Learning Opportunities

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 in 2025-2026. We also invite you to learn more about our resources in the Rabbi Richard B. Safran Library.
Classes are offered on Zoom and/or in person. Links are sent to members of our extended Temple family by email. Please contact the Temple office for access information at office@templecav.org or (260) 744-4245.

Beit Midrash With Rabbi Meir and Guest Teachers
Beit Midrash translates to “House of Study,” and describes the institution of classical Jewish learning. Join Rabbi Meir Bargeron or guest teachers to learn about a variety of topics.
First session 2026: Sunday, January 4 at 3 pm on Zoom
Update from Israel with Rabbi Meir
Learning Cafe:
Begin the Journey of Exodus with Rabbi Bruce J. Pfeffer
Wednesday, January 7 at 12:00 PM | In person at the Temple and on Zoom
Next session: Wednesday, February 4 from noon to 1 p.m. What holds us together during uncertain times?
Beginning Adult Hebrew on Mondays from 7:15 to 8:30 pm on Zoom, beginning January 5, 2026.
Taught by Barbara Silverman, with details to come.
Moments That Matter: Marking Transitions in Midlife and Beyond with Rabbi Laura Geller and Rabbi Beth Lieberman
Wednesday, January 14 at 7 p.m. on Zoom
Hot Topics Shabbat
The Temple’s Social Action Committee hosts occasional programs on Friday evenings highlighting important social justice topics.
Cantor Rosalie Will joins us on Friday, January 30 and Saturday, January 31 as our Cantor-in-Residence Find out more
Temple Book Club 2025-2026
We’ll read two highly-acclaimed books and meet with their authors through the Jewish Book Council’s LiveChat program.
On Tuesday, November 11 at 7 p.m., we’ll discuss We Would Never, a novel by Tova Mirvis. A murder mystery centered around a separation and custody battle, Hadassah Magazine called this novel, “More than a whodunnit, Mirvis’s characters are multidimensional, wrestling with doubts and guilt, not just about murder, but also about a lifetime of questionable choices.”
On Tuesday, March 10 at 7 p.m., we’ll discuss The Last Dekrepitzer, with author, Howard Langer. A winner of the National Jewish Book Award, the novel tells the story of the Dekrepitzer Rebbe, a fiddler who survived the war, tracing his journey from the mountains of Southern Poland to the Columbus Circle subway station in New York City. From Marc Katz in the Jewish Book Council Review, “The Last Dekrepitzer is a novel that will surprise readers with its depth and introduce them to one of the more unique characters to appear on the contemporary Jewish literary scene.”
Both authors will join us virtually to discuss their work, thanks to the arrangements of the Jewish Book Council. The titles are available in the Rabbi Richard B. Safran Library. Zoom links will be included in the Temple’s weekly emails.
Genealogy and the Holocaust

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