Meanwhile, in Charleston

Meanwhile, in Charleston, West Virginia: “This small, stubborn Appalachian synagogue is defying the odds—and so is its new rabbi” Binyamin Cohen, The Forward, August 2025.

[Incoming Rabbi Adam] Berman, 35, watched as [Retiring Rabbi] Victor Urecki, 64, silver-haired and wearing a colorful knit kippah, called up old friends for aliyot, cracking jokes… Rabbi Joe Blair, who leads Charleston’s Reform congregation, Temple Israel, came for Urecki’s final service, bringing some of his own congregants with him. At one point, Blair, Berman and Urecki were all called to the Torah—likely the most rabbis gathered in one room in Charleston in years.

“…Charleston’s Jewish population is around 500. Many members are interfaith families. “There’s a lot of importance in making sure people feel comfortable and welcomed and not judged,” Berman said… Urecki, too, sees that as the path forward. Growth, he said, will come from engaging interfaith families and even non-Jews who feel a kinship through social justice work or adult-education classes. About half the participants in his Torah study are not Jewish.