--- title: There Are Jewish Wizards in Harry Potter, Says J.K. Rowling description: J.K. Rowling has confirmed that there is at least one Jewish wizard in the Harry Potter universe: Anthony Goldstein canonical: https://time.com/3637201/j-k-rowling-jewish-wizards-anthony-goldstein/ author: Elizabeth Barber article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-17T04:56:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:55:30.176Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: J.K. Rowling Confirms: There Are Jewish Wizards og:description: Remember Anthony Goldstein? og:url: https://time.com/3637201/j-k-rowling-jewish-wizards-anthony-goldstein/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8bad25918cc0649/698763afe53abacdc14d55a4/j-k-rowling.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: J.K. Rowling og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: J.K. Rowling Confirms: There Are Jewish Wizards twitter:description: Remember Anthony Goldstein? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8bad25918cc0649/698763afe53abacdc14d55a4/j-k-rowling.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # J.K. Rowling Confirms: There Are Jewish Wizards by [Elizabeth Barber](/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Dec 17, 2014 4:56 AM CUT  J.K. Rowling at the Southbank Centre in London in 2012. J.K. Rowling at the Southbank Centre in London in 2012.Lefteris Pitarakis—AP by [Elizabeth Barber](/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Dec 17, 2014 4:56 AM CUT J.K. Rowling says that there is at least one Jewish wizard in the Harry Potter universe: Anthony Goldstein. In a Twitter question-and-answer session on Tuesday, one man, Ben Roffman, tweeted that his wife had teasingly told him there were no Jews at Hogwarts, meaning that she was the only one qualified to be “magical” in the family. Rowling had some words for this Muggle wife: “Anthony Goldstein, Ravenclaw, Jewish wizard.” > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/544946669448867841) The Harry Potter Wiki says that Goldstein was Harry Potter’s classmate and fought with him in Dumbledore’s Army. He was also in good company in a potpourri of religious backgrounds and affiliations represented in the wizardry school. Rowling went on to say in the Twitter exchange that the only people she “never imagined there are Wiccans.” > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/544995944404897792) > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/544996025073541121) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3637201/j-k-rowling-jewish-wizards-anthony-goldstein/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3637201/j-k-rowling-jewish-wizards-anthony-goldstein/"},"headline":"J.K. Rowling Confirms: There Are Jewish Wizards","datePublished":"2014-12-17T04:56:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:55:30.176Z","description":"There is room for everyone at Hogwarts. Well, room for everyone except Wiccans","url":"https://time.com/3637201/j-k-rowling-jewish-wizards-anthony-goldstein/","keywords":["Books","celebrities","Harry Potter","Jewish","J.K. Rowling"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8bad25918cc0649/698763afe53abacdc14d55a4/j-k-rowling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elizabeth Barber","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/elizabeth-barber/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8bad25918cc0649/698763afe53abacdc14d55a4/j-k-rowling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"J.K. Rowling","caption":"J.K. Rowling at the Southbank Centre in London in 2012.","creditText":"Lefteris Pitarakis—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3637201/j-k-rowling-jewish-wizards-anthony-goldstein/","name":"J.K. Rowling Confirms: There Are Jewish Wizards"}}]}] ```