cantor_eichaker_visiting_joplin2
Published July 13, 2011
Cantor Ron Eichaker (at right) United Hebrew Congregation in St. Louis traveled with his wife, Heidi, to lead Shabbat services in Joplin, Mo. at the city’s sole synagogue, also called United Hebrew. Eichaker visited the site with one congregant of the Joplin synagogue who lost his home during the devastating tornado that struck the city. While the congregant, Steve Fisher, was speaking with a FEMA representative, Cantor Eichaker offered three prayers: the afternoon Shabbat prayers facing East; then, facing St. John’s Hospital, he offered the Eil Malei Rachamim for the dead and a Mi Shebeirach for the living, the volunteers and professionals involved in the clean up.