In Fort Wayne's Woodhurst neighborhood, Congregation Achduth Vesholom has been Indiana's oldest Jewish congregation since 1848. The Temple is known for two worship traditions, education from preschool through adulthood, a library and museum focused on Jewish life in Northeast Indiana, and the Rifkin Campus at 5200, where worship, learning, remembrance and service share one address.
Two Traditions, One Congregation
Achduth Vesholom means unity and peace. The name captures a long tradition of members supporting one another through difficulty, sharing life's blessings and working toward tikkun olam, the betterment of the world. The congregation describes itself as a family and as a center for Jewish living where tradition gives meaning to ordinary days and important rites.
In 2019, members of Fort Wayne's two Jewish congregations chose to become one congregation with two prayer traditions. Members of Congregation B'nai Jacob, founded in 1912 and later Conservative and egalitarian, joined Achduth Vesholom. The combined congregation is called B'yachad, Hebrew for together. Most Friday evening services use the Reform prayerbook Mishkan T'filah. Traditional services on the first and third Saturday mornings use Conservative siddurim Sim Shalom and Lev Shalem. Across both, worship is egalitarian and progressive, with interfaith families explicitly welcomed.
During High Holy Days, Reform and Conservative minyanim worship together as one congregation. Rabbi Meir Bargeron leads services that combine elements of both traditions, emphasizing reflection, forgiveness and renewal. The variety is a defining feature of Achduth Vesholom rather than a division within it.
Shabbat at the Temple
Shabbat is a time for renewal and reflection, Torah learning and a turn toward the spiritual rather than daily concerns. Rabbi Meir Bargeron leads the Friday lighting of candles and the welcome of the Sabbath Bride. Saturday worship offers another way to pray, learn and share the joy of community. The congregation's services carry warmth and a strong sense of community, and names of those being remembered are read during Shabbat.
The regular worship rhythm
- Most Friday evenings: Reform Shabbat at 6:00 p.m., in person and through the Temple's YouTube livestream.
- First and third Saturdays: Traditional Shabbat morning worship at 9:45 a.m., in person and through YouTube and Zoom. B'nei Mitzvah services usually begin at 10:00 a.m.
- Second Saturday of most months: Joy Vey! A Kid-ish Shabbat at 10:30 a.m. for children ages 0-5 and their older siblings.
Visitors are welcome in person and through YouTube. Shabbat morning worship is also available by Zoom, with links distributed to members by weekly email and access information available from the Temple office. High Holy Days services are open to all and do not require tickets. Some services and Rabbi Meir's weekly message are available through YouTube as well.
The worship year follows the Jewish calendar. Sukkot includes a family celebration and Havdalah, Simchat Torah completes the annual Torah reading, Hanukkah services bring the congregation together to light hanukkiyot, and Purim services include festive costumes. A congregational Seder is held on the second night of Passover, while Shavuot worship is often joined by Confirmation. The pattern carries the congregation through the year with familiar customs and new opportunities to learn and celebrate together.
After worship, the congregation shares Kiddush, often including challah baked by Temple members. Members and guests also gather for Oneg Shabbat, a relaxed social time with refreshments sometimes hosted in honor of a simcha, important event or person. Volunteer challah bakers keep this tradition going. The gathering helps worshipers leave the service with fellowship and a shared Sabbath table.
Joy Vey! A Kid-ish Shabbat is a cooperative family service for children ages 0-5 and older siblings. They pray, sing, move, practice mindfulness and stay for nosh and social time. It meets in the Madge Rothschild Resource Center, giving young families a playful and peaceful introduction to Shabbat.
A Mishebeirach prayer for healing, care and compassion is also part of the worship tradition. Yahrzeit observances remain woven into Shabbat: names of loved ones are read, and a digital display lets congregants find commemorative information, photographs and biographic details. These practices connect mourning and memory to the congregation's ongoing worship rather than separating remembrance from community life.
Learning from Pre-K Through Adulthood
Achduth Vesholom's Religious School welcomes children from Pre-K through high school in an engaging mix of virtual and in-person learning. The Pre-K class serves children ages 3-5 who are potty trained, and the school begins with children age 5 or older by September 1. Families must be members to enroll. Lessons build Jewish identity through values, holiday practice and Hebrew, while parent and family programs support learning beyond the classroom.
- Experience Jewish values to build a lasting Jewish identity.
- Learn Jewish time by doing Jewish holidays.
- Acquire Hebrew for Jewish prayers and texts.
- Access resources for Jewish family life through parent and family programs.
Each year begins with orientation for students and parents, followed by classroom time, crafts and activities together. Religious School also practices tzedakah throughout the year. Children take part in weekly classroom collections, then direct funds toward people and places in need as they learn more about the Jewish responsibility to help others.
Temple youth have two prominent summer-camp paths: Goldman Union Camp Institute in Zionsville and Camp Joe Levine, a day camp at Fox Island. The congregation promotes camps and Jewish programs in Israel to reinforce learning, identity, friendship and ruach, or spirit. Campership funds and Jewish Federation scholarships help families use these opportunities, including a Send a Kid to Israel program.
Adult learning spans Beit Midrash, or House of Study, sessions with Rabbi Bargeron and guest teachers; learning cafes; Torah study and discussions of contemporary social questions; adult Hebrew; social justice programs; and a book club that meets authors through the Jewish Book Council. The social action committee also hosts occasional Friday evening programs on justice topics, making learning a regular part of congregational life rather than a separate program.
The Rabbi Richard B. Safran Library adds thousands of Jewish books, including a substantial children's collection and nearly 700 Holocaust-related books and films. Members, the Jewish Federation and the wider community may borrow; others can obtain privileges for a small fee. The collection includes a 42-volume Talmud set, family-history and Yizkor books, Yiddish studies, holiday reading lists and an online catalog.
From 23 Members to Four Synagogues
The Temple's roots reach to October 1848, when 23 members organized as the Society for Visiting the Sick and Burying the Dead. Jewish tradition in the New World often led communities to establish burial grounds before houses of worship. On October 13, the group bought a burial ground adjoining what is now McCulloch Park for $200; it formally organized Indiana's first Jewish congregation on October 26. Until 1859, worship took place in Frederic Nirdlinger's home, with men and women seated separately in keeping with Orthodox German custom.
Rabbi Joseph Solomon taught Hebrew and German and the fundamentals of Judaism at the state's first Jewish parochial school, and also served as mohel and shohet. In 1859, the growing congregation bought an old German Methodist church at Wayne and Harrison for $1,200 and dedicated it with a ceremony repeated the next day. The Synagogue of Unity and Peace formally became Congregation Achduth Vesholom in 1861. Reform Judaism arrived with Rabbi Edward Rubin in 1862; by 1866, men, women and children sat together except during High Holy Days. Achduth Vesholom joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1874 and dedicated a larger building in 1876.
The congregation bought two acres at Lindenwood Cemetery in 1884, and graves were moved from its original burial ground through 1900. Its third home, at Wayne and Fairfield, was dedicated in 1917. The Old Mill Road building, its fourth, was dedicated in 1961. A direct line from the founding families continued for 157 years, ending with the death of Madelon Rothschild, a great-granddaughter of founding member Sigmund Redelsheimer.
World War II shaped the Temple's community role. In 1939, the congregation granted membership to refugees unable to pay, opened its building to Jewish servicemen connected with Baer Field and conducted monthly services for 75 to 100 soldiers. The Temple Museum was established in 1928, adult education became part of the religious program in 1946 and the youth group was organized in 1952. Betty Stein became the first woman elected to the board in 1956 and the first woman president in 1984.
Rabbis Richard B. Safran, Jonathan R. Katz, Marla Joy Subeck Spanjer and Javier E. Cattapan each shaped a distinct part of Temple life. Safran's 26 years included teaching in local churches and colleges and a Jewish response to hunger that included MAZON and food collections; the library was later named for him. Katz introduced Friday Night Live worship and helped create a children's reading space at a local homeless shelter. Spanjer, the congregation's first woman rabbi, developed Mussar study and interfaith work. Cattapan brought music from across the Jewish world into services and classes.
Rabbi Lenny Sarko introduced TempleConnect and online worship, Talmud study and other learning in 2016. When the pandemic closed the building in March 2020, services, classes and meetings moved to Zoom; a virtual Bar Mitzvah brought family and congregants together from 60 separate locations. Phased in-person worship resumed in April 2021, livestreaming continued, and the congregation added a digital yahrzeit display that fall. These changes expanded the ways members could take part while keeping the historic sanctuary at the center.
For its 150th anniversary, the Temple restored a Torah Scroll, No. 1172, permanently on loan from the Memorial Scrolls Trust. The surviving portion was likely written in mid-18th-century Moravia, with kabbalistic influence, and had been rescued after Nazi destruction. Master sofer Dr. Eric Ray wrote the missing opening and closing sections. The restored Torah, marked by a Zachor, or Remember, cover, is read during b'nei mitzvah ceremonies so each generation carries the story forward.
After the 2019 union with B'nai Jacob, the renamed Goldstine-B'nai Jacob Chapel became a visible repository of both congregations' histories. Its Ark came from B'nai Jacob's former Bittersweet Moors building; stained glass came from that congregation's Fairfield building and from Achduth Vesholom's long-time Wayne and Fairfield home; cornerstones from earlier B'nai Jacob buildings stand in the hallway. Renewed flooring, seating, cooling, lighting, kitchenette and energy-efficient windows brought the historic chapel into a new chapter.
Rifkin Campus at 5200
The Rifkin Campus at 5200 grew from a 2012 strategic plan to sustain the Temple, strengthen Jewish community and serve families with the greatest needs. The campus now brings Achduth Vesholom together with the Jewish Federation of Fort Wayne, the Fort Wayne Jewish Cemetery Association, Purdue Fort Wayne's Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, the Northeast Indiana Jewish Genealogy Society and Brightpoint Head Start. Its shared purpose is to bring people together for worship, education, culture and service and to promote understanding among faiths.
The partners give the campus a practical role beyond worship. The Jewish Federation represents Jewish community interests in Northeast Indiana and Northwest Ohio and funds education and communal programs. Purdue Fort Wayne's Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies supports scholarship, teaching and public awareness of the Holocaust and other genocides. The Fort Wayne Jewish Cemetery Association oversees burial needs, the genealogy society preserves and shares regional records, and Brightpoint Head Start provides weekday preschool and social services in the Religious School wing.
Ground was broken in 2015 for the Madge Rothschild Resource Center, designed by Richard Wismer, and the center was dedicated in 2017. Its 3,150 square feet contain the Safran Library and Jacob L. Goldman Memorial Museum, flexible meeting and classroom space for groups up to 40 or 50, a children's story pit, presentation screens and a coffee bar. An inner courtyard brings daylight into the center and supports a proposed sculpture garden.
The resource center focuses on two centuries of Jewish experience in Northeast Indiana and on Holocaust education. A 200-year timeline traces the community's institutions, buildings and activities, while historic photographs and a collage preserve the people who built Jewish life in Fort Wayne. The olive tree wall near the entrance offers named leaves for life-cycle events, anniversaries and acts of kindness, joining remembrance with the center's educational work.
Physical improvements have made the campus more welcoming. Earlier phases added a circular driveway, improved parking, new and renovated handicap-accessible restrooms, a Religious School office and dedicated space for Thoughtful Thursdays. The result is more than a sanctuary: it is a working Jewish community center where the congregation, partner organizations and families encounter one another.
Remembering the Holocaust, Preserving Family History
Zachor, meaning Remember, is engraved near the front entrance. The Holocaust Memorial sculpture by Nancy McCroskey seeks to communicate the horror of the Holocaust, the endurance of the Jewish people and the need to remember. A Sanctuary stained-glass window honors the six million murdered; its red fires, blue panes and black strips evoke concentration-camp bars, while sunlight and the Star of David express the hope carried by survivors.
The restored Holocaust Torah remains on display in the Madge Rothschild Resource Center under a Zachor cover. It is distinguished from the other scrolls in the Ark, and b'nei mitzvah students read from it as part of the l'dor vador, or generation-to-generation, tradition. Its damaged and restored sections make memory active rather than merely commemorative.
The Holocaust Education Committee works with the Jewish Federation and Purdue Fort Wayne's Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies on educational programs. Their work includes public remembrance, guest speakers, resources for teachers and a speakers bureau. The Temple and the Institute have also offered intensive instruction for pre-service educators on Holocaust history and age-appropriate teaching. The Max and Gerda Schmitz Holocaust Education Fund and the Dr. Harry W. Salon Foundation support this work.
Family history is another path into that education. Temple member Irv Adler has presented on tracing his Viennese family after the Holocaust and on placing Stones of Remembrance in Vienna. The Northeast Indiana Jewish Genealogy Society, a campus partner, offers quarterly public programs and maintains the Fort Wayne Jewish Families Project, including yahrzeit inscriptions from Achduth Vesholom and B'nai Jacob. The Safran Library supports this work with genealogy books, Yizkor memoirs and a catalog that connects local research with major collections.
Caring for Fort Wayne's Jewish Community
Thoughtful Thursdays is a monthly social-action partnership with the Jewish Federation of Fort Wayne. Volunteers provide grocery and household-item bags for 51 children enrolled in Brightpoint Head Start at the Temple. The program began when the Jewish community sought to support Head Start families living below the federal poverty level, and it combines practical help with educational materials for home and classroom.
The Temple's welcome extends to interfaith families. It works to help people make Jewish choices for themselves and provides resources for informed decisions, while affirming a diverse community across religious backgrounds, sexual orientations, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, gender identities and abilities. Non-Jewish partners can explore conversion without pressure; Rabbi Bargeron offers conversation and study for those considering Jewish life, while the congregation remains a home for interfaith families as they are.
Shared meals mark several occasions. The ROMEOs, Retired Old Men Eating Out, host Break-the-Fast gatherings after Yom Kippur services. An annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service brings the community together at the Temple. In the holiday season, the Social Action Committee also supports Wellspring Interfaith Social Services by collecting specific grocery items for families seeking assistance.
The Resource Center also gives the community room to gather. Mah jongg play is a regular use of the space, and video conferences with authors support programs and book clubs. Families encounter one another through worship and holidays, while the campus partners create a setting for cultural, educational and public service in the same place.
Life-Cycle Events and Living Memory
Life-cycle ceremonies are available to congregational members and are performed by the rabbi: marriage, brit milah and naming of children, bar and bat mitzvah, adult bar and bat mitzvah, Confirmation, funerals and gravestone dedications. The Joy Vey children's service and B'nei Mitzvah worship are especially designed to let children and whole families take part with dignity and joy.
Achduth Vesholom offers several forms of remembrance. Yahrzeit names are read during Shabbat, and a digital plaque display includes names, dates of death, photographs and biography. The Tree of Life outside the Sanctuary carries brass leaves for important family moments, while a quilted social-hall wall hanging offers stars for weddings, birthdays, b'nei mitzvah, graduations and other simchas. The olive tree leaves in the Resource Center add another personalized tribute.
The congregation maintains burial space at Lindenwood Cemetery, where additional land was purchased in 1999. The Fort Wayne Jewish Cemetery Association, also based at the Rifkin Campus, oversees the separate Fort Wayne Jewish Cemetery, which is open to all Jews. Space can also be rented for events, making the campus facilities available for community celebrations beyond worship.
Visiting Achduth Vesholom
Achduth Vesholom is at 5200 Old Mill Road in Fort Wayne, Indiana 46807. The office telephone is (260) 744-4245, and staff hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. General inquiries use office@templecav.org; youth programs use youth@templecav.org, and the library uses library@templecav.org. Additional contact information includes the rabbi and staff.
Visitors may worship at any regular service, in person or online. Groups can attend Friday evening worship on a limited basis, while tours of the building can be arranged at other times. An annual orientation and family activities open Religious School, and members can take part through worship, learning, social action, youth, camping and volunteer opportunities. At 5200 Old Mill Road, Achduth Vesholom continues the work begun in 1848: a Jewish home for worship, learning, memory and service.