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As the need arises,
school curricula will be developed for all ages in according to our
principles. In the meantime, please contact the rabbi for any
educational needs.
Scriptural study, the traditional mainstay of Jewish spiritual life,
is explored differently at the Bucks County Free Synagogue. Instead
of studying scripture “from Moses backwards and forwards”, we teach
from Genesis forward, the way it was composed.
The reason is, this permits us to put “religion” in its right
context: One God, Universal Truth, A Single United Humanity, A
Sacred Creation of all Life— the principles of Genesis. This
context helps promotes a healthy spiritual approach in synch with
the sacred Jewish and American values of freedom and individuality;
it also favors a Truth perspective, which rejects any conflict
between spiritual and scientific knowledge, even if these conflicts
are “traditional”. It also avoids the danger of fundamentalism,
including terrorism, that authoritarian-religion promotes.
The Bucks County Free Synagogue favors a viewpoint that might be
called “Universal Judaism” (visit
www.universaljudaism.info) ; we believe that
Jewish law is basically universal, natural law, specified for the
unique historical purpose of the Jewish people. So called “Jewish Laws” we
believe are understandings of universal natural law, but are not the
actual Law itself. This is why there is a written law, oral law, interpretations upon interpretations, and so much religious confusion.
As the great rabbis of blessed memory understood, the True
Torah is the actual "Design of Creation"; our scripture, however revered,
is but a “mere” recording of this, for a certain time, place,
culture and understanding.
For this reason, we
don’t worship “The Torah”; we teach a spiritual approach to Jewish
learning, not a religious approach. We seek to learn the Truth
from Life first, and then, footnote our
experiences from scripture, rather than vice-versa.
Study aims at creating a unified knowledge base for people of all ages.
However, because of the fact that Jews still live in, essentially, a
Greek-Roman world, many contemporary disciplines such as science,
mathematics, the arts, and social sciences, contain an unconscious
cultural bias which can be at odds with the core values and timeless
truths of the Jewish people.
Study at The Bucks County Free
Synagogue aims to correct this contamination, and remove the split between “spiritual knowledge” and
“secular-scientific knowledge”, creating one integrated “scientific-spiritual knowledge”.
This was the purpose of the great Wissenschaft der Judentum, "The
Science of Judaism", which the early reformers sought to create.
If one cannot
feel unified in one’s thoughts, beliefs and knowledge, then how can
one have a spiritual experience of the Oneness of God? It’s like
looking at the world through a cracked window!
More than 50% of all affiliated Jews are now coming from non-Jewish
backgrounds, especially Christian. The Bucks County Free Synagogue
welcomes all that is true and good about the teachings of Jesus of
Nazareth, who was a good Jew and inspired teacher of traditional
Judaism. And we no less welcome all that is true and good about the
teachings of Muhammad, Buddha, and many of the other great
luminaries of spiritual thought.
As it says in the book of Shemot, (Exodus), God is “Abundant in
Truth”. Any viewpoint which is True, is something we can all learn
from. It partakes of the Nature of God.
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