Case of Cantor Mark Horowitz

Case of Cantor Mark Horowitz

Cantor Mark Horowitz

Cantor, Temple Am in Amherst - Getzville, NY
Bureau of Jewish Education, Temple Beth Tzedek - Amherst, NY

Executive Director - Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative, New York City, NY

Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies and Fine Arts at Canisius College - Buffalo, NY

Officer Kevin Maria, was an undercover police officer, reported that  Cantor Mark Horowitz followed him at Ellicott Creek Island Park and grabbed the officer's groin.

Cantor Mark Horowitz is the Executive Director of the Bureau of JECEI (Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative). and an Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies and Fine Arts at Canisius College.

Back in 2005 an associate of the Jewish Life Network contacted The Awareness Center suggesting they wanted to fund our organization. As the talks continued the stipulation for funding was that we would remove the case Cantor Mark Horowitz from our list of alleged and convicted sex offenders.  After further investigation into the case and learning that Cantor Horowitz was the executive director of on of the programs funded by the Starlight foundation and upon discussing the matter with officers involved with the case, The Awareness Center refused to remove Horowitz from our listing –– especially since Horowitz refused to follow our protocols to be removed.  The end result was that The Awareness Center was blackballed from receiving funding from many Jewish philanthropic organization.  The Jewish Life Network at the time was an offshoot of the Steinhardt Foundation.

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Table of Contents: 

1994

1. Retired Priest Charged with Public Lewdness   (07/30/1994)

1995

1.  Cantor Charged with Sex Abuse in County Park  (05/21/1995)

2005

1. Canisius College - Faculty
2. Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI)
3. Canisius College - IFA Conference (06/ 9-12/2005)
4. Group discusses lewdness in parks (10/18/2005)
5. Basking Ridge's Zimmer pre-K is selected for national program (10/2005)
6. Cantor Charged with Sex Abuse in County Park  (05/21/1995)
7. Canisius College - Faculty
8. Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI)
9. Canisius College - IFA Conference (06/ 9-12/2005)
10. Group discusses lewdness in parks (10/18/2005)
11. Basking Ridge's Zimmer pre-K is selected for national program (10/2005)

2007

1. New Fellows Program to "Guarantee The Future" of Jewish Early Childhood Education (05/312007)

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Retired Priest Charged with Public Lewdness
By Jay Tokasz

Buffalo News, The (NY) - July 30, 2004

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo removed a retired priest from active ministry Thursday after his arrest on a public lewdness charge Wednesday in Ellicott Creek Park.

Town of Tonawanda police charged the Rev. Charles M. Werth, 76, following an undercover sweep in the park aimed at indecent behavior.

Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Grosz, diocesan administrator, removed Werth from ministry after the arrest and it's unlikely he will function again as a priest, according to a diocesan official.

It was the second time Werth has been arrested in Ellicott Creek Park. In 1994, he pleaded guilty to exposure, a violation, in Tonawanda Town Court.

At the time, Werth was serving as pastor of St. Barnabas Church in Depew. He was fined $295, ordered to stay out of the park and to get counseling.

Werth is scheduled to be arraigned on the latest charge on Aug. 18, according to his lawyer, Phillip A. Thielman.

Thielman said he would not discuss the "merits of the charges" or how Werth would plead.

Police said Werth was arrested about 3:15 p.m. in a park men's room allegedly engaged in a lewd act.

During the sweep, police made three other separate arrests of men from Lockport, North Tonawanda and the Town of Tonawanda.

Werth was not accused of sexual abuse or involvement with a minor. "There have not been any accusations against Father Werth involving children or young people," said Kevin A. Keenan, diocesan spokesman.

After his arrest in 1994, the diocese suspended Werth's priestly faculties -- which means he could not celebrate Mass or sacraments or wear priestly garments.

Ordained in 1953, Werth has served at several parishes. He resigned as St. Barnabas pastor in 1994 and retired in 1995.

In 1998, after counseling, the diocese restored his priestly faculties, and Werth functioned as many retired priests do, filling in at parishes and celebrating Masses in the absence of vacationing or ill priests.

Thielman said his client "has been under continuing counseling since the previous incident" and hoped to remain in good standing with the church. ____________________________________________________________________________________

Cantor Charged with Sex Abuse in County Park
The Buffalo News - May 21, 1995

A Getzville cantor was arrested on sexual-abuse charges Friday afternoon after he fondled a plainclothes police officer in a county park, Amherst police said.

Mark Horowitz, 42, a cantor at Temple Beth Am in Amherst, was taken into custody at 4:58 p.m. when Officer Kevin Maria said Cantor Horowitz followed him at Ellicott Creek Island Park and grabbed the officer's groin.

Cantor Horowitz was issued a ticket to appear June 5 in Town Court.

Residents in both the Town of Tonawanda and Amherst portions of the county park have repeatedly complained of lewdness, and police began intense surveillance efforts there last summer.

During 1994, dozens of men were arrested and charged with committing or attempting lewd acts at Ellicott Creek Park in the Town of Tonawanda and Ellicott Creek Island Park in Amherst. A Depew priest was arrested last August and a county judge last June.
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Canisius College - Faculty
November 11, 2005
www.canisius.edu/finearts/faculty.aspMark Horowitz
B.M. Manhattan School of Music
B.S.M. Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Ed.M. SUNY at Buffalo

Cantor Mark Horowitz received his early musical training at the Stecher and Horowitz School of the Arts. His advanced studies were at Indiana University and the Manhattan School of Music where he was a piano performance major. He received his cantorial investiture from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's School of Sacred Music and a master's degree in education from SUNY at Buffalo. As a pianist, he has performed in both solo and chamber recitals throughout the country and has appeared with orchestras in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, New York State, Ohio and in Israel. As a tenor, he has presented many solo and ensemble recitals throughout the United States and Israel. Cantor Horowitz has served congregations in Greenwich, CT, Roslyn, New York and in Buffalo. He is presently the Executive Director of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Buffalo and Chaplain at the Weinberg Campus. Currently he teaches in both the departments of Religious Studies and Fine Arts at Canisius College and is serving as advisor to the Chamber Music Ensembles.  

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Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI)
http://www.jewishlife.org/programs.html#jecei

Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation
6 East 39th Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10016
tel: 212 279 2288
fax: 212 279 1155
info@jewishlife.org

At Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation, we recognize the power of early childhood education in inculcating Jewish identity and beginning a life-long commitment to Jewish learning and life. Moreover, outstanding Jewish preschools have the capacity to not only enrich a child's identity, but to inspire an entire family to choose Jewish living. Simply put, an excellent Jewish preschool experience is a gateway for the whole family to increased Jewish education and involvement in the synagogue and community.

Jewish Life Network / Steinhardt Foundation, in partnership with The S. Daniel Abraham Foundation, The Helen Bader Foundation, The Harold Grinspoon Foundation, Ben and Esther Rosenbloom Foundation, The Schultz Family Foundation, UJA-Federation of New York and Combined Jewish Philanthropies/JCCs of Greater Boston, has begun a national initiative designed to create models of excellence in Jewish early childhood education, increase the number of families with children attending quality Jewish early childhood centers, and raise the number of families continuing to engage in Jewish learning and living after pre-school. To accomplish this, granting, mentoring, accreditation, co-branding, and marketing processes will be developed and implemented with the aim of transforming Jewish pre-schools into centers of Jewish educational excellence.

Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI)

 At Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation, we recognize the power of early childhood education in inculcating Jewish identity and beginning a life-long commitment to Jewish learning and life. Moreover, outstanding Jewish preschools have the capacity to not only enrich a child’s identity, but to inspire an entire family to choose Jewish living. Simply put, an excellent Jewish preschool experience is a gateway for the whole family to increased Jewish education and involvement in the synagogue and community.

Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation, in partnership with S. Daniel Abraham Foundation, The Harold Grinspoon Foundation, Ben and Esther Rosenbloom Foundation and UJA-Federation of New York, has begun a national initiative designed to create models of excellence in Jewish early childhood education, increase the number of families with children attending quality Jewish early childhood centers, and raise the number of families continuing to engage in Jewish learning and living after pre-school. To accomplish this, granting, mentoring, accreditation, co-branding, and marketing processes will be developed and implemented with the aim of transforming Jewish pre-schools into centers of Jewish educational excellence.

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Canisius College - IFA Conference
Identity _ Faith _ Advocacy
June 9-12, 2005
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:S1R5wiVyxxgJ:www.canisius.edu/images/userImages/stfgrad/Page_7722/Brochure.pdf+%22Mark+Horowitz%22+cantor&hl=en


Keynote Speakers
Identity

Cantor Mark Horowitz is an ordained cantor in the Jewish faith and has been an active leader in the Jewish community for several years.  In addition to his duties as cantor.  Mark has provided spiritual counseling for the homosexual Jewish community.  He currently serves as executive director of the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative, a national education foundation based in New York City.

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Group discusses lewdness in parks
by Gene Warner - NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Buffalo News, The (NY) - October 18, 2005


They came to an Elmwood Avenue church Monday night, about two dozen gay activists and supporters, to discuss a complex issue that has confounded the gay community for years:

What to do about the arrests -- and resulting publicity -- of men charged with public lewdness or sexual abuse in Ellicott Creek Park and other parks.

Madeline Davis, co-founder of Rainbow Elders of the Niagara Frontier, summed up the predominant thought of the small crowd in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo.

"The gay community is very concerned about these arrests and the psychological well-being of people who stay in the closet so long that they become desperate," she said. "We worry about them, and we want to help them."

Earlier, Danny Winter, the other co-chair, explained the stakes for those men who get caught and have their arrests publicized.

"They lose their jobs. Their families break up. They're scarred for life. And sometimes they even commit suicide over a minor offense."

Six panel members, including Town of Tonawanda Police Detective Lt. James S. Szabo III, discussed everything from police practices in the park to the psychological factors leading gay men, some of them prominent, to risk getting caught and being outed.

"Most of them are in the closet, I'd estimate about 99 percent," said attorney James Rolls, who has represented some of the arrested men. "These are people who hide who they are. Many of them are married, or used to be married and have kids. . . . They don't have avenues for their sex drive, so they go where they can for sexual gratification."

Szabo strongly suggested that Town of Tonawanda police make arrests only when the exposure, public lewdness or sexual abuse is blatant.

"There are no gray areas with us," he emphasized.

While the tone of the evening was highly conciliatory, one audience member questioned Szabo's assertion, suggesting he knew from experience that the undercover police officers' criteria weren't so stringent. Audience members also questioned whether any entrapment was involved, and whether police target gays, but not heterosexuals, for overt sexual practices.

Szabo rejected that suggestion.

"Since I've headed up this operation, nobody has gotten away with any sexual activity in the park," he said. "It's just a job we do. We're not picking on one segment of the community."
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Basking Ridge's Zimmer pre-K is selected for national program
by Elaine Durbach, NJJN Bureau Chief/Central
October 2005 - New Jersey Jewish News
 

Cantor Mark Horowitz - accused of groping a police officer

A preschool in Basking Ridge has been selected to participate in a national effort aimed at transforming early childhood programs into `'centers of Jewish educational excellence."

The Zimmer Preschool at the Chabad Jewish Center is one of 13 preschools around the country chosen for the new project, the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative. The 13 schools represent a range of educational philosophies, denominational affiliations, settings, and communal conditions.

Funded by a group of major Jewish philanthropic foundations and organizations, JECEI is intended to help make preschools more rewarding places for young students and more engaging for their parents. According to those spearheading the project, such engagement leads to more involvement in Jewish life and, through such involvement, to stronger Jewish communities.

"There are thousands of Jewish preschools out there, and the fact that they selected us is wonderful," said Malkie Herson, educational director at the Jewish Center, which includes the Zimmer preschool, the synagogue's religious school, and other programs. "When we were first asked to join, we were feeling proud of ourselves. It's always nice to know other people agree with your assessment."

The 13 sites will receive grants, and trained coaches skilled in early childhood education, Jewish education, and school transformation practices will be assigned to guide the school's projects funded by the grants. The school directors will participate in a training program with the JECEI staff. Schools that successfully complete the initiative will receive national recognition and will be named as JECEI centers.

The project is based on research that concludes that Jewish early childhood education is a vital building block for a positive Jewish identity and long-term Jewish commitment for children and parents. A press release announcing the new venture states: "When a family is engaged by the Jewish early childhood center in a rich and meaningful way, the experience translates into increased and ongoing involvement for the whole family."

JECEI principals say that research indicates that parents with children in Jewish early childhood programs are more likely to attend synagogue, participate in local Jewish communal activities, travel to and support Israel, send their children to Jewish day schools, and be involved in Jewish life.

"We can create an educational experience that involves the entire family and enriches Jewish home life," says JECEI executive director Cantor Mark Horowitz in the statement.

Herson said that so far, she and her staff appreciate the way JECEI has provided each school with a coach — to observe them, offer suggestions, and serve as a resource for ideas and supplies. Although the school is eligible for a JECEI grant as part of the program, Herson said, she does not expect to receive it until 2006, nor does she know the amount of the grant.

Herson also met with early childhood professionals from the other 12 schools. She said the group spent three days in a hotel, getting to know one another and discussing children and educational theories and activities.

"It was an unbelievable feeling of cohesiveness and support," Herson said. "We are partnering all together. We were like kids in overnight camp. We formed amazing relationships with people as passionate and caring about the same things as I am" — educating young children.

The funders aim to raise more than $3 million for the first three years of the initiative. Philanthropists Michael Steinhardt and Harold Grinspoon are chair and president, respectively, of the JECEI board of directors. In addition to the Jewish Life/Steinhardt Foundation and Grinspoon Foundation, partners include the S. Daniel Abraham Foundation, the Helen Bader Foundation, the Ben and Esther Rosenbloom Foundation, the Schultz Family Foundation, UJA-Federation of New York, and the Combined Jewish Philanthropies/ JCCs of Greater Boston.

"The innovation and research they have and bring to our school in a very personal way is amazing," Herson said. "It's emotional and educational support. We've always believed in quality Jewish education, and we wanted to make it as good as can be. Our educational philosophy is to hone a child's natural creativity and curiosity — that curiosity is what will make him or her a learner."

Various successful educational models will be considered for inclusion in the JECEI blueprint, especially the work done at the Reggio Emilia schools in northern Italy, which are regarded as "particularly consonant with Jewish values and Jewish life," according to the press statement.

The philosophy fits in with what Herson and her husband, Rabbi Mendy Herson, who is executive director of the Basking Ridge synagogue, are trying to accomplish — reaching out to families.

"Parents very often come to our school because our reputation precedes us, and they come despite the fact that we're a Jewish school," Malkie Herson said. "We're that child-focused. Jewish preschools have a wonderful reputation for being very loving, but it's not enough. It's also important that children learn and grow in the most optimal way. I tell parents the teachers don't teach — they help children learn. It's not semantics — it's a world of difference."

Herson said she was pleased to see several preschool families who previously did not attend synagogue at Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services.

The other schools in the pilot program are in Dallas; New York City; Stamford, Conn.; Baltimore; Boston; Deerfield, Ill.; Chevy Chase, Md.; San Rafael, Calif.; North Miami Beach, Fla.; Great Neck, NY; and Phoenix.

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New Fellows Program to "Guarantee The Future" of Jewish Early Childhood Education
The Covenant Foundation - May 31, 2007 

Special Projects | Early Childhood Education

New Fellows Program to "Guarantee The Future" of Jewish Early Childhood Education

18 "Leader-Activists" from across US Named JECEI-Covenant Fellows 

JECEI Partners with Bank Street, Harvard, and the Covenant Foundation to provide Summer Institutes, Seminars, Mentorship, Trip to Israel


JECEI (the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative) and The Covenant Foundation announced the names today of 18 promising "leader-activists" chosen for intensive training and mentorship under the new JECEI-Covenant Fellows Program, created to "guarantee the future of Jewish Early Childhood Education" in North America.

Training Exceptional Leaders
The new program responds to studies showing that 79% of Jewish early childhood education directors will reach retirement age within 5-10 years. "The Fellows program addresses an urgent need," says JECEI's Executive Director, Cantor Mark Horowitz. "If we're going to keep Jewish early childhood education alive, excellent, and keep our families and children in Jewish learning environments, we need to train promising young educators to become exceptional leaders in the field."

To that end, 18 Jewish early childhood educators have been chosen as Fellows. They are: Peter Blair of Seattle, Washington; Sarah Cunin of Reno, Nevada; Ellen Dietrick of Charlottesville, Virginia; Julie Eisman of Waterford, Michigan; Anna Hartman of Atlanta, Georgia; Kathy Kaberon of Evanston, Illinois; Shosh Korrub of Deerfield, Illinois; Sandra Levi of North Miami Beach, Florida; Valerie Lustgarten of Aventura, Florida; Veronica Maravankin of Wellington, Florida; Michal Mendelow of Stamford, Connecticut; Beth Raz of Oak Park, Michigan; Rivkie Spalter of Mequon, Wisconsin; Marcy Stieglitz of Los Angeles, California; Rebecca Swartz of Boulder, Colorado; Debbie Weinberger of Silver Spring, Maryland; Jordana Weiss of Southfield, Michigan; and Hannah Williams of Atlanta, Georgia.

A "Wraparound Support Network"
In collaboration with Bank Street College of Education, a recognized leader in child-centered education, and Project Zero at Harvard University, the JECEI-Covenant Fellows Program will include two summer institutes and frequent seminars featuring cutting edge leadership development, systemic thinking, and dialogue-based Judaic learning. In addition, the support services for this group of eighteen will include monthly phone conferences and guided online discussion groups as well as individual mentorship.

"Much as we believe an excellent Jewish Early Childhood Center encompasses not only the child and the family, but the community as a whole, we plan to give the fellows the same sense of a wraparound support network throughout their experience as JECEI-Covenant Fellows," says Horowitz. The Fellowship also includes a trip to Israel to meet with counterparts in order to share work, familiarize the participants with the land, and study at some of Israel's foremost Early Childhood Centers.

Harlene Appelman, Executive Director of The Covenant Foundation, says that this type of mentorship and training is integral to the future of Jewish education. "We are investing in a cadre of leaders who will have what they need to work together," she says. "Through intensive training, regular meetings and travel, the cohort will create a group of colleagues on whom they can depend and turn to for advice."

About the Sponsors:
The Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI) was launched in 2005 to create a group of vanguard Jewish early childhood centers across North America using the best practices of early childhood, adult, and family education, the most recent studies in brain development and social/emotional learning, and the accumulated lessons of organizational change efforts throughout the educational world. JECEI works to realize a vibrant vision of early childhood education framed by and embedded within foundational Jewish values that are meaningful and compelling to contemporary Jewish families seeking supportive communities and the highest quality education for their children.

The Covenant Foundation was established in 1990 to celebrate and support innovative approaches in Jewish education. It pursues this vision through two programs: the Covenant Awards, which honor individual accomplishment by outstanding Jewish educators, and the Covenant Grants, which support innovative programming.
 

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