Va'era: Voldemort in Egypt

It is not an exaggeration to say that 'Harry Potter' is probably ubiquitous.

Every few years, a new product is added to the ever-increasing 'HP' universe, whether this includes a West End Play (‘The Cursed Child’), a new prequel set of films (‘Fantastic Beasts’) or occasional tweets from his creator, Ms JK Rowling. Teaching children, I often throw an HP reference into the mix and at least one child's eyes start to widen excitedly at the prospect that Sir might be a 'Potterhead' - a serious fan of the books and/or films. Muggles like me (i.e. non-Wizards) might be interested in the adventures of said young man and his classmates, but that's about it.

For those of you who think that I have 'lost the plot' and am writing this Sermon whilst ensconced in Hogwart's Secret Chamber (you'll have to read the book or see the film to understand that reference!). Please don't be too concerned as I assure you that the villain of the series, namely the ‘He who must not be named' has been around so long that I think he might have been ministering to Pharaoh in Egypt. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Lord Voldemort (shhhh) can be found lurking around the Palace in this week's sidra! You just have to know which verses to find him in. If that's not tantalising enough, he wasn't alone. Severus Snape is also featured (as are a few other nefarious characters).

Before I continue, I am sure that you will probably be a touch confused by the previous paragraph. After all, traditional Jewish belief holds that the Bible is the Word of Gd. Therefore, if this is the case, how could a wholly fictional group of people, cleverly thought up by a talented author be associated with the events that we will be reading about on Shabbat morning?

Setting the scene, Moses and Aaron are standing before Pharaoh in the Palace (using Rabbi Sack’s translation):

Exodus 7:

“So Moshe and Aharon went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded. Aharon threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned his sages and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians did the same thing by their sorcery. Each threw down his staff, and they became snakes – but Aharon’s staff swallowed up theirs…”

A little later, we read the following:

“Moshe and Aharon did just as the Lord commanded. Aharon raised his staff, in full view of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the Nile’s water turned to blood….but the Egyptian magicians did the same thing by their sorcery….”

Did you notice that Pharaoh's magicians were able to replicate both miracles? In fact, they continued practicing their skills by also successfully mimicking the plague of frogs!

What did it take to become a magician in the Royal Court and who were these people?

I recently purchased a fascinating new book entitled, ‘The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel – Exodus’ which contains one of Rabbi Sack's ztl last projects, a wonderful translation of Sefer Shemot (Exodus). He is joined by world renowned Rabbis and archaeologists who delve into the text and explain the historical background to the second book of the Torah, focussing on Egyptian culture as well as the flora and fauna which are referenced throughout the book. I wholeheartedly recommend this tome to anyone who is interested in this area of study.

One of the topics discussed is the importance and prevalence of magicians, or rather sorcerers (as opposed to modern day illusionists), within Egyptian culture and society.

The Hebrew word for the magicians is ‘Hartumim'. These men were not simply spiritual ancestors of the late Paul Daniels or David Blaine, they were in fact Chief lector priests - a selection of highly educated individuals who had studied medicine and astronomy. Their value to Pharaoh lay in their encyclopaedic knowledge of the 'dark arts' (referring to the HP lexicography) namely the ability to immerse themselves in black magic and summon the kind of evil spiritual forces that we dare not engage with today. If Pharaoh needed a spell cast, he knew whom to turn to, hence their being able to replicate the first few plagues, as well as the 'turn a staff into a snake' trick. As you can imagine, they were feared, granted that magic was 'part and parcel' of Egyptian culture and society.

Most significantly, with regard to the Torah's view of these priests, the magic that they summoned was inseparable from the idolatrous practices that formed the bedrock of Egyptian beliefs. In other words, it is diametrically opposed to the miracles performed by Gd. Which is why, if we look at my first example, although the priests were able to turn their staffs into snakes, it was Aaron's staff that ate the others. Gd was demonstrating His power over the priests' belief that their magic was equal to Divine intervention.

When it came to the first two plagues, Gd wanted the Egyptian priests to think that they had the power to match His intervention in nature, but significantly, we read that, when the third plague, namely, lice was sent into Egypt:

Exodus 8:

Aharon extended the hand that held his staff and struck the dust of the earth and suddenly there were lice on the people, on the animals….the magicians tried to produce lice with their sorcery, but they could not….”This”, the magicians told Pharaoh “is the finger of Gd”.

Dr Racheli Shalomi-Hen who has a PhD in Egyptology comments in the book that, "The Egyptian magicians did not manage to remove the plague of lice from Egypt and for this failure they give the reason that does not appear anywhere else in Tanakh: “This is the finger of Gd.” She quotes a 20th Century scholar of Arabic and Hebrew A.S Yahuda who believes that this is a Hebrew translation of an ancient Egyptian phrase found in several tomes which refers to the 'fingers of Gd that do damage to other gods'. Perhaps, she writes, "The Egyptian magicians....may have felt powerless in the ‘fingers of Gd’- they were subject to Gd's grace and viewed the lice as a punishment - such as a metaphorical finger pointing at them. In other words, the lice were also ‘an expression of Gd's wrath’ against Egypt.”

The Torah's view of the Hartumim is very clear and we are instructed not to engage in such practices. The 'dark arts' as Ms Rowling referred to these practices are not to be tolerated amongst the holy Children of Israel.

Which brings us full circle to my original claim. Voldemort and his evil companions may not have been named in the books of the Torah but the belief system that they value so highly is anything but fictional.

When Gd brought the mightiest Empire the world had known to its knees, He proved that true magic is created when people build a society founded on the ethical principles detailed in His Divine Book, the Torah.

Eat your heart out, Tom Riddle!

Shabbat Shalom.