Expand your Jewish knowledge and friendships by being part of our growing community of lifelong learners. Please check our calendar for more information on Adult Learning opportunities for 2019-2020. We also invite you to learn more about our collection in the Rabbi Richard B. Safran Library.

Weekly Torah Learning - During our Friday evening services, Rabbi Paula Jayne Winnig shares insights from the Torah. On Saturday mornings, we read from the Torah.

Temple Book Club - We meet three times during the year to discuss a book and e-visit with the author. Join us on these Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the Madge Rothschild Resource Center:

• September 24 - The Garden of Letters by Alyson Richman
• January 14 - Windy City Blues by Renee Rosen
• March 3 - Tasa’s Song by Linda Kass

Strings of Inspiration: Tragic Loss and Courageous Survival in the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz-Birkenau -  The women’s orchestra at Auschwitz-Birkenau was the most eclectic, the most unique, the most controversial, and, without any question, the most zealously documented gathering of female musical talent the world has ever known. By many regards, it was also the most inspiring. Temple member Bruce Colegrove will share some of the most remarkable events in the life of this group – and also the context of brutal horror in which those events occurred. View his website https://thegirlsintheauschwitz.band/

Hot Topics Shabbat - Explore current events periodically throughout the year on Shabbat.

Families Lost and Found - Temple member Irv Adler will talk about tracing his Viennese roots while searching for information about his grandmother and family during the George R. Mather Lecture on Sunday, October 6 at 2 p.m. at The History Center, 302 E. Berry St. His talk is called "Families Lost and Found: Tracing My Viennese Roots After The Holocaust." His program is part of Violins of Hope coming in November.

Mah Jongg for Beginners - Back by popular demand, we will add another introductory class during the winter. Contact the Temple office at office@templecav.org if you'd like us to be in touch when dates are set. Already know how to play mahj? We have open play games in the Madge Rothschild Resource Center. Sign up to play.

The Northeast Indiana Jewish Genealogy Society - Several speakers will be in Fort Wayne during the year.

Over the past few years, Temple member Irv Adler has presented several programs on Genealogy and the Holocaust in Fort Wayne and beyond to share his worldwide search through Holocaust records to find out more information about his grandmother and family. Watch his presentation on "Families Lost & Found: Tracing My Viennese Roots After the Holocaust" to IPFW's Campus Ministry on November 16, 2017.

As part of this personal historical journey, Irv traveled to Vienna to place a Stone of Remembrance in front of the home where his grandmother Clara Bader Nichtern lived before she was murdered in 1942 by the Nazis at the Maly Trostinets death camp outside of Minsk. He returned in 2018 to dedicate additional stones of remembrance. His research continues today. Find out more.

Irv participated in a program at the Allen County Public Library in November 2015 that included several experts. Attendees received a list of research guides and record indexes available locally at The Genealogy Center.

Learn more about family history resources in the Madge Rothschild Resource Center and through the new Northeast Indiana Jewish Genealogy Society.

Some 30 people participated in our Mah Jongg Workshop to learn about the centuries-old Chinese game that has been a staple for years among Jewish-Americans. Participants watched the documentary film The Tiles That Bind, heard Gregg Swain, author of Mah Jongg: The Art of the Game, speak about the history of the connection between the Jewish community and the game, examined the artwork depicted on various mah jongg tiles, and learned the details of the card. 

Now we're scheduling open play in the Temple’s new Madge Rothschild Resource Center. Please sign up. If you'd like to join our e-mail list to be notified about future mah jongg opportunities, please contact us at office@templecav.org.