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                               Meet Our Staff

      Victor Urecki has served as rabbi and spiritual leader of B’nai Jacob Synagogue since 1986.  He is a member of the Rabbinical Council of America, as well as the Chicago Board of Rabbis.  He is also on the Executive Rabbinical Cabinet of the Jewish Federations of North America, the largest Jewish philanthropic organization in the world. He serves on National Council of AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and on the board of directors at the University of Charleston. He was the 2011 recipient of the "Living the Dream Award" for his work on interfaith relations and the 2014 West Virginia Civil Rights Award recipient .
        Urecki is a contributing editor to the Charleston Gazette, writing frequently about religious tolerance and mutual respect. Urecki has devoted his career to teaching the importance of religious openness, embracing the similarities and finding strength in differences. He co-founded the Root and the Branch, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for faith traditions in the Kanawha Valley to come together, dialogue, and learn from one other. Through the Root and the Branch and his involvement in interfaith activities, Urecki lectures regularly at are churches and schools on Jewish/Christian relations and now, Muslim/ Jewish understanding.
       He and his wife Marilyn have three daughters, Avrah, Chava and Zahava.  His wife Marilyn teaches at B’nai Jacob and Charleston Catholic High School. His eldest daughter is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art and also teaches at Charleston Catholic. His middle daughter is in her 2nd year of her Clinical Psychology degree at Xavier University. His youngest is a junior at Roanoke College. 
    He can be reached at charlestonrabbi@yahoo.com 

     Nancy Morton has served as secretary for B'nai Jacob since 1979.  Born and raised in West Virginia, Nancy has two grown  children Bobby Gene and Michelle Ruppert and a beautiful granddaughter.  In many  ways, Nancy is the heart and soul of our shul. She not only handles her professional duties with aplomb and with a smile, but is always there to help during bar and bat mitzvahs and countless synagogue functions.  Though not Jewish, she knows more than everyone else in the synagogue about Judaism! Just ask her! 
She can be reached at synsecretary@yahoo.com

Marilyn Urecki, wife of our Rabbi, runs our Sunday school and Hebrew school.  Originally from St. Louis, Marilyn has a masters degree in Jewish education from  Yeshiva University and also teaches full time at Charleston Catholic High School. The synagogue and the community benefit from her well known cooking abilities in the form of regular Shabbat morning kiddushes and special events such as our annual Passover Seder. She can be reached at mjcooksalot@yahoo.com