Blog Test - WIP

Alan grew up at Congregation B’nai Amoona - his grandparents joined when they moved to St. Louis. His mother’s family were members at the old location and his parents were married by Rabbi Lipnick. He and his siblings celebrated their B’nai Mitzvot at B’nai Amoona  as did his children. When he and Karyn married, the ceremony was at Shaare Emeth but Rabbi Cytryn shared in the performing of their marriage with Rabbi Bennett. Alan and Karyn’s children attended Religious School at B’nai Amoona and except for a period when the Fines lived in New York, they have always been members and connected to the Shul.

When asked about what satisfies him or means the most about his membership, Alan described his lifetime of history with the congregation. He said that belonging to the Shul has been such a huge part of their lives and he could not imagine being anyplace else. Alan’s participation as a leader of our Congregation has followed his career path in his work on the finance side of operations. He began as a member of the Finance Committee, joined the Investment Committee and moved into his role on the Executive Committee to his current role as Treasurer. Alongside those responsibilities, Alan volunteers as a Greeter on Shabbat mornings and holidays. He said that for over the last ten years, he has enjoyed greeting people as they come to Shul and finds it rewarding to have made so many connections with them over the years. Alan feels the warm extension of a handshake and welcoming people, seeing that they are well and sharing some conversation has been satisfying for him. In addition, he has viewed this experience as an opportunity to take a break from the “real world” and looks forward to being  at Shul, in person,  soon.

In his time away from his responsibilities as Treasurer, Alan is a Tax Partner with Brown, Smith, Wallace. He currently leads the Insurance Industry group and traveled extensively pre-COVID. Alan described being able to be with clients in person, engaging with them to help solve their problems and create solutions is what he misses most right now. He looks forward to being able to travel to see his clients once again and continue to build his relationships with them.

We know that if you give a busy person something to do, it will get done – which is just what happens with Alan as an active volunteer elsewhere in our community. He has been on the Board of the Jewish Federation and has held Board positions for a number of professional organizations. His two children have followed in his footsteps where they are both in the accounting field and his wife Karyn teaches Middle School math for the Ferguson-Florissant school district.

For those who do not know Alan, something that may be surprising to learn about him is that he and Karyn started dating junior year in high school.  He is also a huge Dallas Cowboys fan and has been to three games at AT&T stadium (all wins for the Cowboys!). 

Hopefully soon we will be back in person and you can have the opportunity to shake Alan’s hand as he greets you at the door.