For almost 25 years, Main Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim ran a Torah study group. But in recent years, attendance started to dwindle, and the group kind of “ran its course,” said Rabbi Eric Mollo.
That prompted Mollo and Senior Rabbi Geri Newburge to sit down and come up with a new idea: adult confirmation. It would continue the theme of lifelong learning that defined the Torah study group, which consisted mostly of older congregants.
Last month, the Main Line Reform Temple members celebrated their graduation from adult confirmation on the bimah in the sanctuary. Then, they took a picture with Rabbi Mollo, who led the class; Rabbi Newburge; Rabbi Kevin Kleinman; and Cantor Faryn Rudnick. Mollo said the picture will hang on a wall near the sanctuary, just like the photos of young, post-b’nai mitzvah confirmation classes.
The sessions began during Sukkot and continued into the spring. Across 26 classes, the 16 students learned about Jewish theology, history, ethics, prayer, Torah and Haftorah.
“The intention was not to stay surface level. It was to do deep dives, maybe an educational refresh. Let’s build upon the base you have, fill in some of the gaps,” Mollo explained. “We’re not going to get to talk about everything you want to talk about because there’s so much ground to cover, but we can at least create the space for awareness that there’s so much to be learned.”
Mollo required the class to purchase a Mussar book; Mussar focuses on applying Jewish ethical teachings to daily life.
“Mussar as a whole way of being, as a whole way of living, was new to about 90% of the class,” the rabbi said. “It was about allowing them the space to explore aspects of Judaism they may never have experienced or wrestled with before.”
Main Line Reform Temple’s clergy team — Mollo, Newburge, Kleinman and Rudnick — took turns leading sessions. That allowed them to craft lessons from their varied perspectives.
“Which, in and of itself, models Judaism. We come from multiple perspectives,” Mollo said.
Members of the 40-and-over cohort said they got a lot out of the class.
“There’s always room to learn something new. I just like to learn and study and have things taught to me that I have no idea about,” said Ann Gelfond, an MLRT member since the 1970s.
Helene Ehrlich-Cohen joined the synagogue in 1993. Since she never had a bat mitzvah as a girl, she joined the shul’s adult bat mitzvah program in the late ’90s. She finally had her ceremony at age 50.
After that, she attended Torah study, and she was still looking for Jewish learning when that class’s attendance dwindled. So, she joined the confirmation class, and at 70, she got confirmed.
“I think it’s very important that we continue to learn and grow as we get older,” Ehrlich-Cohen said.
That also remains an institutional priority for MLRT. The synagogue is not going to continue the adult confirmation class in 2026-27, according to Mollo. There just wouldn’t be enough new students to do it year after year.
But like the Torah study class, it will transition into something else: the Jewish Lifelong Learning Lab. Mollo said the lab will “make room for things they want to learn about.” The adult students might want to dive deeper into subjects they sped through during their confirmation year, he explained.
Mollo used the Hasmonean Dynasty period as an example. During this period, Jews ruled the Hasmonean Kingdom — located across modern-day Israel, the Palestinian territories and parts of Jordan and Lebanon — for about 103 years (140-37 B.C.E.). The students learned about the dynasty during the confirmation class, but they didn’t have the time to study the specific events of the period.
“There are these periods where we have certain dates for things. But like, what happened in that period? There’s like 100 years of rule, and a lot of amazing things happened in those years,” Mollo said.