Since its founding, the Temple has resided in four different synagogues. The current facility on Old Mill Road became our home in 1961.

Congregation Achduth Vesholom was organized by 23 members as a "Society for Visiting the Sick and Burying the Dead." It was Jewish tradition in the New World for burial grounds to be established before building houses of worship. On Oct. 13, 1848, the society bought for $200 the old burial ground adjoining what is now McCulloch Park. On Oct. 26, 1848, it officially organized the first Jewish congregation in the state of Indiana.

The founders held religious services in the home of Frederic Nirdlinger until 1859 when they had their formal house of worship. Men and women worshiped in separate
parlors in keeping with Orthodox German traditions. Records show the founders were Nirdlinger as president, Sigmund Redelsheimer as vice-president,
Isaac Wolf as treasurer and Isaac Lauferty as secretary. For 157 years, a direct descendent of those founding families remained a member of the Temple, a tie that ended in March 2005 with the death of Madelon Rothschild, a great-granddaughter of Sigmund Redelsheimer.

We were originally an Orthodox German congregation, and the minutes of all meetings were kept in German for our first 30 years. Rabbi Joseph Solomon, our first rabbi, taught Hebrew and German, as well as the fundamentals of our faith at what was the first Jewish parochial school. Public schools were not established until 1852. Rabbi Solomon also was the "mohel" and "shohet."

In 1859, our numbers had increased and we moved to our first temple, an old German Methodist Church at Wayne and Harrison streets, bought for $1,200. The dedication ceremonies on Sept. 23, 1859 were attended by many Christians and were considered so impressive that the ceremonies were repeated the following day.

Rabbi Solomon was succeeded by Rabbi Isaac Rosenthal. He received $400 from the congregation, plus 2 cents per animal for his duties as shohet and $5 for each circumcision. During his leadership, the new Synagogue of Unity and Peace officially became Congregation Achduth Vesholom on Oct. 6, 1861.

Reform Judaism began to be introduced in August 1862 with the arrival of Rabbi Edward Rubin, our third rabbi. Records show the new Einhorn prayerbook containing German as well as Hebrew was introduced "so that the young people in the congregation could understand what they were praying."

By January 1866, men, women and children were allowed to sit together, a practice that continued all year except during the High Holy Days. Somewhere about the same time, records mention a Women's Organization that helped the needy and contributed $60 toward the purchase of a lot next to the synagogue. A few years later, the group contributed a Torah and silver pointer.

During Rabbi Rubin's tenure, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations was founded in 1873. In May 1874, we became a Reform Congregation and joined the Union.

Not everyone agreed with the move to Reform Judaism. In February 1866, a group of members withdrew, founded its own congregation and burial ground, and continued in existence for several years before returning to the fold of Achduth Vesholom. During this time, we'd again outgrown our quarters. Remodeling was impractical and too expensive, so we built a new Temple on ground purchased 12 years before at the corner of Harrison and Wayne. This first building drive attempted to raise $19,000 through fairs, lectures, picnics and a masked ball. The building was dedicated on January 7, 1867.

The congregation's fourth clergyman, Rabbi Adoph Dushner, came in 1881. His offer to teach a class of non-Jewish students on the Sabbath did not meet with approval. In 1883, Israel Aaron, a member of the first Hebrew Union College graduation class, was sent to take the helm. He was well liked and became the Temple's fifth rabbi, making the congregation the first Temple to hire a graduate of the Reform college. Rabbi Aaron moved to Buffalo in 1887 and was succeeded here by Rabbi Tobias Shanfarber and a year later by Rabbi Samuel Strauss.

In 1884, the Temple bought two acres of land at Lindenwood Cemetery, having outgrown its original burial ground. From 1884 to 1900, bodies from the old cemetery were moved to the new one.

Rabbi Adolph Guttmacher became the eighth rabbi in 1889, followed in 1891 by Rabbi Abraham Hirschberg. The Union Prayer Book was established as the official ritual of the Congregation in 1891 and sermons in German were discontinued.

The tenth rabbi, Rabbi Frederick Cohen, served from 1896 to 1904. Next was Rabbi Harry Ettleson from 1904 to 1910, Rabbi William Rice from 1911 to 1914, and Rabbi Meyer Lovitch in 1914. Sisterhood was formally organized in 1914 with Rabbi Lovitch's wife as the first president. Until then, the women in the congregation had been active as the Ladies Benevolent Society.

Rabbi Aaron Weinstein came in 1915, and during his term, it was decided that the Temple at Harrison and Wayne was too small. The third Temple was then built at Wayne and Fairfield and dedicated over a three-day period beginning December 28, 1917.

In 1924, Rabbi Samuel Markowitz, the 15th rabbi, came from Lafayette, which is the second oldest Reform congregation in the state. He was followed by Rabbi Frederic Doppelt who occupied the pulpit from 1939 to 1969. He served the longest tenure and was the first Rabbi Emeritus in the congregation's history.

In 1939, World War II motivated the congregation to grant membership to all refugees who were financially unable to become members. We extended the use of the Temple to Jewish men connected with Baer Field. Many members joined the Armed Forces, and the Brotherhood presented to the Temple an Honor Roll Plaque naming them. In 1945, a woman's name -- Sydna G. Wenbert -- was added. At the Fort Wayne Jewish Federation's request, Rabbi Doppelt conducted services once a month at Baer Field for the 75 to 100 Jewish soldiers stationed there.

During the 97th Annual Congregational Meeting, a report was received that the radio had just announced the end of the War inEurope. All 150 members and guests rose to sing the Star-Spangled Banner and to join in a prayer of thanksgiving from Rabbi Doppelt.

The current Temple building, the congregation's fourth, was dedicated in 1961. A gift from the Oppenheim Family spurred building the new Temple. Other milestones that remind us of Achduth Vesholom's long history: The first Bar Mitzvah was that of Albert Nirdlinger on March 20, 1858. The first Bat Mitzvah was Ellen Horn in October 1961. The first Saturday morning Bar Mitzvah was Stephen Zweig in June 1962.

The Temple Museum was established in December 1928 and designated the Goldman Memorial Museum in May 1931. In April 1941, the Temple Brotherhood became an official organization with 52 members. Adult Education was adopted in October 1946 as part of the Temple Religious program. The Temple Youth Group was organized in 1952 and affiliated with the North American Federation of Temple Youth. Betty Stein became the first woman elected to the Board of Directors in May 1956 under an equal rights amendment that said "privileges of membership, including that of holding office and voting, shall be accorded to all members' wives." In 1984, she also became the Temple's first woman president, serving two years.

Our 17th rabbi, Richard B. Safran, joined us in 1969, taking an active role in congregational and community events during his 26 years of service. In 1995, he became the second rabbi emeritus in Temple history. He and his wife, Lois, remain energetic congregants. During his tenure, the congregation became active with Mazon, the Jewish response to hunger in America, and food collections for the needy. Speaking and teaching about Judaism in local churches and colleges have been among Rabbi Safran's interests.

In 1995, the Temple Sisterhood voted to disband. The move came as a result of busy schedules at work and home, as well as recognition that women serve vital roles in all levels of congregational leadership and don't need a separate organization.

In the summer of 1995, Rabbi Sandford R. Kopnick became our 18th rabbi -- only our third spiritual leader in more than a half-century. Working with high school youth and religious school students, educational programming for all ages, and outreach to the community and interfaith couples, Rabbi Kopnick focused on continuing the values of the congregation that helped create a warm and caring community.

A desire to return to the Midwest prompted Rabbi Jonathan R. Katz to accept, in the summer of 2001, the invitation to become Congregation Achduth Vesholom's 19th rabbi. Seeking to revitalize Jewish worship, education and community through a more personal engagement of religion, Rabbi Katz's spiritual approach reflects what the Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig termed, "The New Learning." It is, Rosenzweig said, "a learning in reverse order....A learning that no longer starts from the Torah and leads into life, but the other way around: from life, from a world that knows nothing of the Law, or pretends to know nothing, back to the Torah....From the periphery back to the center, from the outside in."