Flooded before Rosh Hashanah, determined Leominster synagogue packs for Worcester

LEOMINSTER – All Rich Cohen could do was smile and laugh.

“What are your other options?” said Cohen as he walked through a very wet basement at Congregation Agudat Achim on Washington Street. Cohen is the temple’s president, has been a member for 30 years, and Friday morning - four days after a massive rainstorm devastated Leominster - he still can’t believe how much water poured into the basement.

As crews continued to pump out the area, Cohen scrolled through pictures taken on his cellphone that recorded how bad it was. It was floor-to-ceiling flooding in the basement, and Cohen's photos showed water levels similar to those found in the deep end of swimming pools. In some places, the levels were higher, with flood waters rising from the basement and up stairs leading to the ground floor.

The water pressure was so severe that windows were blown out.

Insurance adjusters are coming next week to survey the damage. Cohen said the temple doesn’t have flood insurance, a decision that he said was made years ago.

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No time to get depressed

“What’s the point of gloom and doom?” Cohen said of the insurance challenge, followed by another one of his customary laughs.

That kind of roll-up-your-sleeves attitude, don’t dwell on what has already happened, and figure out ways to move forward, is happening all over Leominster in the wake of Monday’s storm.

But what’s unique about this story is it comes at the holiest time of the year in the Jewish faith. The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is this weekend. Because of the flooding, the temple didn’t have a place to hold services.

Local hotels and meeting halls were already booked as potential venues for services, but the temple persevered. It found a temporary home in Worcester, where it will hold Rosh Hashanah services Friday through Sunday at two spots: the Jewish Healthcare Center and the Jewish Community Center.

'Worcester isn't that bad'

“Israelites for 40 years wandered in the desert, and were in exile for two thousand years, so Worcester isn’t that bad,” said Rabbi Eve Eichenholtz, the religious leader at Congregation Agudat Achim. She, like Cohen, smiles a lot, laughs frequently, and has a makeup of perpetual optimism.

She also expressed gratitude for those in Worcester who provided space for the weekend services: "We could have made a (temporary) home anywhere. What's beautiful is we continue to make a home in a Jewish space."

The Jewish faith’s holy period continues in just over a week for Yom Kippur observances, and the temple hasn’t figured out where those services will happen.

Time to pack up for the trip to Worcester

It's “too early” to dwell on that, said Eichenholtz, as she and volunteers were busy Friday morning taking items out of the temple needed for this weekend’s services and putting them in a truck for transport to Worcester.

Time was of the essence, because there was a lot of work to do and services started in just a few hours.

Temple board member Steve Levine donated the truck. His roots in this institution run deep. Levine grew up down the street from the synagogue, and his father, Morton F. Levine, was a temple president whose name is on a plaque inside the temple’s front door. The plaque honors temple members who served in the military during World War II.

“Very disconcerting” is how Steve Levine described Mother Nature’s swift punch to the gut of this synagogue. “But we can’t stop. There’s no stopping the high holidays.”

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David Vogel picked up one of the items for transport to Worcester, a ram's horn, called the shofar, that is blown during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. Vogel is a relative newcomer, because he joined the temple in February. He took a deep breath and blew into the shofar, the sound reverberating inside the synagogue's front hallway.

“This (flooding) is a little catastrophe. We will survive,” said Vogel.

Most-precious cargo to Worcester

Cohen and Eichenholtz were responsible for the most-precious transport of all. They wrapped two Torah, the Jewish faith’s sacred scrolls normally held in the temple’s sanctuary ark, and carefully placed them, not in the truck, but in a van that belongs to Eichenholtz's parents.

Placed between the Torahs was a portable, wooden ark that her parents, Beth and Marc Eichenholtz, made sure to bring with them from Long Island that will be used in this weekend’s services in Worcester.

“Seeing the residents of this community handle this (challenge) is unbelievable,” said Beth Eichenholtz, who took charge, constantly looking at a list of necessary items to take to Worcester. She made sure her daughter and the other movers packed all the items on that list into the truck.

While all of this was happening, Marc Eichenholtz had tears in his eyes, marveling at the efforts to hold services in Worcester: “I’m really overwhelmed. This is the season of hope and seeing this going on, how can you not have hope?”

Emily Rosenbaum is thankful that she can help Congregation Agudat Achim have a place to hold high holiday services. Rosenbuam is executive director at the Worcester Jewish Community Center, and the Leominster congregation holds a special place in her heart. It’s where her children became bar and bat mitzvah, where her grandchild's baby-naming occurred, and where she remains a temple member today.

“(Congregation Agudat Achim) is such an important spiritual home for us,” said Rosenbaum. “I am very thankful and the JCC, whose mission is to serve the community, is so grateful to be able to help out in a small way.”

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Busy days ahead: Many decisions to make

There’s a lot on this synagogue’s plate of to-do items. Besides the basement damage and dealing with insurance issues, the temple’s parsonage that houses Eichenholtz suffered significant property damage.

Cohen thinks total damage costs could run into the six figures. When asked if it’s time to look for a new building, especially since the current one is around 70 years old and sits on a high-water table that frequently floods the basement, though nothing like the severity caused by Monday’s storm, Cohen became reflective.

“When people are born in this congregation, we celebrate. When they get married, we celebrate. When someone passes away, we celebrate their life," he said. “This synagogue is part of the fabric of this community. If we were to move, it would tear the fabric. We are going to try to salvage and rebuild because it’s important.”

Anyone wishing to make a donation to Congregation Agudat Achim to help pay for damage expenses can log onto agudat-achim.org.

Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on X: @henrytelegram.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Flooded before Rosh Hashanah, Congregation Agudat Achim packs for Worcester