Mishegas, Politics, Religion

Schorsch Cribbing Notes from Harry Potter's Headmistress?

An anonymous Conservative rabbinical student forwards the following:
Speech by Dolores Umbridge, Start-of-Term Feast, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix:

Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress’s sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognised as errors of judgement. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited.

“The Core Values of Conservative Judaism” by Ismar Schorsch, past chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary:

Never has this heroic effort to generate pockets of holiness in our personal lives been more important than today. Emancipation has thrust Jews irreversibly into the mainstream of contemporary civilization, with incalculable benefit to both. We are determined to live in two worlds and have won the right to be different, individually and collectively, without impairing our integration. The question is whether our Judaism will survive intact? Our sensibilities as Jews have been transformed and the discrepancies between the two worlds beg for accommodation.
The challenge, however, has not induced Conservative Judaism to assert blithely that the halakha is immutable. Its historical sense is simply too keen. The halakhic system, historically considered, evinces a constant pattern of responsiveness, change and variety. Conservative Judaism did not read that record as carte blanche for a radical revision or even rejection of the system, but rather as warrant for valid adjustment where absolutely necessary. The result is a body of Conservative law sensitive to human need, halakhic integrity and the worldwide character of the Jewish community. Due deliberation generally avoided the adoption of positions which turned out to be ill-advised and unacceptable.
Nevertheless, what is critical for the present crisis is the reaffirmation of halakha as a bulwark against syncretism, the overwhelming of Judaism by American society, not by coercion but seduction. Judaism is not a quilt of random patches onto which anything might be sewn. Its extraordinary individuality is marked by integrity and coherence. The supreme function of halakha (and Hebrew, for that matter) is to replace external barriers with internal ones, to create the private space in which Jews can cultivate their separate identities while participating in the open society that engulfs them.

What the similarities might mean is very much open to interpretation.

3 thoughts on “Schorsch Cribbing Notes from Harry Potter's Headmistress?

  1. It means that J.K. Rowling is either: 1) really liberal, thus putting this argument for moderation into the mouth of one of her most annoying villains; 2) really conservative, putting this argument for moderation into the mouth of one of her most annoying villains; 3) a decent writer who doesn’t actually try to make her characters wholly good or wholly evil but actually shades them with a tad of nuance (except for voldemort).

  2. Those appalling words were put into the mouth of a fascist, non-educator, Deloris Umbridge as a warning of dire consequences to come to teachers and students at Hogwarts.
    The speech was hardly a call for “moderation.”
    Does Conservative Judiaism take these points seriously as “core values” in education?

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