Voldemort can't understand, it is love. He didn't realize
that love as powerful as your mother's leaves its own mark. Not a
scar, no visible sign ... to have been loved so deeply, even though
the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever."
(The Sorcerer's Stone, chapter 17)

This concept is described later, in the 4th book, by Voldemort himself:

"You all know that on the night I lost my powers and my body, I tried to
kill him. His mother died in the attempt to save him - and unwittingly
provided him with a protection I admit I had not foreseen ... I could
not touch the boy. ... His mother left upon him the traces of her
sacrifice ... this is old magic, I should have remembered it, I was
foolish to overlook it ...." (Goblet of Fire, chapter 33)

We see this discussed throughout the Harry Potter books, how Harry has
magical protection imprinted on him from his Mother's act of love and
self-sacrifice.

Might anything like this "old magic" appear in the Torah?

We see an interesting analogue to this kind of magical protection at the
end of the Torah portion of VaYechi. After the death of Jacob (Yaacov)
the Jewish Patriarch, Joseph's brothers were afraid that Joseph would
take revenge on them for their having sold him into Egyptian slavery.
He comforts them by reiterating that all the events had been orchestrated
by G-d to bring him to Egypt for a Divine purpose:

"You decided to do bad to me, but G-d thought of it for good, to cause the
events on this very day (Hebrew: KaYom HaZeh), to keep the nation alive."

What does Joseph mean by "on this very day?" The most straightforward
understanding is that Joseph went to Egypt as part of a Divine plan for
the entire region to be saved from the famine, and for the Jewish family
to be able to relocate there.

The commentary Be'er Moshe, however, presents a very interesting
alternative explanation, perhaps not as a literal understanding but as
an allegorical lesson. The phrase "on this very day" ("kayom hazeh")
is used in only one other place in the Torah's story of Joseph and his
brothers, during Joseph's temptation by the wife of his master Potifar:

"And it came to pass, on this very day (KaYom HaZeh), that he went to
the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house were home,
that she (Potifar's wife) grabbed him by his cloak, saying 'come with
me.' And he left his cloak in her hand and escaped (Hebrew: VaYanas),
running outside."

What does the phrase "on this very day" of Joseph's temptation by
Potifar's wife have to do with the same phrase discussing the Divine
reason for Joseph's going to Egypt? Be'er Moshe explains:

"The righteous Joseph (in his reassurance to his brothers, that G-d had
sent him to Egypt to keep the Jewish nation alive) wasn't referring to
physical survival, for G-d had already promised (Abraham) that they would
have a remnant (that would always survive). Rather he was telling them
an amazing thing, that the hidden purpose for which he had been brought to
Egypt first ... was to face the enormous challenge (with Potifar's wife),
... because by withstanding the temptation he established the purity of
life of all the Israelites, that they could resist the impurity of Egypt."

Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon uses this to illustrate a fascinating principle.
Anytime a person overcomes a temptation to violate a Torah commandment,
and manages to act in accordance with the Torah despite the temptation, he
infuses his location, the ground or area he's on, with a spiritual energy
that will help others succeed in carrying out G-d's will in that location.

Joseph was sent to Egypt by G-d so that he would face a strong temptation
to do something immoral, and overcome it, thereby infusing Egypt with
enough spiritual energy to enable the Jews to survive 400 years of
slavery with their Jewish morality intact.

...

(The rest of this Dvar Torah is available at
http://www.harrypottertorah.com and is exerpted from the book Harry
Potter and Torah.)

Questions or comments can be sent to the author at
author at harrypottertorah.com