Lifelong Learning

CMI's Lifelong Learning program invites congregants of every age and stage to deepen their connection to Judaism through study, discussion, and discovery. From beginner-friendly Torah study and Hebrew classes to thought-provoking discussions on Jewish history, ethics, and contemporary issues, there's something for everyone—no prior knowledge required.

Members can explore the CMI Book Club, study for an adult B'nei Mitzvah, learn from scholars and community leaders, and deepen their understanding of social justice. We offer programs for parents and grandparents to help families tackle difficult subjects, while our CMI Chorale offers opportunities for singers to deepen their love and knowledge of Jewish music. Rooted in the belief that Jewish learning is a lifelong journey, our program creates a welcoming space for curiosity, community, and meaningful growth, wherever you are on your path. --- Rabbi Schaefer

Learning is core to our Jewish identity, and we are proud to offer robust Adult Education opportunities throughout the year.

CMI Chorale

Join Cantor Fox and Eric Trudel to learn and sing diverse choral repertoire. Rehearsals take place on occasional Thursdays 6-7:30pm, in preparation for several special services and events throughout the year. Email Cantor Fox at sfox@cmihamden.org for more information and to be placed on the roster.

Leader: Cantor Sierra Fox

Day of Week: Occasional Thursdays (Specific dates to be announced)

Contact Person and Email Address: Cantor Fox sfox@cmihamden.org

Adult B’nei Mitzvah

In 2026-27, Mishkan Israel will offer an Adult B’nei Mitzvah Class for the first time in over a decade. If you never had a B’nei Mitzvah, take the opportunity to deepen your learning of Torah and Prayers, and our class next spring.

Shabbat Morning Torah Study

Torah study is the cornerstone of Jewish learning. We are told to “turn it and turn it for everything is found within it.” Join learners of all ages on Shabbat morning to engage with the sacred texts of the Jewish people.

Each week we meet at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning to study the Parashat Hashavua, the weekly Torah portion. All are welcome and no experience is necessary. You can join Torah study in person or on Zoom. You can find the Zoom link each week on the CMI calendar.

Leader: Rabbi Daniel Schaefer and/or Cantor Sierra Fox

Dates: Saturdays 9am-10 am

Contact Person and Email Address: Rabbi Schaefer dschaefer@cmihamden.

Liturgical Hebrew

In this class, participants will learn to read and understand the Hebrew language. The class will focus on Hebrew from the prayerbook and services. Expand your knowledge of Hebrew to better access worship.

Leader: Rabbi Steven Steinberg. Rabbi Steinberg was the rabbi for Quinnipiac University for 15 years and taught in the history department. He was also rabbi for Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Hospital of St. Raphael for 23 years. He has taught adult Hebrew at CMI for about 30 years.

Dates: Sessions will be on Sunday morning when the Religious School is in session from 10:25 am to 10:55 am. The meeting dates for the fall are: September 27th, October 4th, 18th, and 25th, and November 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd.

Contact: Rabbi Steven Steinberg stevesteinberg46@gmail.com

Meeting The Moment:

What the Jewish Past Teaches About the Future

The Meeting the Moment Series returns for 2026-2027. We are pleased to announce that the 2026-2027 series is made possible through the collaboration of CMI, Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel (BEKI), Congregation B'nai Jacob, Congregation Or Shalom, Temple Beth Sholom, Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, and the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven. Yale University’s Jewish Studies program will be a cosponsor for this year’s 4th session. This year’s seminar topics reflect feedback provided by last year’s attendees as well as a focus group of randomly selected participants.

Join us for Meeting the Moment: Speaking Across Difference, a four-part seminar and dialogue series that explores American Jewish history, storytelling, and lived experience to help the community as it grapples with identity, polarization, antisemitism, Israel, and belonging during a challenging moment in Jewish life. This year’s topics seek to share the history and legacy of Jewish discourse, examining how various traditions and methods of disagreement have fostered resilience, creativity, and communal growth. The audience is challenged to consider what the Jewish past and present can teach us about engaging one another with conviction, humility, and respect today and in the future The curriculum will consist of:

Session 1: Sunday, December 13, 2026 at Temple Beth Sholom, Hamden Back Channels or Taking It to the Streets? American Jews’ Approach to Rescue European Jewry

Faculty: Rabbi Charles Savenor, Executive Director, Civic Spirit

Session 4: This session is planned for April, 2027 in collaboration with the Yale Jewish Studies Program faculty and will be held at the Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale.

Doors open at 9:00 am for registration and coffee. All sessions begin promptly at 9:30 and will run until 11:45 am

Register online: registration page

Registration: Full Series: $36 | Individual Sessions: $18

Admission includes registration for up to 2 household members for each session.

Voluntary Donations in support of Meeting the Moment are always welcome.

Contact Person and Email Address: Larry Schaefer lschaeferct@gmail.com or Michael Dimenstein msdimenstein@gmail.com.

Letters, Legacies, and Ethical Wills

This four-session workshop is built upon the old Jewish custom of writing ethical wills- to pass on our values, ideas, hopes, even stories to family and friends -as even more valuable than our possessions.

Using a non-linear approach, we will engage with the purpose, art, and experience of writing letters to the significant people in our lives, including letters that might not be straightforward to compose. We will share ideas, questions, fun, laughter - traveling to perhaps unknown/unfamiliar places in ourselves.

We will look at content, style, and language of ethical wills from different eras for inspiration and grounding, as we explore within ourselves: what matters, what do we really want to appreciate? What do we hope others value about us and the ways we have lived? What is our legacy? Or what do we hope is our legacy? Is there a significant memory, turning point, or story we want to share?

Is there a message to an as-yet-unborn child /grandchild that we want to convey?

You will leave this workshop with a draft or drafts of letters, or poetry, if that is more fitting, that you have composed. Our lives are not static; we continue to grow. This may become a document to which you return and revise, as your life evolves, and your understanding deepens.

Much of the process is done by hand: not on a computer, or iPad, or phone, although you may use those to explore ideas, outside of our workshop. Materials will be provided for the first session. You will then be able to think about the size and shape of materials that are fitting for each of you. If you have a favorite pad, pens, pencils, please bring them along. A folder with additional readings will be placed in the library. Participants will receive a used copy of the book So That Your Values Live On: Ethical Wills and How to Prepare Them.

Leader: Judy Sirota Rosenthal

Judy has designed and led workshops/artist in residence for the National Havurah Institute, Jewish Healing Center of New England, Jewish Federation, Yale School of Nursing, Whitney Center, among others. Judy has facilitated a version of this program for the Shoreline Institute for Lifelong Learning in Madison, CT

Tuesdays, 1-2:15 pm. October 20, 27, Nov 3, Nov 10.

Target Audience: anyone wishing to think /feel through what values, lessons, legacies,  learnings,  they might want to transmit to the significant people in their lives - friends and family.

Contact Person: Judy Sirota Rosenthal, sirotarosenthal@gmail.com

Modern Judaism: Bundism (Jewish Socialism), Zionism, and American Jewish Life

Join Rabbi Steinberg in an exploration of the history of American Judaism. The class will study beyond typical history books to examine the real story of American Judaism in the 20th and 21st century. Topics will include: Jewish socialism in Eastern Europe and the United States, History of Modern Zionism, and History of American Reform Judaism. This seminar is an opportunity to understand who we are as Jews today and to learn about the scope of Jewish history in the 20th century. Participants will have access to optional supplemental resources on YouTube programs and books and articles in the CMI Library.

Leader: Rabbi Steven Steinberg. Rabbi Steinberg was the rabbi for Quinnipiac University for 15 years and taught in the history department. He was also rabbi for Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Hospital of St. Raphael for 23 years. He has taught adult Hebrew at CMI for about 30 years.

Dates: The meeting dates are: September 27th, October 4th, 18th, and 25th, and November 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd from 11 am to 12 pm.

Contact: Rabbi Steven Steinberg stevesteinberg46@gmail.com

Kabbalah Study Group

Through presentations and discussions, we will explore Kabbalistic concepts and interpretations of Judaism. Topics such as dream interpretation, the soul, the afterlife, angels & demons, heaven, resurrection, Torah interpretations, Tikkun Olam (repair of the world) and self-transformation will be explored.

Leader: Stanley Friedman

Dates: Saturday mornings (following Torah Study Class), 10:15 - 11:15 AM on October 3rd, October 31st, November 21st, and December 12th. Winter and Spring dates will be announced in December.

Target Audience: Open to anyone interested in Jewish mysticism and its interpretation of Judaic concepts. No previous knowledge of Kabbalah required.

Contact Person and Email Address: Stanley Friedman stanf24@gmail.com

Confronting Racism

The Confronting Racism Series was initiated on Yom Kippur 2020 by a planning group of CMI congregants. Since that time, the series has offered opportunities for our congregation to learn and discuss topics aimed at increasing our understanding of systemic racism, both historically and in current times, and to examine our own implicit biases. The series has included presentations by the planning group and facilitated small group discussion, with readings, videos, podcasts and other resource materials to enhance deeper discussions about how to combat racism. Throughout the series, participants reflect upon how Jewish teaching and ethics compel us to confront racism in its many forms. Challenging conversations are often guided by this doctrine: “You are not obligated to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it” (Pirke Avot 2:21). Over time, the series has broadened to include building collaborative partnerships with relevant community and multi-faith organizations.

For the 2026-27 year, the Confronting Racism Planning Group will continue to offer intensive programming at CMI. As it has done since 2020, the Planning Group will offer a discussion session on Yom Kippur afternoon, with the content of the session to be announced in advance. Throughout the year, on a schedule to be determined, a combination of content-based presentations, discussion, guest speakers, and community-based activities will be offered both in person and on Zoom. Everyone is encouraged and welcome to attend.

Facilitators: Confronting Racism Planning Group: which includes Karen Baar, Nancy Moss Racusin, Beth Stenger, and Nancy Yedlin

Dates: Yom Kippur discussion session will be the afternoon of Monday, September 21st. All other events will be announced in the CMI E-News, Friday Night Handouts, CMI Calendar, etc.

Contact Persons and their Email Address:

Karen Baar- karen.baar@gmail.com, Nancy Moss Racusin- Nancymr@snet.net, Beth Stenger beth.stenger@comcast.net, Nancy Yedlin- nyedlin@aol.com

CMI Book Club

The CMI Book Club meets every other month on a Wednesday at noon from September through May. We have a membership of 35 men and women, of whom two thirds usually attend. We alternate between fiction and nonfiction. All suggestions are considered and the decision is made by democratic vote. The only constraint is that the book must have at least one Jewish element, either the author, the subject, or the setting. We are a lively and serious group! The discussion usually includes debate and disagreement, always respectful and sincere. There are two behind-the-scenes leaders, but the monthly discussion is not always led by one of them; instead, various others who are interested in the book volunteer to lead. New members are always welcome.

The next meeting of the CMI Book Club is Wednesday, September 30, 2026. The group will discuss Heart of a Stranger by Angela Buchdahl.

Leaders: Alice Baxter and True Wolff

Dates: Every other month, September - May, Wednesday at 12 noon

Next meeting September 30th and November 18th (tentative). The dates for future meetings are determined by the group.

Contact Person and Email Address: Alice Baxter- alice.baxter1@gmail.com, True Wolff truefezerwolff@gmail.com

Parent Education Series

Description: With all that is going on in the world, it can be difficult to know how to talk with our children and/or grandchildren about what's happening around them. This four session series will focus on how to speak with our children about Antisemitism, Racism, Israel and current events in America. 

Presenters: ADL, Confronting Racism Group, Rabbi Daniel Schaefer

Dates: Sundays: 11/1,  1/31, 3/7, 4/25 from 10:00am-11:30am 

Target Audience: Parents, Guardians, Grandparents of children aged 3-14

Contact Person: Michelle Goldstein mgoldstein@cmihamden.org

Ritual Committee Community Shabbat Dinners

Lifelong learning happens not only in the classroom, but in the kitchen and around the dinner table. The Ritual Committee invites all CMI members and families to our Community Shabbat Dinners - a warm, intergenerational gathering where we come together to practice the timeless rituals of candle lighting, challah, and wine.

Held in conjunction with our family-oriented Shabbat services,which include the Junior Choir and congregational band, these dinners offer a relaxed, joyful way to forge and strengthen connections. We encourage everyone to bring personal or family Judaica items such as candlesticks, kiddush cups, challah covers, or tzedakah boxes.

Over the course of Ritual Committee sponsored Shabbat dinners, participants will deepen their understanding of the rituals of Shabbat dinner and how these ideas can enrich practices in their home.

Dinners are provided courtesy of our members, thoughtfully planned and prepared in our congregational kitchen - there is always something for everyone, regardless of age and dietary preferences. Volunteers are always welcome for prep, cooking, or cleanup, and sponsorships are gratefully accepted.

Facilitator: Jeremy Schwartz, Chair, CMI Ritual Committee

Dates: November 13th, January 22nd, February 26th , & May 7th

Contact Person and Email Address: Jeremy Schwartz; jisfour@gmail.com

Contemporary Issues

Trump’s Ten Commandments: Strategic: Lessons from the Trump Leadership Toolbox

Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld will discuss the research that led to his new book, Trump’s Ten Commandments: Strategic Lessons from the Trump Leadership Toolbox. The book is a New York Times bestseller. Yale leadership scholar and CMI member Jeffrey Sonnenfeld pulls back the curtain on Donald Trump’s rulebook for power—revealing the ten ruthless, repeatable strategies that explain how he conquers chaos, commands loyalty, and bends every arena to his will.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld if the only leadership scholar to critique Trumps leadership style and the only critic to have personally known Trump for 30 years. Trump’s Ten Commandments: Strategic Lessons from the Trump Leadership Toolbox offers a provocative and penetrating look inside the mind of one of history’s most controversial leaders. Written by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, celebrated Yale leadership scholar and advisor to five U.S. presidents, this book reveals the ten guiding principles—or “commandments”—that define Donald Trump’s decision- making across business, media, and politics.

From the boardroom to the Oval Office, Sonnenfeld distills lessons in power, persuasion, and performance—lessons that illuminate not only Trump’s successes and failures but also timeless truths about human ambition, influence, and control. Whether you admire or abhor him, understanding Trump’s Ten Commandments reveals how he built empires, dismantled institutions, and redefined leadership in his own image.

Participants in the program will receive a copy of Professor Sonnenfeld’s book. Register

Date: Sunday, October 25th 10:15am - 11:45am

CMI Podcast Club

We’re organizing a “Podcast Club” at CMI to introduce members to thoughtful interviewers and guests who are leading thinkers in the world of liberal Judaism, and to explore particular themes. Podcasts have become a major cultural medium, a way for listeners to access news, knowledge, and opinion, and a way to productively use daily community and work-out time. podcasters on news and topics of Jewish interest have been especially prolific. The conversationalists discuss the nature of Jewish thriving in America, the political and cultural conditions, and what our moral and political commitments as Jews and Americans should be going forward.

CMI member Corey Stone has curated a collection of podcasts related to the 250th anniversary of American independence and the relationship between democracy and what has arguably been Golden Age for American Jews. The conversation discuss the nature of Jewish thriving in America, the political and cultural conditions that have enabled it, whether and how those conditions can continue, and what moral and political commitments as Jews and Americans should be going forward.

We’ll meet in hybrid fashion (participants can join in person or online) on five Monday evenings this fall to discuss selected podcast episodes and a short-related text or two. We’re grateful to The Shalom Hartman Institute for providing supplemental texts and the theme for our first experiment and for the dozen selected podcast episodes from Yehuda Kurzer’s “Identity/Crisis” and Elana Stein Hain’s “Texting: In Real Life” whose guests and conversations will be challenging us.

Dates: Mondays at 7PM: October 5th & 19th, November 2nd & 16th, and December 7th

Facilitators: Corey Stone & Galina Portnoy

-Participants can attend one or more sessions as their schedules allow.