When the Hogwarts Express rolled to the end of its enchanting line, Rabbi Moshe Rosenberg was perhaps one of the more unlikely fans who mourned the conclusion of the series about the boy wizard.
Rosenberg became hooked on the Harry Potter books about a decade ago, when the sixth-grade students at his yeshiva were reading the first book.
He has since been dubbed "The Harry Potter rabbi" by congregants at his Kew Gardens Hills synagogue, Congregation Etz Chaim, and the Bronx yeshiva where he teaches, the SAR Academy in Riverdale.
The Potterphile has utilized the series in his classroom and synagogue to teach Jewish values. And his book "Morality for Muggles: Ethics in the Bible and the World of Harry Potter" was published last month.
Author J.K. Rowling's books are valuable, Rosenberg said, because they deal with all of life's most essential questions.
"What gives life meaning? How do relationships work? What's the interplay between good and evil and what are our obligations in that struggle?" he said. "All of these things are dealt with in the Bible as well."
He compares the relationship between Harry, Hermione and Ron to the biblical trio of Moses, Miriam and Aaron. Both trios are marked by loyalty and heroism, as well as overcoming petty jealousies. One of his homework assignments was an essay exploring Jewish themes in the Potter stories.
In his book, Rosenberg demonstrates how popular literature can be utilized to examine ethical issues, from coping with loss to affirming human dignity.
Rosenberg regularly brought up the connections between Judaism and the Potter series in classroom discussions. He also created a Harry Potter Club, which encouraged his students to write their own sequels to the Potter series between Rowling's releases of the volumes. In addition, he organized Quidditch games in the gym and took the students to see the Potter movies when they premiered in theaters.
In earlier eras, rabbis offered parables about horses and wagon drivers that resonated with the people of that time, Rosenberg said. The Potter books gave him a common language with his students, who are too young to appreciate the pop-culture references he was most familiar with - from Star Trek.
"It is a shame the [Potter] books have come to an end," he lamented. "You can do the same sort of thing with other literature, but Harry Potter has so much that's positive it's hard to find something quite as rich. We'll have to keep our eyes open."
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