1. [Harry Potter] Does Harry Owe the Dursleys a Debt of Gratitude?

Dilemmas On Screen: A Jewish Perspective

In this episode, Rabbi Moshe Friedman, or "Rav Mo", joins us in confronting how Harry should feel towards the Dursleys, and the breadth of, and some limits to, the need to feel gratitude to someone who has done you a kindness. The analysis centers around whether Harry does need to feel a sense of gratitude to them - despite their abuse of Harry, an orphan entrusted to their care!

Harry Potter is a wizard whose parents were murdered when he was a year old. Harry’s only living relative is his mother’s sister, Petunia. Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, is the most powerful wizard alive, and was very close to Harry’s parents. Professor Dumbledore decides Harry should be raised by his aunt and her husband, Vernon.

Harry ends up living with his aunt, her husband, and their child, Dudley (who is the same age as Harry), for the next ten years. Harry was often underfed, was verbally and emotionally abused, and was often given a significant amount of housework and other chores. Harry then goes off to Hogwarts, per Dumbledore, “alive and healthy” and “not [as] a pampered little prince, but as normal a boy as I could have hoped under the circumstances.” Nonetheless, Harry returns to the Dursleys during the summer between school years. These summers are not pleasant for Harry.

Why did Dumbledore place Harry with such miserable, unloving people? Turns out, Dumbledore knew that he was condemning Harry to ten dark and difficult years. But Dumbledore’s priority was to keep Harry alive, and being raised by the Dursleys was the best way to accomplish that. The Dursleys accepted this responsibility, grudging though that acceptance may have been.

In this episode, we will explore the following questions:

1. Does Harry have an obligation to be grateful to the Dursleys for taking him in, despite the mistreatment? If he does, is this obligation mitigated given the mistreatment he suffered at the hands of the Dursleys?
2. What further obligation to be grateful does Harry have, given the magical protection the Dursleys provided for him by allowing him to call their house, “home”?
3. What if Harry earned an additional benefit of not being corrupted by fame, which may have occurred in another’s home where they did, in fact, care about Harry?

Rabbi Moshe Friedman will be our guest rabbi for this episode. Rabbi Friedman is a Jewish educator, musician, spoken word artist, video essayist, and author. He has spoken and performed for audiences around the world, and continues to explore innovative ways of spreading Jewish wisdom through art, music, and media. You can find his work at rav-mo.com and on his YouTube channel "Mensch Sense," at https://www.youtube.com/@menschsense1. His Instagram handle is @ravmo_.