The Community Free Synagogue
An open synagogue since 2005
synfree@comcast.net (239) 247-4556 mailing address: 7210 Falcon Crest, Fort Myers FL 33908 GoFundMe
Email synfree@comcast.net to receive our weekly update
Meeting Room ID 527 117 7864 passcode 435419 (click on the Zoom icon to get started)
Worship with us in Sabbath Eve at 7:00 PM via Zoom or join us in person at the Rabbi's home and linger afterwards for refreshments and visiting!
The 1st Friday each we share at Sabbath meal with the Rabbi at 6:00 PM and continue with worship. Fish, salads, vegetables, pastas, dairy dishes but please no meat. Keeping closer to kosher is easier this way!
7210 Falcon Crest Court 33908 (The Forest Country Club- on the west side of 41 about 2 miles south of Gladiolus/6 mile Cypress. Tell the gate you're there for the Rabbi.)
Torah Study Sabbath every morning at 9:30 AM on Zoom.
You are welcome to attend in person at the Rabbi's home, 7210 Falcon Crest Court (The Forest Country Club)
Rabbi Bruce Diamond was among the founders of the Community Free Synagogue in 2005 and has led it ever since. A graduate of the Yeshivah of Flatbush, he holds his 1978 ordination and subsequent Doctor of Divinities honoris causa from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. He has served our local Jewish community since 1997 and was a visiting scholar for 12 years at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he taught social ethics, critical thinking skills and methods of civic engagement. A retired U.S. Air Force Chaplain (Res.), he is married to the former Melinda Moore. The Rabbi is fully engaged in the life of our congregation and community.
About the Community Free Synagogue
The Community Free Synagogue was founded in 2005 as an "intentional community." The intention was to create a stable new form of synagogue free of the "money and politics" that often stress our congregations. This was accomplished in 2 ways: we do not sell memberships, nor do fundraising or charge for anything.
C.F.S. is a community not-for-profit "open resource" available to all that is comfortably supported by donations and volunteers (including the Rabbi) based on the axiom that, as a rule, people will act the way they are treated. They respond to our generosity with theirs.
While we have the officers and by-laws required for not-for-profit incorporation and maintain the strictest financial accountability, we move forward with the Rabbi's leadership and consensus building among the more engaged participants. Our informality works for us because of our shared values and mutual respect enabling us to consistently achieve remarkable outcomes efficiently and with minimum "friction".
We are a deeply religious community committed to the traditional Jewish values of "prayer, study and benevolence" as found in Pirqe Avot 1. .While our worship and observance trend towards the traditional, our values are progressive and inclusive. We are deeply committed to direct tsedaqah here and abroad through tithing our donated income. All are welcome.
Hanukah at Ahavat Yisrael in Itonko
Thanks to the continued generosity of The Lustigman Charitable Fund, as our Hanukah gift C.F.S. was able to underwrite the cost of 4 bulls and 2 plows to be used by the people of our sister synagogue Ahavat Yisrael. They celebrated Hanukah with the hunukiyah we sent them along with mezzuzot, teffilin, tallitot, sidurim, and an Israeli flag. The Rabbi donated the funds for the community's Hanukah meal. C.F.S. has also funded its successful chicken and vegetable farming projects, and assisted with school tuitions and medical expenses.
C.F.S. sends a Torah to its sister congregation Ahavat Yisrael
