The annual Men’s Club Shabbat service at Congregation B’nai Amoona Saturday morning required a little extra maneuvering when the synagogue lost all power the previous night. The tornadoes and heavy wind that moved through the St. Louis area on March 14 kept Ameren crews busy—in the wake of the storm, almost 47,500 electrical outages were reported.
On Friday evening, men’s club president Scot Fowler knew a severe storm was on the way and he needed to be prepared for anything.
“I knew there was a chance we would have to pivot because of the impending weather,” Fowler said. “If we lost power, we knew we would be moving into the sanctuary as opposed to the chapel and it indeed came to pass that there was no power when we got to the synagogue on Saturday morning. We moved the haftorah scrolls over to the sanctuary and we moved all of our oratory duties down to the lower bimah and made sure to project our voices accordingly so that we could still deliver on the shabbat service.”
The situation meant microphones were useless and there was no streaming service available.
“We went old school,” said Fowler, who also lost power at his home. “Everybody played a part, and we executed it.”
Around the time the B’nai Amoona Men’s Club improvised its annual lay led Shabbat service, four miles east the storm had also knocked out power to Temple Israel. That didn’t dampen the spirits of Milo London, who was preparing to read from the Torah for his bar mitzvah.
His parents, Dan and Lisa London, learned early Saturday morning that TI had lost power overnight. They didn’t have electricity at their home in Maryland Heights, either.
“We got dressed in the dark and I put my makeup on in the dark,” said Lisa London. They arrived at the congregation on time and Martina Stern, executive director of TI, had already consulted with Rabbi Amy Feder, and determined that the show would go on. It required a few changes, starting with moving the photo session from the sanctuary. Photographer Rimma Bandoim from Video Gate wasn’t concerned about getting good pictures.
“I was more worried about the client,” Bandoim said. “When I found there was no power, the administration of TI asked where would I like to take pictures. It was completely dark inside, so we took pictures in the library, where there were a couple of windows. I asked if I could use the flash on my camera, so I did, and the pictures came out great.”
Rabbi David Alper said it wasn’t the first time in his career a service required some quick thinking, but this was unique experience.
“This was definitely the first time we have had to lead a service where so much had to change — the location of the service, no microphones, different cues for so much of what Milo prepared for, like where to walk for his hakafah, where his family would be as they passed the Torah from one generation to the next, even how his brother would open the ark,” Alper said.
Alper said he and Rabbi Feder reminded Milo that everyone who was there was supporting him. “He handled it beautifully,” Alper said. “He really rose to the challenge and handled it with ease.”
Milo, a 7th grader at Ladue Middle School, said while reading from the Torah is challenging under optimum conditions, “I think I did pretty good. It was pretty tricky, but I remembered a lot.”
Lisa London said she and Dan had complete confidence in Milo.
“He handled it so well,” she said. “We would have been proud of him no matter what.”
Dan London added that the ceremony was successful in large part because the TI clergy and leadership were flexible and pivoted with ease.
“It was an amazing undertaking to move the service, make sure that it was set up for guests, there were prayer books everywhere where they needed to be, that Milo had water where he needed to have it, that the right Torah that he needed to use was in the right place,” London said. “While we were in the service, they moved 15 tables fully dressed and set up from the main banquet hall to the foyer and set up. The guests didn’t know that there was anything different than planned.”
