Cohousing-L Mailing List: joint venture/Rudolph Steiner

[Racheli Gai (racheli]

Rudolph Steiner might have been a "sincere" anti-semite, but
that doesn't make it more acceptable than if he was one who
didn't honestly hold on to such beliefs. 
Yes, anti-semitism was rampant in large parts of Europe, so does  that
make it ok?  It's important to say that many people were NOT anti-semites,
so that one doesn't get the impression
that people didn't have a choice among different belief/value-systems.
 
And Sharon, your ideas of what Jews in Austria etc. were
like are rather strange, IMO.  Many Jews were very assimilated in these
communities, and some of them were very central and visible in the
intellectual life in Vienna and elsewhere (in theatre, music, philosphy,
literature etc.). 
It's true that not all of them were assimilated,
and that there was a stream of Jews coming to Central
Europe from Eastern Europe, who were quite different (and 
looked down upon by German Jews, among others)...  So what? 
 
I also don't know what it means to say that Hasidic communities are  the
"most Jewish" in the US.  "most Jewish" in what respect?  And even if they
are the "most Jewish", does it make sense to generalize regarding all Jews
on the basis of what Hasidic Jews are like?

I agree that just because Steiner's ideas contained some racist ones
doesn't automatically make *all* of his ideas bad.  However, within a
system of thought which often gets accepted as a "dogma", finding such
items should at least alert his followers to read more critically. 
(Personally, from  my somewhat superficial acquaintance with Waldorf, I
got the impression that  it contains quite a few sweeping generalizations
regarding what "kids are like", or what's exactly the "right" thing(s) for
kids to do at any given age,  which I find questionable).  
So, perhaps one practical question regarding a particular
Waldorf school would be how "orthodox" it is.  If they see Steiner's ideas
merely as loose guidelines (taking the good and ignoring the bad), then it
can be fine.  Otherwise, I think that it can really be a turn-off for
those who might find the level of dogmatism disturbing.
Also, assuming a Waldorf school and a cohousing community share a site,
does it necessarily mean they share anything else?  People still might be
able to send their kids to different schools (or to no schools at all!)...
I think that if that's the situation, and it is made clear to everyone who
might join the community, it shouldn't be a hindrance.  It wouldn't keep
me from joining, even now that I found out about that particular skeleton
in Steiner's closet...  (BTW- I know of at least one Rudolph Steiner
community in Israel, and there might be more of them by now).

>Steiner
>also ate vegetables. Should we therefore reject vegetables?

I don't think that's a very fair analogy, since one's ideas regarding
other human beings ARE relevant when we use them as guidelines regarding
how to RAISE CHILDREN.  They might not be relevant if we wanted to grow
cucumbers or raise poultry.

R.


 
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racheli [at] sonoracohousing.com (Racheli Gai)
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