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J.K. Rowling Reveals There Are Jewish Wizards in Harry Potter!

JK Rowling's jewish wizards
J.K. Rowling tweeted about Jewish wizards at Hogwarts near the first night of Hanukkah.

Mazel tov! Just in time for the first night of Hanukkah, J.K. Rowling has given more insight into her magical world of Harry Potter, including the fact that Hogwarts housed Jewish wizards. 

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When a fan tweeted, “@jk_rowling my wife said there are no Jews at Hogwarts. I’m a Jew so I assume she said it to be the only magical 1 in the family. Thoughts?” Rowling, 49, replied, “.@benjaminroffman Anthony Goldstein, Ravenclaw, Jewish wizard.”

Naturally, this caused excitement and speculation online, and the famed British author openly answered questions and responded to comments for her nearly 4 million Twitter followers to see. 

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“To everyone asking whether their religion/belief/non-belief system is represented at Hogwarts: the only people I never imagined there are Wiccans,” she wrote, later adding, “OK, let me clarify that!  Anthony isn’t the first Jewish student, nor is he the only one. I just have reasons for knowing most about him!”

Hogwarts
J.K. Rowling revealed that there was a Jewish wizard named Anthony Goldstein in Harry Potter’s year at Hogwarts.

Rowling included the name on a list of the original 40 students she created to be in Harry’s first year. Not everyone embraced the author’s new admission. 

On follower tweeted, “If you thought @jk_rowling couldn’t get more tokenistic, she revealed that she made a Jewish wizard called Anthony Goldstein. GOLDSTEIN FFS.” Rowling responded, “.@A_Brooks92 Interested by this viewpoint, as Goldstein was taken – as were many names in Potter – from a friend.”

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One fan jokingly asked about Jedis from the Star Wars franchise, to which Rowling replied, “.@joe_hook There’s probably one in there. I wouldn’t put it past Dean Thomas.”

She also teased that she has completed the script for the first film in the upcoming Warner Brothers trilogy, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, after a fan asked if there was truth to the rumors that the film is no longer happening.

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“.@JulianaValdez15 Well, if it is, I’ve wasted a lot of time finishing the script.  #ThereWillDefinitelyBeFantasticBeasts,” she tweeted

The first installment of the films, which will be set in Potter’s wizarding world, but will take place 70 years prior to the boy wizard’s story, is slated to hit theaters on Nov. 16, 2016.   

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