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shminux comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 108 - Less Wrong Discussion
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An allusion to the Passover ceremony? Why???
Passover is the reenactment of a ritual, powered by blood, to ward off the Angel of Death.
Eliezer's reason: Because it's funny (and maaaaybe, as others have said, because Passover is all about saving people from death by means of a ritual involving blood). Harry's reason: Maybe the thought just occurred to him.
...which would probably be out of character for Harry -- how likely is it that an eleven-year-old with WASP-sounding parents would spontaneously think of a line from a Jewish ritual? -- but, oh well, know your audience.
Unless he has some of Voldemort's knowledge stored up in that dark side of his? He's traveled pretty far and he's interested in the sorts of things that would lead him to read up on both the social technologies of religions and the cultures of the Muggle superpowers, so he'd be more likely than Harry to get it.
But it's probably just a throwaway reference.
It is not uncommon for jews to invite goyim to Seders. And if a child is at a seder, it is their role to ask this question.
It's probably the single most famous line from a Jewish ritual that there is. But yeah, I agree it's a bit implausible for Harry to recognize it. I certainly wouldn't have at his age, though I wasn't as precocious as him.
(Much earlier in HPMOR, McGonagall is shown to know the Hebrew word for "gold" while Harry doesn't. Make of that what you will. Oh, and in Harry's year in Ravenclaw there is one "Anthony Goldstein (out of a certain tiny ethnic group that won 25% of the Nobel Prizes)".)
I'd assume that Harry has picked up phrases from all over because he's widely read.
I read a lot growing up and my elementary school spent an inexplicable amount of time teaching Jewish history and so on, but I wouldn't have recognized that line until a year or so ago. (I have no idea why my elementary school was like that. There were fewer than 100 students, most of them were black, and when I looked the school up a few years ago, it looked to be nominally affiliated with some mainline Protestant church.)
I only know of it through LW, so it could be that Harry had a few Jewish tutors and overheard them talking amongst themselves. I would expect someone who wants to conquer^Woptimize the world to read up on the successful cultures of the world and their social technology, but I can't see Harry doing that. Maybe he's wiser than I give him credit for. Then again, I still haven't done that specific bit of reading. Are there any good books on it?
From a RL point of view it's because Eliezer, for his post on the importance of learning from history, is extremely unfamiliar with cultures and times other than his own.
You've got a point there. Offhand, I can't think of a book which mentioned the phrase. My memory for such things is good but not excellent, though, and my reading is hardly complete.
As for your school, some Protestants are fond of Judaism (my impression is that's based on an effort to find something more pure/older than Catholicism).
Every haggadah in existence.
Where?
Oh, I see. I just didn't have the context to recognize that. Thanks.