Rabbi Victor Urecki Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Jewish Fears, Zero Hate Crime Tolerance Highlight W.Va. Antisemetic Law Enforcement Training

Federal officials say antisemitism in America is up 400 percent since the Hamas-Israel War began a month ago, and West Virginia law enforcement is on high alert.

The U.S. attorneys for the northern and southern districts of West Virginia partnered Monday with the American Jewish Committee and the FBI to conduct antisemitism training for state law enforcement.

In his welcoming remarks, Rabbi Victor Urecki spoke with a voice of fear and a heart of hope. He told those gathered at his B’nai Jacob Temple in Charleston that his once open day and night temple doors, now stayed locked. He said his congregation has endured active shooter training, his temple has security alarms, and there’s now a police presence during the Jewish High Holy Days.

“That is not the way America is,” Urecki said. “I think if we can find the causes of this, find what we can do to tamp down that hate and let it go back down into the ground as opposed to being as violent as we’ve seen it today.”

West Virginia Southern District U.S. Attorney Will Thompson was the training host in Charleston. Northern District U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld joined in virtually from Wheeling. Thompson said this training was planned for months. He said before the war began on Oct. 7, hate crime preparedness was preventive, now it’s alarmingly vital.

“I regret that we still have Nazis as part of our news cycle,” Thompson said. “That’s really sad, but we are seeing it. We want them here to realize what antisemitism is and how to recognize signs of it. People might not realize it, when they first initially see it.”

The FBI is the lead agency for hate crime violations. FBI Agent Tony Rausa referred to a Charleston neighborhood. He said antisemetic red flags can be raised beyond hate inspired rallies.

“There were individuals disseminating some messages of hate along the west side,” Rausa said. “We saw someone dropping leaflets in plastic bags with some material indiscriminately throwing them out across people’s properties. We want to be able to look into that and figure out what’s going on behind the scenes to see if there is a greater message of hate that we’re not seeing on the surface.”

An FBI agent and two law enforcement officers attend antisemitic training.

*Credit: Randy Yohe/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department Captain Eric Drennan said his team is ready in case any hate crime rally might get out of hand.

“People come out and do their protests and are usually well behaved,” Drennan said. “We do have contingency plans in place in case something out of the ordinary would happen.”

All involved in the training said the Jewish defense of Israel is a fight against Hamas terrorism. Thompson said he’s been reaching out to those of the Muslim faith as well, to make sure they are protected. He said West Virginia authorities will have no tolerance of any hate crimes, including Islamophobia.

“This is not a war against the babies of Palestine, the children and families of Palestine,” Thompson said. “This is a war against terrorists. We want to make sure people understand that. We want to make sure all parts of our community live together, work together, prosper together.”

Urecki said he hopes those attending the training here, and joining from around the state virtually, would leave this gathering with a sense of purpose – and hope.

“As members of the Jewish community right now, we’re scared,” Urecki said. “We’re scared from what we’re seeing from the far right and from the far left regarding a dramatic rise of hatred and antisemitism. What we are seeing here today is an outpouring of a sense of responsibility and a sense of urgency that we must try to see what we can do to help create peace among all peoples.”

Both Thompson and Urecki said they were sad that a law enforcement presence was required outside the temple, protecting those attending this training.

‘It’s Not About History. It’s About The Future’: Holocaust Education Survey Shows Lack Of Knowledge Nationwide, In West Virginia

A report out last week suggests many younger Americans — including young West Virginians — have a lack of knowledge about the Holocaust. The findings of a survey on the matter come as a state commission to improve education on the atrocities of the Holocaust is seeing a revival.

The survey, conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, analyzed Holocaust knowledge of people 18-39, identified as millennials and those from Generation Z.

The survey found that 63 percent of respondents across the nation did not know that six million Jews were murdered. And more than a third — 36 percent — thought that two million or fewer Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

Additionally, although there were more than 40,000 concentration camps and ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust, nearly half of respondents were unable to name a single one.

Gideon Taylor, who serves as president of the group that commissioned the survey — also known as the Claims Conference — said the results are shocking. He also said such educational efforts are imperative to preventing similar atrocities.

“For us, Holocaust education is not about history. It’s about the future,” Taylor said. “It’s about understanding what happened and using those lessons for guiding us in how we go and live in our lives.”

The survey found that many young people are also exposed to a distortion of facts about the Holocaust on social media — or, even worse, content that pushes a false narrative that it never happened.

“As wonderful as social media can be, it also — as we know — can have very negative effects. And one of them is that it’s given a platform to horrible neo-Nazi views of Holocaust denial. And that came out also in this in the study,” Taylor said.

The survey showed that 48 percent of respondents nationwide said that they had seen Holocaust denial or distortion on social media.

As fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors remain, the opportunity to hear from those who experienced the event becomes less available.

“To educate people about the Holocaust is so that people will know what racial hatred is and where racial hatred can lead to, what the ultimate conclusion of a program of racial hatred that went unchecked and led to the mass destruction — not only of the Jewish people, but of Roma and Sinti and other groups as well,” Taylor said.

The Claims Conference survey also found that 65 percent of West Virginians surveyed did not know 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. Forty percent of those young West Virginians did not know what the concentration camp Auschiwitz was. Taylor noted that the state ranked 28th in its Holocaust knowledge score.

“West Virginia was somewhere around the middle, and it wasn’t, you know, the top, wasn’t at the bottom. But we don’t need to look at this as the top or the bottom because this is a measure of information and knowledge,” Taylor explained. “But more it’s a ‘What does it tell us for what we want to do?’”

West Virginia has not been immune to displays of anti-semitism. In December 2019, a photo of state corrections officer trainees surfaced that showed the class of cadets giving a Nazi salute. The photo sparked public outcry, but some in the Jewish community wondered if the gesture was intentionally offensive or made out of ignorance.

“We seem to be fighting two battles in America. One is woeful ignorance about basic history about things that have happened in the past. And I think the other battle that we’re fighting with is [that] we have a rise in hate,” Rabbi Victor Urecki of Charleston’s B’nai Jacob Synagogue said.

Urecki was appointed in February to the state Commission on Holocaust Education, which has lain dormant for years. While the revival commission has yet to hold a formal meeting, Urecki says its return has proven necessary by recent events and surveys like the one from the Claims Conference.

“I think in light of the incident that occurred with the cadets at [corrections] — and also in light of the rise of white supremacists in our country — and then, again, with the follow up with the cadets, it seemed to be just a matter of woeful ignorance about things that should be basic in our country’s knowledge of what has happened in the past,” Urecki said. “It seemed to highlight the need for [the West Virginia Commission on Holocaust Education’s] existence.”

Urecki and Taylor of the Claims Conference both said they are deeply concerned about the results of the survey. But Taylor says that, despite his group’s findings, he does see a silver lining. Many of those surveyed across the nation — and especially in West Virginia — reported that they think Holocaust education is important.

“On the one hand, you have the lack of knowledge, but you also have an overwhelming proportion — 84 percent — saying it’s important to keep teaching about the Holocaust,” Taylor said. And I think that’s the part we also need to focus on. There is a strong desire to learn more.”

Taylor said he encourages states to take a look at education policies. He says while mandates might be a way to get there, buy-in from school districts, teachers and state education agencies are key.

“I think that what is most important is a commitment — a sense from leadership of people engaged in education at the state and at the local level — that this is important. Important, not just because it’s an item of history that people should know,” Taylor said. “It’s important because Holocaust education sets the tone and gives a message and teaches lessons for what we want going forward.”

Officials with the West Virginia Department of Education, which oversees the state Commission on Holocaust Education, did not immediately respond to a request for more information on the revival of the workgroup.

At the West Virginia statehouse, recent efforts to mandate Holocaust education in public schools have failed.

House Education Vice Chairman Del. Josh Higginbotham, a Republican from Putnam County, announced last week he plans to reintroduce legislation that would require Holocaust education in public school cirriculum. A similar bill from Higginbotham failed to make it out of his committee during the 2020 legislative session.

Widow of Shoney's Restaurants Founder Has Died

The widow of the Shoney’s Restaurants founder has died. Betty Schoenbaum was 100.

Schoenbaum and her late husband, Shoney’s founder Alex Schoenbaum, were longtime philanthropists in West Virginia, Sarasota, Florida and Columbus, Ohio, where she met him on her first day of classes at Ohio State University.

Alex Schoenbaum died in 1996 at age 81. His Parkette drive-in restaurant in Charleston became the very first Shoney’s in 1947.

Today, there are more than 100 Shoney’s restaurants in the United States.

Services are scheduled in West Virginia for Betty Schoenbaum.

Her funeral is set for Friday at B’nai Jacob Synagogue in Charleston, followed by a burial at the B’nai Jacob Eternal Home in South Charleston.

Rabbi Victor Urecki of the synagogue where Schoenbaum was a longtime congregant says she died Tuesday in her hometown of Sarasota.

Application Approved to Resettle Refugees in Charleston

Organizers say the U.S. State Department has approved an application to resettle some international refugees in Charleston.

Episcopal Migration Ministries, a national organization, and the West Virginia Interfaith Refugee Ministry submitted an application in October to resettle 100 refugees in Charleston within the first year.

Rabbi Victor Urecki, a local organizer, tells the Charleston Gazette-Mail the application was approved.

The Rev. Canon E. Mark Stevenson, director at Episcopal Migration Ministries, says the Charleston affiliate will join its network of 30 sites across the country providing safety “for people who have had to flee their homes because of war, persecution, or other violence.”

The United Nations reported in June that 21.3 million refugees were displaced from their homes at the end of last year, more than half children.

Manchin Visits Israel, Meets With Officials

Senator Joe Manchin is visiting Israel this week to meet with senior government officials and business and energy leaders.

Manchin’s office said Tuesday that the West Virginia Democrat will also tour holy sites during the trip.

Rabbi Victor Urecki accompanied Manchin on the trip. Urecki has served as rabbi at B’nai Jacob Synagogue in Charleston since 1986.