Theos-Talk Archives (March 2004 Message tt00242)

In a message dated 3/13/04 1:56:19 PM Central Standard Time, 
stevestubbs@yahoo.com writes:

<< My point was that 
if she had allowed Jews into her inner circle that would have 
completely annulled any evidence that she was antiSemitic which one 
could find in her writings and which certain other individuals have 
repeatedly posted to this list. >>

There are two questions that come to mind. First, did she actually know any 
Jews? They would not likely to have been in the circles she traveled in in 
any great numbers in that period. Second, would any of them want to have been 
in her inner circle? The reason that commentators on the Kaballah such as Levi 
and Mathers tend to be a bit, well, weird, is that Jewish esotericism was a 
closed system and they could not penetrate it, so they were forced to use what 
published materials they could find.

It is also important to remember that in the late 19th centure anti-semitism 
was culturally normative. It would be surpising if she did not express some 
anti-semitic sentiments at one time or another.

The question must asked, is there any credible evidence that anyone was 
denied admittance to the Theosophical Society during the Blavatsky period solely on 
the basis of that individual being a Jew?

We cannot take people out of the context of their lives and we cannot judge 
people out of the context of their time even though it is a natural human 
tendency and we may be assured that if anyone is so unfortunate as to read our 
writings a hundred and fifty years from now they will do the same to us.

Chuck the Heretic