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This small, stubborn Appalachian synagogue is defying the odds — and so is its new rabbi

JL;DR SUMMARY Rabbi Adam Berman is set to lead Congregation Bnai Jacob, an Orthodox-turned-Conservative synagogue with deep roots in Charleston, West Virginia, defying the national trend of diminishing synagogues. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CommunityJewish IdentitySynagoguesWest VirginiaRabbi Victor UreckiSynagogue LeadershipCharlestonRabbi Adam BermanCongregation Bnai JacobSmall Jewish Communities

Places mentioned

Charleston, West Virginia, United States
"CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA Rabbi Adam Berman had been in Charleston for less than a week, and already he was watching his last Shabbat from the pews of Congregation Bnai Jacob."
Columbus, Ohio, United States
"Bermans path to Charleston began far from the Appalachian hills. He grew up in Columbus, Ohio, the son of a Conservative pulpit rabbi, spending summers at Camp Ramah and leading United Synagogue Youth programs."
Israel
"Yale came next he graduated in 2013 and then a leap across the ocean: aliyah to Israel, where he served on the Gaza border as a lone soldier in the Israel Defense Forces and, for a time, as a shift manager at a carrot-packing facility on a kibbutz."

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Cairo Item ID 59160
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-08-13 05:30:50 UTC
Curated 2025-08-13 08:31:45 UTC