Editing Anthroposophy (section)

===Judaism===
Rudolf Steiner wrote and lectured on Judaism and Jewish issues over much of his adult life. He was a fierce opponent of popular antisemitism, but asserted that there was no justification for the existence of Judaism and Jewish culture in the modern world, a radical assimilationist perspective which saw the Jews completely integrating into the larger society.<ref>Jan-Erik Ebbestad Hansen, [https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/8831 The Jews – Teachers of the Nazis?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419210521/https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/8831 |date=2018-04-19 }} In: NORDEUROPAforum. Journal for the Study of Culture. Yearbook 2015. Humboldt University Berlin. {{ISSN|1863-639X}}.</ref><ref name="Peter">{{cite journal|first=Peter|last=Staudenmaier|url=https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1080&context=hist_fac|title=Rudolf Steiner and the Jewish Question|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916050406/http://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1080&context=hist_fac|archive-date=2017-09-16|journal=Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook|volume=50|issue=1|year=2005|pages=127–147|doi=10.1093/leobaeck/50.1.127|issn=0075-8744}}</ref><ref name="Ralf">Ralf Sonnenberg, [http://www.hagalil.com/antisemitismus/deutschland/steiner.htm "Judentum, Zionismus und Antisemitismus aus der Sicht Rudolf Steiners"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203070920/http://www.hagalil.com/antisemitismus/deutschland/steiner.htm |date=2014-02-03 }}</ref> He also supported [[Émile Zola]]'s position in the [[Dreyfus affair]].<ref name=Ralf/> Steiner emphasized Judaism's central importance to the constitution of the modern era in the West but suggested that to appreciate the spirituality of the future it would need to overcome its tendency toward abstraction.

Steiner financed the publication of the book ''Die Entente-Freimaurerei und der Weltkrieg'' (1919) by {{ill|Karl Heise|de}}; Steiner also wrote the foreword for the book, partly based upon his own ideas.<ref name="Piraino Pasi Asprem 2022 p. 126">{{Cite book |last=French |first=Aaron |title=Religious Dimensions of Conspiracy Theories: Comparing and Connecting Old and New Trends |publisher=Routledge |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-000-78268-4 |editor-last=Piraino |editor-first=Francesco |publication-place=London |pages=107–123 |chapter=Esoteric Nationalism and Conspiracism in WWI |doi=10.4324/9781003120940-8 |quote=One man inspired by Steiner's lectures during World War I was the enigmatic Karl Heise, who, in 1918, published a now classic work of anti-Masonry and anti-Judaism entitled ''Die Entente-Freimaurerei und der Weltkrieg'', which was partially backed by Steiner, who wrote a cagey introduction to the first edition, very cautiously choosing his words and not signing his name (Zander, 2007, p. 991). |access-date=2024-03-01 |editor-last2=Pasi |editor-first2=Marco |editor-last3=Asprem |editor-first3=Egil |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ksKZEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT126}}</ref>{{sfn|Zander|2007|pp=991–992|ps=: "Ein weiteres Motiv könnte in der Kollision von Steiners Freimaureraktivitäten mit seinem deutschen Patriotismus liegen (s. 14.3.1). Nach dem Krieg nannte Steiner diesen Punkt sehr deutlich, als er in Karl Heises »Die Entente-Freimaurerei und der Weltkrieg«, in der es um die Kriegsschuldfrage ging{{sup|178}}, ein nicht gezeichnetes, auf den 10. Oktober 1918 datiertes Vorwort verfaßte, sich also einen Monat vor dem Waffenstillstand und inmitten des Zusammenbruchs des Deutschen Reiches äußerte. »Die Geheimgesellschaften der Entente-Länder«, hieß es dort, hätten eine »die Weltkatastrophe vorbereitende politische Gesinnung und Beeinflussung der Weltereignisse« an den Tag gelegt. Bei der Suche nach der »Schuld am Weltkriege« habe man auch an die Freimaurer zu denken. Dies war nicht nur eine reduktive Lösung der »Kriegsschuldfrage« im Jahr 1918, sondern möglicherweise auch ein Hinweis auf seine Motivlage im Jahr 1914: Steiner hätte sich dann aus Solidarität mit Deutschland aus dem Internationalismus der Freimaurerei verabschiedet{{sup|179}}. Andere theosophische Gesellschaften haben diesen Schnitt übrigens nicht so deutlich vollzogen{{sup|180}}."}}{{sfn|Staudenmaier|2014|p=96|ps=: "The foremost example of a full-fledged antisemitic conspiracy theory based squarely on anthroposophist premises was Karl Heise's 1919 tome blaming the World War on a cabal of freemasons and Jews. Heise wrote the book with Steiner's encouragement and founded its argument on Steiner's own teachings, while Steiner himself wrote the foreword and contributed a substantial sum toward publication costs.{{sup|101}}"}} The publication comprised a [[conspiracy theory]] according to whom World War I was a consequence of a collusion of [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]] and [[Jews]] – still favorite scapegoats of the conspiracy theorists – their purpose being the destruction of Germany. Fact is that Steiner spent a large sum of money for publishing{{sfn|Staudenmaier|2014|p=96|ps=: "The foremost example of a full-fledged antisemitic conspiracy theory based squarely on anthroposophist premises was Karl Heise's 1919 tome blaming the World War on a cabal of freemasons and Jews. Heise wrote the book with Steiner's encouragement and founded its argument on Steiner's own teachings, while Steiner himself wrote the foreword and contributed a substantial sum toward publication costs.{{sup|101}}"}} "a now classic work of anti-Masonry and anti-Judaism".<ref name="Piraino Pasi Asprem 2022 p. 126" /> The writing was later enthusiastically received by the Nazi Party.{{sfn|Zander|2007|pp=306, 991–992}}{{sfn|Staudenmaier|2014|pp=96–97}}

In his later life, Steiner was accused by the Nazis of being Jewish, and [[Adolf Hitler]] called anthroposophy "Jewish methods". The anthroposophical institutions in Germany were banned during Nazi rule and several anthroposophists sent to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]].<ref name="Staudenmaierthesis" /><ref>Lorenzo Ravagli, ''Unter Hammer und Hakenkreuz: Der völkisch-nationalsozialistische Kampf gegen die Anthroposophie'', Verlag Freies Geistesleben, {{ISBN|3-7725-1915-6}}</ref> Later, the non-Aryan, the non-German, and the antifascist members of the direction board of the Anthroposophical Society were purged from it; it is unclear if that happened due to Nazi ideology or for other reasons, but the purge clearly brought the Anthroposophic Society closer to Nazism.{{sfn|McKanan|2017|pp=33–34, 196}}

Important early anthroposophists who were Jewish included two central members on the executive boards of the precursors to the modern Anthroposophical Society,<ref>[http://biographien.kulturimpuls.org/detail.php?&id=24 Adolf Arenson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402181944/http://biographien.kulturimpuls.org/detail.php?&id=24 |date=2015-04-02 }} (board member 1904–1913) and [http://biographien.kulturimpuls.org/detail.php?&id=724 Carl Unger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402131232/http://biographien.kulturimpuls.org/detail.php?&id=724 |date=2015-04-02 }} (board member 1908–1923)</ref> and Karl König, the founder of the [[Camphill movement]], who had converted to Christianity.{{sfn|Paddock|Spiegler|2003|pp=125–126}} [[Martin Buber]] and [[Hugo Bergmann]], who viewed Steiner's social ideas as a solution to the [[Arab–Israeli conflict|Arab–Jewish conflict]], were also influenced by anthroposophy.<ref name="Paddock Spiegler 2003 p. " />

There are numerous anthroposophical organisations in [[Israel]], including the anthroposophical [[kibbutz]] [[Harduf]], founded by Jesaiah Ben-Aharon, forty Waldorf kindergartens and seventeen [[Waldorf schools]] (as of 2018).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statistics for Waldorf schools worldwide |url=http://www.freunde-waldorf.de/fileadmin/user_upload/images/Waldorf_World_List/Waldorf_World_List.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212024849/https://www.freunde-waldorf.de/fileadmin/user_upload/images/Waldorf_World_List/Waldorf_World_List.pdf |archive-date=2019-12-12 |access-date=2018-06-13}}</ref> A number of these organizations are striving to foster positive relationships between the Arab and Jewish populations: The Harduf Waldorf school includes both Jewish and Arab faculty and students, and has extensive contact with the surrounding Arab communities, while the first joint Arab-Jewish kindergarten was a Waldorf program in Hilf near [[Haifa]].