Society of Independent Spirituality

➖The Philosophy of Janusz Korczak and His Relevance Today (Part One)➖

Janusz Korczak (1878-1942) was a Polish-Jewish child educator, ran two orphanages in Poland (Jewish and Christian), and was eventually murdered by the N***s together with his orphans in the Holocaust. For anyone who has children, is generally involved with children, or simply interested in reconnecting to the inner child within oneself, Janusz Korczak’s life and writings are extremely important to study. Rabbi Ari Ze’ev Schwartz sat down with Maya Ben-Shushan to discuss the educational philosophy and relevance of Janusz Korczak. Enjoy!

Rabbi Schwartz: Many people don’t know the name Janusz Korczak. What would be the first thing you would want people to know about his life and his ideas?

Maya Ben-Shushan: I would want people to know that he revolutionized the way the world perceives children. He changed the language of the way we interact with them, from an “owned” population to an individual and unique human population that deserves rights and respect just like anyone else.

Rabbi Schwartz: Yes, Korczak really saw children in a different way than most of us see them. Could you explain what you mean by “owned” population? That is an interesting phrase.

Maya Ben-Shushan: When people bring children into the world they tend to think of them as “their children,” that the ownership property is of the adult. While there is an important quality to taking care of children, and for the parent to be responsible in the early years of their life to provide for them and care for them- it still does not mean that they “own” the children.

More common in the centuries before ours, and now found in certain communities, parents tend to feel that they own the right to the child’s body. That the child is created by the grace of the parent and therefore should obey them and do what they say and predict how they’ll feel, etc. Janusz Korczak brought out the importance and the validity of each individual child’s right to be who they are, to act as they please, to feel as they do, and have autonomy over their own bodies. This is something that isn’t found a lot in previous writings.

To listen to live recordings of Rabbi Ari Ze’ev Schwartz and Maya Ben-Shushan discuss the revolutionary life and philosophy of Janusz Korczak:

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbd1SSi5gw1Vqtml0w5ohkae8ZAxgFzFF

The Forward published an article today about Michal Reznic's potential upcoming project of translating The Spiritual Revolution of Rav Kook, By Rabbi Ari Ze'ev Schwartz for the Arabic-speaking public.

"Schwartz, who gave Reznic permission to translate his book, said that his was “not a book about politics” but rather “about love of God and Torah.”

Check it out!

Meet the team working to translate Rav Kook into Arabic Meet the team working to translate Rav Kook into Arabic

“The child never begrudges the time spent reading a story, having a conversation with the dog, playing catch, carefully scrutinizing a picture or retracing a letter. It is precisely the child who has got everything right, and we must give him freedom to drink his cup of happiness”

-Janusz Korczak

“A poet is someone who is very happy and very sad, who is quick to anger and who loves intensely, who feels strongly. Children are like that, too.

A philosopher is someone who is very observant, who ponders and wants to know how things really are. Children are like that, too.

It is hard for children to say what they are feeling or what they are thinking about, because speech requires words. It is harder still for them to write, but children truly are philosophers and poets.”

-Janusz Korczak, “Loving Every Child”

“The word is out . . . The word is out that we are out . . . That just as the black community tossed aside the establishment’s wanting blacks to “stay in their place” so too does the gay community toss aside the establishment’s concept that we will “stay in our closets.” . . .”

- Harvey Milk, taken from “The Word is Out”

“I kind of have this mentality that says, everything works out in the end. And if it's not working out, it's not the end."

-Bob the Drag Queen

"A lot of my work is to stay grounded, is to stay spiritual. It is to disconnect from what other people say about me, but also to try and be connected to the joy and the love."

- Laverne Cox
Quote taken from this interview: https://bust.com/entertainment/14200-laverne-cox-spills-on-self-acceptance-finding-love-battling-the-patriachy-bust-exclusive.html

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤

➖ Why This Pride Has Been Different To All Other Pride Months Years Prior: A Message from our Cofounder, Maya Ben-Shushan ➖

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤
Happy Pride to all of our members! 🌈

These past few weeks have been especially tumultuous. Our global community has been facing COVID-19, civil unrest in countries around the world, Black Lives Matter protests, etc. Throughout June, I had taken it upon myself to work harder on educating myself about the struggles of people of color around the world. This, of course, has also made its way onto the Society page. But I've been dealing with a very difficult internal struggle this June.

Here at the Society we always celebrate Pride month (the month of June) with a month of relevant LGBTQ+ content. But these past few weeks I have had a hard time deciding when it would be appropriate to openly celebrate Pride on our platform.

Pride is an integral part of celebrating equality, love, spirituality, acceptance, growth, and much more - which are all pillars of our education here at the Society. But I was worried that celebrating Pride might outwardly seem that the Society was 'moving on' and returning to our 'normal' content.

These past few weeks, I have been doing my best to educate myself, and post relevant content to the current issues of our time - but I also didn't want Pride month to go unnoticed, or not openly celebrated, on our page.

Because there are only two days left in June, I will be posting exclusively content connected to Pride! This, of course, is a much shorter Pride celebration than we are use too, here at the Society - but I promise that our Pride content does not end there. All year round we integrate LGBTQ+ content and that will not change!

Of course, if there are certain topics, articles, media, that you think we should integrate more of - send us a message and let us know! We are always looking to grow 🖤💜💙💚💛🧡❤️

“[T]the segregationist makes no fine distinctions between the Negro and Jew. The racists of America fly blindly at both of us, caring not at all which of us falls. Their aim is to maintain, through crude segregation, groups whose uses as scapegoats can facilitate their political and social rule over all people.

Our common fight is against these deadly enemies of democracy, and our glory is that we are chosen to prove that courage is a characteristic of oppressed people, however cynically and brutally they are denied full equality and freedom.”

- Martin Luther King Jr., excerpt taken from the book “Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King, Jr. & The Jewish Community” by Rabbi Marc Schneier.

'Into Bo***ge', by Aaron Douglas.
The following explanation is from the National Gallery of Art (https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.166444.html)

"Into Bo***ge is a powerful depiction of enslaved Africans bound for the Americas. Shackled figures with their heads hung low walk solemnly toward slave ships on the horizon. Yet even in this grave image of oppression, there is hope. In a gesture foreshadowing freedom from slavery, a lone woman at left raises her bound hands, guiding the viewer's eye to the ships. The male figure in the center pauses on the slave block, his face turned toward a beam of light emanating from a lone star in the softly colored sky, possibly suggesting the North Star. The man's strong silhouette breaches the horizon line, communicating strength and optimism. Concentric circles—a motif frequently employed by Aaron Douglas to suggest sound, particularly African and African American song—radiate from a point on the horizon."

➖ Happy Juneteenth! ➖
On June 19th, 1865, is the day that the Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved people were now free. Though the emancipation proclamation was two years prior, this was the official end of slavery in America.

This is a day of celebration, especially amongst Black people in America. This was a historic step for human rights and therefore must be celebrated by us all!

Though we are still in our Harlem Renaissance Appreciation week, we wanted to share a fantastic modern film, based on true story, 'Hidden Figures'.

Hidden Figures | Teaser Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX Watch it now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD Digital HD http://bit.ly/HidFigDHDYT Blu-ray & DVD http://bit.ly/HFPHYYT Watch the new trailer for ...

'Stormy Weather' by Ethel Waters. Ethel Waters was a true icon, we hope you enjoy her song!

Stormy Weather - Ethel Waters (1933) "Stormy Weather" was written by Harold Arlen (1905-1986) and Ted Koehler (1894-1973), in 1933. It was first sang by Ethel Waters (1896-1977) at a club, and t...