Case of Cantor Howard Nevison
(1962 - 1964) Curtis Institute of Music
(1978 - Present) Baritone of the Israel National Opera
(1978 - Present) Baritone of the Israel National Opera
Jewish Theological Seminary's H.L. Miller Cantorial School
Temple Emanu El - Manhattan, New York
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia, PA
Cantor Howard Nevison pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, terroristic threats, simple assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children. His nephew testified that he did not report the abuse for years because Nevison threatened to kill him. His nephew should be seen as a hero because he finally over came his fears and was able to provide law enforcement officals the needed information to convict this sexual predator.
Two felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse will be dismissed when Nevison is sentenced. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
Cantors Howard Nevison of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan was among 10 inducted as honorary fellows in the Jewish Theological Seminary's H.L. Miller Cantorial School -- New York Jewish Week (05/08/1998)
Experts in sexual ethics violations among clergy are criticizing Temple Emanu-El for the way it has handled the arrest of its cantor, Howard Nevison, on charges that he sexually abused his young nephew.
Several psychiatrists who train clergy on pastoral and ethics issues say that once Emanu-El's board became aware of the allegations, it immediately should have suspended Nevison with pay pending the outcome of the police investigation for the emotional and physical well-being of the congregation. At the very least, the psychiatrists said, the board should have modified and supervised his responsibilities.
Two felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse will be dismissed when Nevison is sentenced. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
Cantors Howard Nevison of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan was among 10 inducted as honorary fellows in the Jewish Theological Seminary's H.L. Miller Cantorial School -- New York Jewish Week (05/08/1998)
Experts in sexual ethics violations among clergy are criticizing Temple Emanu-El for the way it has handled the arrest of its cantor, Howard Nevison, on charges that he sexually abused his young nephew.
Several psychiatrists who train clergy on pastoral and ethics issues say that once Emanu-El's board became aware of the allegations, it immediately should have suspended Nevison with pay pending the outcome of the police investigation for the emotional and physical well-being of the congregation. At the very least, the psychiatrists said, the board should have modified and supervised his responsibilities.
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Table of Contents:
Biography by Howard Nevison
1978
1986
Table of Contents:
Biography by Howard Nevison
1978
- Became a cantor
1986
- Opera Legend To Participate In Church Benefit (02/15/1986)
- Cantor Howard Nevison sings at the Vatican (04/08/1994)
1998
- Yeshiva U. Accepts Saved Lodz Scroll (05/08/1998)
2002
- Cantor charged with sex abuse freed from jail (02/20/2002)
- Cantor At New York Synagogue Charged In Molestation Case (02/20/2002)
- Cantor Accused of Child Sex Crime Freed on Bail (02/20/2002)
- Cantor charged with sex abuse freed from jail (02/20/2002)
- Cantor at Temple Emanu-El Is Accused of Molesting Nephew (02/21/2002)
- NYC cantor arrested for sexually abusing nephew (02/22/2002)
- Court papers describe boy's sex-abuse trauma (02/22/2002)
- Synagogue Stands By Cantor (02/22/2002)
- Molestation Left Boy Suicidal — Complaint (02/22/2002)
- Temple criticized over cantor sex abuse case (03/01/2002)
- Emanu-El Criticized Over Cantor Case (03/01/2002)
- Prosecutor's Power - Letters (03/01/2002)
- A Higher Standard - Editorials (03/01/2002)
- Yoffie Defends Temple in Cantor Sex Abuse Case (03/08/2002)
- Cantor surrenders to authorities on molestation charges (03/09/2002)
- Surprise as cantor turns himself in (03/09/2002)
- Nevison Defense, Prosecution Spar (04/05/2002)
- Haredi Group Balks At Clergy Law (04/05/2002)
- Song of Sorrow (04/15/2002)
- Cantor Must Stand Trial on Kid-Sex Rap (04/17/2002)
- Boy,12, testifying against cantor accused of sex abuse (04/17/2002)
- New York City cantor ordered to stand trial on sex charges in Pennsylvania (04/18/2002)
- Cantor faces trial on sex-abuse counts - His nephew, 12, gives graphic testimony (04/18/2002)
- Hypnosis raised in cantor's boy sex case (04/18/2002)
- Legal Defense Fund For Nevison (04/19/2002)
- Friends Start Legal Fund For Cantor Charged With Sexually Abusing Nephew (04/23/2002)
- Paid Leave For Nevison (05/10/2002)
- Glass Houses (06/15/2002)
2003
- Judge says boy, 13, can testify in abuse case (01/17/2003)
- Testimony against cantor allowed (01/17/2003)
- Cantor's brothers to testify against him (06/04/2003)
- Brothers' Testimony Will Be Allowed In Cantor Sex Trial (06/04/2003)
- Cantor's brothers to testify - Will detail his abuse of them as children (06/05/2003)
- Brothers of cantor may testify against him (06/07/2003)
- Testimony questioned in Cantor case (07/08/2003)
- News in brief from the Philadelphia area (07/09/2003)
- Cantor's abuse trial won't start until 2004 (08/29/2003)
2004
- Brothers barred from testifying in sex abuse case (08/03/2004)
2005
- August trial set for ex-cantor accused of molesting nephew (04/29/2005)
- Court of Common Please of Montogmery County (PDF File) (10/13/2005)
2006
- Cantor Pleads Guity to Sex Abuse Charges (06/12/2006)
- Former NYC cantor pleads guilty to sex assaults on nephew (06/13/2006)
- An uncle admits molesting his nephew: The New York City man pleaded guilty to the assaults during holiday visits to Lower Merion (06/13/2006)
- Nevison: I Did Nothing Wrong (06/13/2006)
- Ex-Manhattan cantor placed on probation in assaults on young boy (09/19/2006)
- Cantor Sentenced in Child Abuse Case (09/19/2006)
- Cantor sentenced for abuse (09/20/2006)
- Probation for molester (09/20/2006)
- N.Y. cantor avoids prison term for sexual assaults on nephew (09/20/2006)
- Cantor gets 12-year probation for sexually assaulting his nephew (09/21/2006)
- Judge has cantor tour jail after getting probation (09/21/2006)
- No Jail For Nevison - Cantor gets probation in plea deal over molestation charges involving nephew. (09/22/2006)
- How the child-abusing cantor avoided time in prison (09/27/2006)
2012
- Howard Nevison - Linkedin (12/09/2012)
Also See:
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Biography by Cantor Howard Nevison
By Howard Nevison
Howard Nevison - October 17, 2009
http://howardnevison.wordpress.com
Cantor Howard Nevision was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he began his formal training and musical studies at an early age. Howard Nevison is a graduate of the Settlement Music School and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Cantor Nevison has performed and toured with leading opera companies in the United States, Europe and Israel. Mr. Nevison is also the possessor of a host of cantorial achievements which include cantorial posts in Pennsylvania and New York.
After 42 years of dedication to the profession, Cantor Howard Nevison retired as Cantor and Music Director of Congregation Emanu-El. Congregation Emanu-El located in New York City is the largest Reform Jewish Congregation in the United States. During his 28 years of tenure as Cantor at Emanu-El, Cantor Howard Nevison was heard live on the radio station WQXR every Friday evening. In addition to commissioning new music, Cantor Howard Nevison also created an Interfaith Ecumenical Concert Series which became a major musical event of its time. Cantor Howard Nevison currently continues to teach voice and repertoire.
Cantor Howard Nevison’s
beginning stages of becoming a cantor can be traced back over one
hundred years ago to his childhood and family history. Cantor Howard
Nevison was blessed with good fortune in that both of his grandfathers
were professional Cantors.
As a child, growing up, Cantorial music was the primary style of music that Nevison heard at home. This encouraged the Cantor at a very young age to further develop a natural tenacity toward Cantorial music. Cantorial music later became not only a discipline but also the road to his life achievements as a Cantor, Opera Singer and Teacher.
At the age of eight years old Cantor Howard Nevison sang as a boy soprano in his maternal grandfather’s Synagogue Choir. Nevison was a quick learner, inherited powerful vocal chords and was agile. These assets enabled Nevison to easily read music and sing as a young professional in training, while he was still technically learning the alphabet.
By heritage, Cantor Howard Nevison’s success was in the making before
he was born. The story of this great Cantor’s life began with a chance
meeting of two men that takes us back over a century ago. It also
pre-dates the meeting of Nevison’s parents.
In the early 1900’s, during one of North America’s largest immigrations that post dates the Industrial Revolution, a man named Harry Nevison came to the United States from Austria- Hungary while another man, Joseph Bobis came to the United States from Odessa, Russia by way of South Africa. Similar to other Jewish immigrants they left their country because of discrimination and also to find a better life in America.
Both men arrived by boat through Ellis Island and Harry Nevison of Austria and Joseph Bobis of Odessa settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They ended up singing in the exact same synagogue during the Jewish high holy holidays.
Cantor Harry Nevison sang in the large sanctuary while Cantor Joseph Bobis sang in an over-flow sanctuary. When Cantor Nevison’s parents met and both grandfathers were introduced to each other, Nevison and Bobis realized, they had spent years simultaneously singing in two sanctuaries that were side by side. Bon-chance as the French say, for such a mitzvah to occur. This mitzvah was just the beginning of a life long journey of Cantorial heritage to be celebrated in the Nevison family.
Cantor Nevison spent his youth singing in all male accapella choirs
which instilled within him deeply, a musical discipline, that led him to
form his own unique musical taste and style.
“From an early age, if I sang a wrong note and my harmony was completely off, my grandfather would give me the eye,” states Cantor Nevison. The majestic result of his grandfathers’ look of the eye when he sung out of harmony was that Nevison gained his grandfather as a role model and was then able to learn his entire major Cantorial repertoire under his tutelage.
Cantor Harry Nevison and Cantor Joseph Bobis even began to argue about what choir the young Howard Nevison would sing with. Eventually as a student, Cantor Howard Nevison satisfied both grandfathers by committing to a shared singing schedule.
Having held Cantorial posts in Pennsylvania and New York City, the most recent (Congregation Emanu-El) Nevison made his family heritage of Cantors proud. Cantor Nevison’s appointment and career as Cantor and Musical Director of Congregation Emanu-El was one of the most respected and important parts of his career as a Cantor, Opera Singer and Teacher. Congregation Emanu-El of the City Of New York is the largest Reform Jewish house of worship in the United States.
In 2006, Cantor Howard Nevison retired from Temple Emanu-El with still a ripened and full-bodied baritone voice and strong vocal chords in place. This has enabled him to pursue and continue to develop Howard Nevison, the Teacher – that resides within him.
As a baritone, Howard Nevison was born with the fortune of a type of male singing voice that lies between the base and tenor voices. Howard Nevison, the Opera singer performed in over 95 performances in Israel within a single year for both Israeli and European audiences. Nevison’s performances in operas such as Rigoletto, La Boheme, La Traviata and Romeo & Juliet earned him a name in opera and also helped him to roadmap his way to become a Cantor.
Cantor Howard Nevison has a lifetime worth of memories that span from childhood to adulthood. It is these memories that enable him to embrace his past and reflect upon what it took to become a Cantor, an Opera Singer and a Teacher. It is also these special memories and lasting experiences that Nevison reverts to when he needs to pass along new teachings to his students.
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Opera Legend To Participate In Church Benefit
by GEOFF GEHMAN
The Morning Call - February 15, 1986
"Shower of Stars," tomorrow's benefit concert for St. Anthony of Padua Church, Easton, will reunite several participants.
The Rev. Albert Cervella, associate pastor of St. Anthony's and producer of "Shower of Stars," once studied to be an opera singer. He attended the Settlement School of Music, Philadelphia, with baritone Howard Nevison, who will perform tomorrow at the State Theatre, Easton.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Biography by Cantor Howard Nevison
By Howard Nevison
Howard Nevison - October 17, 2009
http://howardnevison.wordpress.com
Cantor Howard Nevision was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he began his formal training and musical studies at an early age. Howard Nevison is a graduate of the Settlement Music School and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Cantor Nevison has performed and toured with leading opera companies in the United States, Europe and Israel. Mr. Nevison is also the possessor of a host of cantorial achievements which include cantorial posts in Pennsylvania and New York.After 42 years of dedication to the profession, Cantor Howard Nevison retired as Cantor and Music Director of Congregation Emanu-El. Congregation Emanu-El located in New York City is the largest Reform Jewish Congregation in the United States. During his 28 years of tenure as Cantor at Emanu-El, Cantor Howard Nevison was heard live on the radio station WQXR every Friday evening. In addition to commissioning new music, Cantor Howard Nevison also created an Interfaith Ecumenical Concert Series which became a major musical event of its time. Cantor Howard Nevison currently continues to teach voice and repertoire.
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| Community Reform Temple Westbury, NY |
As a child, growing up, Cantorial music was the primary style of music that Nevison heard at home. This encouraged the Cantor at a very young age to further develop a natural tenacity toward Cantorial music. Cantorial music later became not only a discipline but also the road to his life achievements as a Cantor, Opera Singer and Teacher.
At the age of eight years old Cantor Howard Nevison sang as a boy soprano in his maternal grandfather’s Synagogue Choir. Nevison was a quick learner, inherited powerful vocal chords and was agile. These assets enabled Nevison to easily read music and sing as a young professional in training, while he was still technically learning the alphabet.
 |
| Singing in Israel Cavalleria Rusticana |
In the early 1900’s, during one of North America’s largest immigrations that post dates the Industrial Revolution, a man named Harry Nevison came to the United States from Austria- Hungary while another man, Joseph Bobis came to the United States from Odessa, Russia by way of South Africa. Similar to other Jewish immigrants they left their country because of discrimination and also to find a better life in America.
Both men arrived by boat through Ellis Island and Harry Nevison of Austria and Joseph Bobis of Odessa settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They ended up singing in the exact same synagogue during the Jewish high holy holidays.
Cantor Harry Nevison sang in the large sanctuary while Cantor Joseph Bobis sang in an over-flow sanctuary. When Cantor Nevison’s parents met and both grandfathers were introduced to each other, Nevison and Bobis realized, they had spent years simultaneously singing in two sanctuaries that were side by side. Bon-chance as the French say, for such a mitzvah to occur. This mitzvah was just the beginning of a life long journey of Cantorial heritage to be celebrated in the Nevison family.
 |
| Nevison with former Mayor Of New York Abraham Beame |
“From an early age, if I sang a wrong note and my harmony was completely off, my grandfather would give me the eye,” states Cantor Nevison. The majestic result of his grandfathers’ look of the eye when he sung out of harmony was that Nevison gained his grandfather as a role model and was then able to learn his entire major Cantorial repertoire under his tutelage.
Cantor Harry Nevison and Cantor Joseph Bobis even began to argue about what choir the young Howard Nevison would sing with. Eventually as a student, Cantor Howard Nevison satisfied both grandfathers by committing to a shared singing schedule.
Having held Cantorial posts in Pennsylvania and New York City, the most recent (Congregation Emanu-El) Nevison made his family heritage of Cantors proud. Cantor Nevison’s appointment and career as Cantor and Musical Director of Congregation Emanu-El was one of the most respected and important parts of his career as a Cantor, Opera Singer and Teacher. Congregation Emanu-El of the City Of New York is the largest Reform Jewish house of worship in the United States.
In 2006, Cantor Howard Nevison retired from Temple Emanu-El with still a ripened and full-bodied baritone voice and strong vocal chords in place. This has enabled him to pursue and continue to develop Howard Nevison, the Teacher – that resides within him.
As a baritone, Howard Nevison was born with the fortune of a type of male singing voice that lies between the base and tenor voices. Howard Nevison, the Opera singer performed in over 95 performances in Israel within a single year for both Israeli and European audiences. Nevison’s performances in operas such as Rigoletto, La Boheme, La Traviata and Romeo & Juliet earned him a name in opera and also helped him to roadmap his way to become a Cantor.
Cantor Howard Nevison has a lifetime worth of memories that span from childhood to adulthood. It is these memories that enable him to embrace his past and reflect upon what it took to become a Cantor, an Opera Singer and a Teacher. It is also these special memories and lasting experiences that Nevison reverts to when he needs to pass along new teachings to his students.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Opera Legend To Participate In Church Benefit
by GEOFF GEHMAN
The Morning Call - February 15, 1986
"Shower of Stars," tomorrow's benefit concert for St. Anthony of Padua Church, Easton, will reunite several participants.
The Rev. Albert Cervella, associate pastor of St. Anthony's and producer of "Shower of Stars," once studied to be an opera singer. He attended the Settlement School of Music, Philadelphia, with baritone Howard Nevison, who will perform tomorrow at the State Theatre, Easton.
Cantor Howard Nevison Sings at the Vatican
By NADINE BROZAN
New York Times - April 8, 1994
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| Convicted sex offender, Howard Nevison with the Pope |
The place was the Vatican, and Cantor Nevison said from Rome yesterday that he was the first cantor to sing at the Vatican and the first person to sing in Hebrew there.
"It was extraordinarily special," Cantor Nevison said. "I knew it had never been done before, so I felt a tremendous responsibility not only to do my best, but to feel the meaning of the words more than I ever had before."The setting of the Psalm, which Schubert had written for the dedication of the Great Synagogue in Vienna in 1826, was part of a concert for Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day, at the Vatican.
The program also included Max Bruch's "Kol Nidrei," and portions of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Leonard Bernstein's "Kaddish" Symphony and "Chichester Psalms."
"To perform in Hebrew with an Italian Christian choir at the Vatican with the Pope and 150 survivors of the Holocaust in attendance was truly overwhelming," Cantor Nevison said.
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Yeshiva U. Accepts Saved Lodz Scroll
Jewish Week - May 8, 1998
A Torah scroll from the Lodz ghetto that was saved during the Holocaust was presented to Norman Lamm and Moshe Tendler, president and Talmud teacher, respectively, at Yeshiva University, on behalf of the school. The scroll came from the Healing Lights Foundation, an interfaith organization that rescues Torahs hidden in Eastern Europe since the end of World War II.
The Appeal of Conscience Foundation presented its World Statesman Award to Indian President K.R. Narayanan ... The Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America presented its Jan Zwartendjik Humanitarian Ethics Award to Dr. Frits Philips, an executive of the Philips Corp., for his role in saving the lives of 500 Jews in Nazi-occupied Holland during World War II. The award, presented to Philips' son, Anton, is named for the Dutch diplomat who saved some 2,300 Jews in Lithuania during the war.
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's New York Metropolitan Region will honor executive director Bruce Greenfield at its annual dinner June 8 in the Plainview (L.I.) Jewish Center ... The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science will present its Women and Science Award to Jacqueline Barton of the California Institute of Science at a reception June 2 at the New York Academy of Sciences in Manhattan.
Five area rabbis are among a dozen who received Rabbinic Centennial Medallion Awards from the Orthodox Union at a centennial dinner. They are Marc Angel, Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, and Haskel Lookstein, Kehilath Jeshurun, both in Manhattan; Shlomo Hochberg, Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, and Fabian Schonfeld, Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, both in Queens; and Norman Lamm, president, Yeshiva University.
Gail Hyman, group vice president for marketing and communications at UJA-Federation, was appointed vice president of marketing and public affairs at national United Jewish Appeal ... The American Library Association has named "Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia" (Routledge, 1998), edited by Paula Hyman and Deborah Dash Moore, as recipient of its Dartmouth Medal for a reference book. Hyman is a professor of Jewish history at Yale University. Moore is a professor of history at Vassar College.
The Emanuel Foundation presented its Humanitarian Award to Dr. Ivan Gulas, co-chairman of the Title/Mirage Hollywood post-production firm ... Martin Begun, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council, received an honorary doctorate from the New York College of Podiatric Medicine ... Writers and Artists for Peace in the Middle East presented Achievement Awards to opera singer Robert Merrill and artist Larry Rivers ... The Jewish National Fund presented its Tree of Life Award to Frank Branchini, president of Group Health Inc.
Mount Sinai Medical Center honored Rabbi Charles Spirn, who is retiring after nearly 20 years as its head chaplain ... Yeshiva University's Wurzweiler School of Social Work honored Arthur Joseph of Teaneck, N.J., and Robert Schwalbe of Manhattan at its annual dinner.
Cantors Howard Nevison of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan and David Shiff of the Midchester Jewish Center in Yonkers are among 10 inducted as honorary fellows in the Jewish Theological Seminary's H.L. Miller Cantorial School ... Camp Ramah in the Berkshires honored three camp supporters, Cantor Lawrence Avery, Rabbi Ezra Finkelstein and Susan Werk, at its ninth annual dinner at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle.
Sue Dickman, founding director of the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University, was appointed executive vice president of the Jewish Communal Fund.
Yeshiva U. Accepts Saved Lodz Scroll
Jewish Week - May 8, 1998
A Torah scroll from the Lodz ghetto that was saved during the Holocaust was presented to Norman Lamm and Moshe Tendler, president and Talmud teacher, respectively, at Yeshiva University, on behalf of the school. The scroll came from the Healing Lights Foundation, an interfaith organization that rescues Torahs hidden in Eastern Europe since the end of World War II.
The Appeal of Conscience Foundation presented its World Statesman Award to Indian President K.R. Narayanan ... The Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America presented its Jan Zwartendjik Humanitarian Ethics Award to Dr. Frits Philips, an executive of the Philips Corp., for his role in saving the lives of 500 Jews in Nazi-occupied Holland during World War II. The award, presented to Philips' son, Anton, is named for the Dutch diplomat who saved some 2,300 Jews in Lithuania during the war.
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's New York Metropolitan Region will honor executive director Bruce Greenfield at its annual dinner June 8 in the Plainview (L.I.) Jewish Center ... The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science will present its Women and Science Award to Jacqueline Barton of the California Institute of Science at a reception June 2 at the New York Academy of Sciences in Manhattan.
Five area rabbis are among a dozen who received Rabbinic Centennial Medallion Awards from the Orthodox Union at a centennial dinner. They are Marc Angel, Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, and Haskel Lookstein, Kehilath Jeshurun, both in Manhattan; Shlomo Hochberg, Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, and Fabian Schonfeld, Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, both in Queens; and Norman Lamm, president, Yeshiva University.
Gail Hyman, group vice president for marketing and communications at UJA-Federation, was appointed vice president of marketing and public affairs at national United Jewish Appeal ... The American Library Association has named "Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia" (Routledge, 1998), edited by Paula Hyman and Deborah Dash Moore, as recipient of its Dartmouth Medal for a reference book. Hyman is a professor of Jewish history at Yale University. Moore is a professor of history at Vassar College.
The Emanuel Foundation presented its Humanitarian Award to Dr. Ivan Gulas, co-chairman of the Title/Mirage Hollywood post-production firm ... Martin Begun, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council, received an honorary doctorate from the New York College of Podiatric Medicine ... Writers and Artists for Peace in the Middle East presented Achievement Awards to opera singer Robert Merrill and artist Larry Rivers ... The Jewish National Fund presented its Tree of Life Award to Frank Branchini, president of Group Health Inc.
Mount Sinai Medical Center honored Rabbi Charles Spirn, who is retiring after nearly 20 years as its head chaplain ... Yeshiva University's Wurzweiler School of Social Work honored Arthur Joseph of Teaneck, N.J., and Robert Schwalbe of Manhattan at its annual dinner.
Cantors Howard Nevison of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan and David Shiff of the Midchester Jewish Center in Yonkers are among 10 inducted as honorary fellows in the Jewish Theological Seminary's H.L. Miller Cantorial School ... Camp Ramah in the Berkshires honored three camp supporters, Cantor Lawrence Avery, Rabbi Ezra Finkelstein and Susan Werk, at its ninth annual dinner at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle.
Sue Dickman, founding director of the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University, was appointed executive vice president of the Jewish Communal Fund.
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Cantor charged with sex abuse freed from jail
By Ralph Vigoda and Mark Stroh, Inquirer Staff Writers (Gaiutra S. Bahadur contributed to this report.)
Philadelphia Inquirer - February 20, 2002
The cantor of one of the world's largest synagogues, charged today with sexually abusing his young nephew in Lower Merion over four years, was later freed from a New York City jail on the promise that he would post bond by noon tomorrow.
Howard Nevison, 61, the third man in his family to be charged with abusing the now 12-year-old boy, was in custody for 12 hours after his predawn arrest at his Manhattan apartment. His release outraged Montgomery County authorities, who said they have had to wait years to prosecute the case because the victim was so traumatized by the alleged abuse.
"I'm very upset. I'm astounded. I'm disappointed," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said. "Now the victim and the family know Uncle Howard is roaming free. I think that's a travesty. In my experience, this is unprecedented."
Nevison has been the cantor – the official who sings or chants liturgical music and leads the congregation in prayer – at the influential Temple Emanu-El on New York's Fifth Avenue for more than 20 years. The synagogue, founded in 1845, has about 10,000 members.
"The cantor has been a faithful servant to our congregation for 23 years, and never in all of that time has there been any suggestion of improper behavior on his part," read a statement issued by the synagogue this afternoon.
Nevison, who is married and has no children, was originally denied bail in criminal court this afternoon. But his lawyer, John Patrick Deveney, immediately appealed to the New York State Supreme Court and Justice Arlene Goldberg set bail at $100,000. Nevison must post $10,000 tomorrow.
He also surrendered his passport to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who, coincidentally, is affiliated with Temple Emanu-El. Deveney said he didn't know whether Nevison and Morgenthau were friends or acquaintances.
Prosecutors said at least three incidents of abuse occurred between 1993, when the boy was 3, and 1997 - when Nevison visited the family for celebrations and holidays.
The child told investigators that his uncle "threatened to kill him if he ever told anyone about what he did." according to court papers.
Nevison's brother, Lawrence Nevison, 55, and Lawrence Nevison's son, Stewart Nevison, 30, were convicted in 2000 of sexually abusing the boy. Stewart Nevison also told authorities that his father had abused him when he was a child.
The boy's mother has changed her last name and that of her children to avoid the publicity, Castor said. The Inquirer is withholding their names.
An extradition hearing for Howard Nevison is set for March 19.
"He's a very well-respected man in his community," Deveney told the court. "He has very close ties to the community of New York."
Deveney said his client had been living with the possibility of charges for three years.
"With that threat, he never fled," Deveney said in court. "He could have gone and he didn't go. And he won't go now."
He thought Nevison would be allowed to surrender voluntarily, he added.
Castor, though, said he considered Nevison such a high flight risk that he had Lower Merion detectives, unannounced, pick him up at 5:30 a.m. at his home, a few blocks from the synagogue.
"I'd flee if I were him," Castor said.
Castor said that authorities had been aware of the allegations against Howard Nevison for years, but that they could not proceed with prosecution because the boy was too petrified.
Castor acknowledged Nevison's stature within the Jewish community. "A cantor is a figure that is revered within the synagogue, and we tend to assume that religious figures are beyond reproach," he said.
But he also described Nevison as "a menacing presence" to the young child.
"He terrorized the child to the point he would have been too traumatized had he been required to testify," Castor said. "Originally, he wouldn't talk about Uncle Howard."
By last fall, court papers say, the boy told authorities he was ready to go ahead with the prosecution, despite his intense fear of his uncle and the continuing nightmares he suffered. Counseling has helped him muster the courage to testify, Castor said.
The head of Montgomery County's sex-crimes unit, Rich DiSipio, met with the boy, and Castor sat down with his parents to make sure all were prepared for the ordeal to come.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting the case would have run out in 2003, five years after the boy's parents first approached police about the alleged abuse.
Two years ago, when he was 10, the boy testified in Montgomery County at the preliminary hearing and trial of his uncle Lawrence Nevison, who was found guilty and sentenced to five to 15 years. He also testified at the preliminary hearing of his cousin Stewart Nevison, who pleaded guilty to abusing the boy and the boy's sister. Stewart Nevison served jail time and is on probation. Both men are registered in Montgomery County as sexual offenders under Megan's Law.
Howard Nevison's name surfaced during those cases.
"He's the one who was violent," Castor said.
"I think he [Howard] believed the boy was so intimidated by him that he would not talk."
The boy's father, Henry Nevison, is a brother of Lawrence and Howard Nevison. He and Lawrence Nevison told investigators that their older brother Howard sexually abused them when they were children.
Paul J. Fink, professor of psychiatry at Temple University and past president of the American Psychiatric Association, said the Nevison case is unusual because it involves so many people from the same family. But it is not uncommon to see sexual abuse passed on, he said.
"Anybody who is sexually abused tends to abuse others," he said. "That's how they deal with it. There's no rational way to deal with that kind of trauma other than to have to swallow it and develop panic disorder, or do to others."
The Temple Emanu-El Web page describes the synagogue as the "largest Jewish house of worship in the world and the largest Reform Jewish congregation in the United States."
Nevison, known for his performances in cantorial concerts, was featured in "The Papal Concert to Commemorate the Holocaust," in April 1994, becoming the first cantor to sing in the Vatican.
Cantor charged with sex abuse freed from jail
By Ralph Vigoda and Mark Stroh, Inquirer Staff Writers (Gaiutra S. Bahadur contributed to this report.)
Philadelphia Inquirer - February 20, 2002
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| Convicted sex offender Howard Nevison receiving Honorary Fellow |
Howard Nevison, 61, the third man in his family to be charged with abusing the now 12-year-old boy, was in custody for 12 hours after his predawn arrest at his Manhattan apartment. His release outraged Montgomery County authorities, who said they have had to wait years to prosecute the case because the victim was so traumatized by the alleged abuse.
"I'm very upset. I'm astounded. I'm disappointed," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said. "Now the victim and the family know Uncle Howard is roaming free. I think that's a travesty. In my experience, this is unprecedented."
Nevison has been the cantor – the official who sings or chants liturgical music and leads the congregation in prayer – at the influential Temple Emanu-El on New York's Fifth Avenue for more than 20 years. The synagogue, founded in 1845, has about 10,000 members.
"The cantor has been a faithful servant to our congregation for 23 years, and never in all of that time has there been any suggestion of improper behavior on his part," read a statement issued by the synagogue this afternoon.
Nevison, who is married and has no children, was originally denied bail in criminal court this afternoon. But his lawyer, John Patrick Deveney, immediately appealed to the New York State Supreme Court and Justice Arlene Goldberg set bail at $100,000. Nevison must post $10,000 tomorrow.
He also surrendered his passport to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who, coincidentally, is affiliated with Temple Emanu-El. Deveney said he didn't know whether Nevison and Morgenthau were friends or acquaintances.
Prosecutors said at least three incidents of abuse occurred between 1993, when the boy was 3, and 1997 - when Nevison visited the family for celebrations and holidays.
The child told investigators that his uncle "threatened to kill him if he ever told anyone about what he did." according to court papers.
Nevison's brother, Lawrence Nevison, 55, and Lawrence Nevison's son, Stewart Nevison, 30, were convicted in 2000 of sexually abusing the boy. Stewart Nevison also told authorities that his father had abused him when he was a child.
The boy's mother has changed her last name and that of her children to avoid the publicity, Castor said. The Inquirer is withholding their names.
An extradition hearing for Howard Nevison is set for March 19.
"He's a very well-respected man in his community," Deveney told the court. "He has very close ties to the community of New York."
Deveney said his client had been living with the possibility of charges for three years.
"With that threat, he never fled," Deveney said in court. "He could have gone and he didn't go. And he won't go now."
He thought Nevison would be allowed to surrender voluntarily, he added.
Castor, though, said he considered Nevison such a high flight risk that he had Lower Merion detectives, unannounced, pick him up at 5:30 a.m. at his home, a few blocks from the synagogue.
"I'd flee if I were him," Castor said.
Castor said that authorities had been aware of the allegations against Howard Nevison for years, but that they could not proceed with prosecution because the boy was too petrified.
Castor acknowledged Nevison's stature within the Jewish community. "A cantor is a figure that is revered within the synagogue, and we tend to assume that religious figures are beyond reproach," he said.
But he also described Nevison as "a menacing presence" to the young child.
"He terrorized the child to the point he would have been too traumatized had he been required to testify," Castor said. "Originally, he wouldn't talk about Uncle Howard."
By last fall, court papers say, the boy told authorities he was ready to go ahead with the prosecution, despite his intense fear of his uncle and the continuing nightmares he suffered. Counseling has helped him muster the courage to testify, Castor said.
The head of Montgomery County's sex-crimes unit, Rich DiSipio, met with the boy, and Castor sat down with his parents to make sure all were prepared for the ordeal to come.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting the case would have run out in 2003, five years after the boy's parents first approached police about the alleged abuse.
Two years ago, when he was 10, the boy testified in Montgomery County at the preliminary hearing and trial of his uncle Lawrence Nevison, who was found guilty and sentenced to five to 15 years. He also testified at the preliminary hearing of his cousin Stewart Nevison, who pleaded guilty to abusing the boy and the boy's sister. Stewart Nevison served jail time and is on probation. Both men are registered in Montgomery County as sexual offenders under Megan's Law.
Howard Nevison's name surfaced during those cases.
"He's the one who was violent," Castor said.
"I think he [Howard] believed the boy was so intimidated by him that he would not talk."
The boy's father, Henry Nevison, is a brother of Lawrence and Howard Nevison. He and Lawrence Nevison told investigators that their older brother Howard sexually abused them when they were children.
Paul J. Fink, professor of psychiatry at Temple University and past president of the American Psychiatric Association, said the Nevison case is unusual because it involves so many people from the same family. But it is not uncommon to see sexual abuse passed on, he said.
"Anybody who is sexually abused tends to abuse others," he said. "That's how they deal with it. There's no rational way to deal with that kind of trauma other than to have to swallow it and develop panic disorder, or do to others."
The Temple Emanu-El Web page describes the synagogue as the "largest Jewish house of worship in the world and the largest Reform Jewish congregation in the United States."
Nevison, known for his performances in cantorial concerts, was featured in "The Papal Concert to Commemorate the Holocaust," in April 1994, becoming the first cantor to sing in the Vatican.
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Cantor At New York Synagogue Charged In Molestation Case
New York-WABC, February 20, 2002
The respected cantor of New York's largest reform synagogue was out of jail Wednesday night, but remained in big legal trouble. Howard Nevison, charged with sexually molesting his young nephew for four years, was released on $100,000 bond. Officials say the abuse began when the young boy was just three. Congregants Temple Emanu-El were shaken upon hearing the news Wednesday. Jim Dolan reports from the Upper West Side.
Prosecutors say the young victim was so traumatized by the repeated and brutal sexual assault, that for more than two years after he revealed them to his mother he could not testify about them in a court of law, so there were no arrests. Now, officials say, he can testify, and he has pointed the finger at his own uncle, Howard Nevison, the long-respected cantor at the city's reformed synagogue.
Bruce Castor, Montgomery County Prosecutor: "'He was a menacing pressence,' is the way that the boy described him. He was a remote figure, a powerful figure in the community, he had a very deep and scary voice, and the child said he had nightmares about uncle Howard."
Nevison serves as cantor at Temple Emanu-El on Manhattan's East Side, the city's largest reform synagogue. Prosecutors say he sexually abused his nephew at the boy's home in a suburb of Philadelphia.
John Deveney, Defense Attorney: "He actually looks forward to a chance, after having this hanging over his head for so many years, to actually confront the charges head-on. I expect that after a trial he will be exonerated."
Perhaps, but there is evidence that a jury may find compelling in this case: Medical records, along with the stunning accusations from the cantor's own two younger brothers that they too were sexually abused by Nevison when they were young.
Castor: "Lawrence and Henry Nevison both have told investigators that when they were growing up they were molested by their older brother Howard Nevison."
Outside the synagogue Wednesday night, congregants were shocked about the allegations concerning the man who has been their cantor for a quarter century.
Temple Emanu-El Congregant: "It's terrible. That's really terrible. But he's innocent until he is proven otherwise."
Temple Emanu-El Congregant: "That's very, very sad. Tragic for the synagogue and for the congregants and especially for any of the children."
If convicted on all counts, Nevison faces a minimum of 25 and a half years in prison. Because of the severity of the charges the prosecutors requested that Nevison be held on $500,000 bail, but the district attorney's office said they were comfortable with $100,000, so the cantor was released on the lower amount. Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan's district attorney, is a member of Temple Emanu-El's board of directors, but his office said Wednesday that he played no role in the bail reduction.
Cantor At New York Synagogue Charged In Molestation Case
New York-WABC, February 20, 2002
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| Cantor Howard Nevison arrested |
Prosecutors say the young victim was so traumatized by the repeated and brutal sexual assault, that for more than two years after he revealed them to his mother he could not testify about them in a court of law, so there were no arrests. Now, officials say, he can testify, and he has pointed the finger at his own uncle, Howard Nevison, the long-respected cantor at the city's reformed synagogue.
Bruce Castor, Montgomery County Prosecutor: "'He was a menacing pressence,' is the way that the boy described him. He was a remote figure, a powerful figure in the community, he had a very deep and scary voice, and the child said he had nightmares about uncle Howard."
Nevison serves as cantor at Temple Emanu-El on Manhattan's East Side, the city's largest reform synagogue. Prosecutors say he sexually abused his nephew at the boy's home in a suburb of Philadelphia.
John Deveney, Defense Attorney: "He actually looks forward to a chance, after having this hanging over his head for so many years, to actually confront the charges head-on. I expect that after a trial he will be exonerated."
Perhaps, but there is evidence that a jury may find compelling in this case: Medical records, along with the stunning accusations from the cantor's own two younger brothers that they too were sexually abused by Nevison when they were young.
Castor: "Lawrence and Henry Nevison both have told investigators that when they were growing up they were molested by their older brother Howard Nevison."
Outside the synagogue Wednesday night, congregants were shocked about the allegations concerning the man who has been their cantor for a quarter century.
Temple Emanu-El Congregant: "It's terrible. That's really terrible. But he's innocent until he is proven otherwise."
Temple Emanu-El Congregant: "That's very, very sad. Tragic for the synagogue and for the congregants and especially for any of the children."
If convicted on all counts, Nevison faces a minimum of 25 and a half years in prison. Because of the severity of the charges the prosecutors requested that Nevison be held on $500,000 bail, but the district attorney's office said they were comfortable with $100,000, so the cantor was released on the lower amount. Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan's district attorney, is a member of Temple Emanu-El's board of directors, but his office said Wednesday that he played no role in the bail reduction.
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Cantor Accused of Child Sex Crime Freed on Bail
The Associated Press - February 20, 2002
NEW YORK - February 20, 2002 — A longtime cantor at one of the nation's largest and most prominent Reform synagogues has been released on bail following his arrest on charges he sexually abused a nephew.
Howard Nevison, 61, of Congregation Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, was ordered by a judge to surrender his passport and told he can only leave the city to turn himself over to authorities in Pennsylvania, where he was charged.
A defense lawyer said Nevison will fight extradition.
Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Arlene Goldberg released Nevison on $100,000 bond, secured by $10,000 cash, after a Wednesday evening court appearance. Earlier that afternoon, a lower court judge had denied bail.
Nevison was arrested at his New York apartment early Wednesday, said Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr.
Police in Lower Merion, a suburb of Philadelphia, charged Nevison with sexually assaulting the boy on three occasions between 1993 and 1997 while the boy was 3 to 7 years old.
Lawrence Nevison, 55, who is Howard Nevison's brother and an uncle of the victim, and Lawrence Nevison's son, Stewart, 30, who lived with the victim's family for a time, have previously been convicted of molesting the boy in unrelated incidents.
The boy testified against Lawrence Nevison at trial, but until October was afraid to confront his other uncle, authorities said.
"Like anyone else, we in law enforcement tend to believe that religious figures are beyond reproach. You want to make very sure before you go accusing one," Castor said.
Nevison faces two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and single counts of indecent assault, simple assault and terroristic threats. If convicted on all counts, he could face 271Æ2 to 55 years in prison.
Police have known about the allegations since about 1998, but did not pursue charges until the victim, who was undergoing therapy, was ready to confront the uncle, Castor said.
"He had terrorized the child to the point that, in the judgment of his parents, his therapists and our investigators, he was too traumatized to go forward," Castor said.
Nevison, who allegedly molested the boy, now 12, during visits to the family's home, is due in court again in Manhattan March 19 for an extradition hearing.
Defense lawyers in Pennsylvania said the cantor will be exonerated.
"These are stale allegations that the district attorney's office has known about for three years," said lawyer Ralph Jacobs, of Philadelphia. "The memories and the motivation and the timing of all of that will come out at trial."
Nevison has been the cantor at the temple since 1978. A cantor leads a congregation in song, while the rabbi is the spiritual leader. In April 1994, he became the first cantor to sing at the Vatican.
Synagogue officials issued a statement supporting Nevison, and said he had never given them cause for suspicion.
"The cantor has been a faithful servant to our congregation for 23 years, and never in all of that time has there been any suggestion of improper behavior on his part," the statement read.
"Believing in our American system of justice, we continue to presume Cantor Nevison innocent until proven otherwise."
Several visibly shaken congregants leaving the temple following a service Wednesday evening declined to comment on the allegations.
Congregation Emanu-El was founded in 1845 as New York City's first Reform congregation. Its present synagogue is located on 65th Street facing Central Park, one of the more prestigious locations in the city for a house of worship.
It lists a membership of some 3,000 families. U.S. District Judge Milton Pollack of New York is a vice president, while its trustees include Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau.
Cantor Accused of Child Sex Crime Freed on Bail
The Associated Press - February 20, 2002
NEW YORK - February 20, 2002 — A longtime cantor at one of the nation's largest and most prominent Reform synagogues has been released on bail following his arrest on charges he sexually abused a nephew.Howard Nevison, 61, of Congregation Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, was ordered by a judge to surrender his passport and told he can only leave the city to turn himself over to authorities in Pennsylvania, where he was charged.
A defense lawyer said Nevison will fight extradition.
Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Arlene Goldberg released Nevison on $100,000 bond, secured by $10,000 cash, after a Wednesday evening court appearance. Earlier that afternoon, a lower court judge had denied bail.
Nevison was arrested at his New York apartment early Wednesday, said Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr.
Police in Lower Merion, a suburb of Philadelphia, charged Nevison with sexually assaulting the boy on three occasions between 1993 and 1997 while the boy was 3 to 7 years old.
Lawrence Nevison, 55, who is Howard Nevison's brother and an uncle of the victim, and Lawrence Nevison's son, Stewart, 30, who lived with the victim's family for a time, have previously been convicted of molesting the boy in unrelated incidents.
The boy testified against Lawrence Nevison at trial, but until October was afraid to confront his other uncle, authorities said.
"Like anyone else, we in law enforcement tend to believe that religious figures are beyond reproach. You want to make very sure before you go accusing one," Castor said.
Nevison faces two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and single counts of indecent assault, simple assault and terroristic threats. If convicted on all counts, he could face 271Æ2 to 55 years in prison.
Police have known about the allegations since about 1998, but did not pursue charges until the victim, who was undergoing therapy, was ready to confront the uncle, Castor said.
"He had terrorized the child to the point that, in the judgment of his parents, his therapists and our investigators, he was too traumatized to go forward," Castor said.
Nevison, who allegedly molested the boy, now 12, during visits to the family's home, is due in court again in Manhattan March 19 for an extradition hearing.
Defense lawyers in Pennsylvania said the cantor will be exonerated.
"These are stale allegations that the district attorney's office has known about for three years," said lawyer Ralph Jacobs, of Philadelphia. "The memories and the motivation and the timing of all of that will come out at trial."
Nevison has been the cantor at the temple since 1978. A cantor leads a congregation in song, while the rabbi is the spiritual leader. In April 1994, he became the first cantor to sing at the Vatican.
Synagogue officials issued a statement supporting Nevison, and said he had never given them cause for suspicion.
"The cantor has been a faithful servant to our congregation for 23 years, and never in all of that time has there been any suggestion of improper behavior on his part," the statement read.
"Believing in our American system of justice, we continue to presume Cantor Nevison innocent until proven otherwise."
Several visibly shaken congregants leaving the temple following a service Wednesday evening declined to comment on the allegations.
Congregation Emanu-El was founded in 1845 as New York City's first Reform congregation. Its present synagogue is located on 65th Street facing Central Park, one of the more prestigious locations in the city for a house of worship.
It lists a membership of some 3,000 families. U.S. District Judge Milton Pollack of New York is a vice president, while its trustees include Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau.
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Cantor charged with sex abuse freed from jail
By Ralph Vigoda and Mark Stroh
Philadelphia Inquirer - Feb. 20, 2002
The cantor of one of the world's largest synagogues, charged today with sexually abusing his young nephew in Lower Merion over four years, was later freed from a New York City jail on the promise that he would post bond by noon tomorrow.
Howard Nevison, 61, the third man in his family to be charged with abusing the now 12-year-old boy, was in custody for 12 hours after his predawn arrest at his Manhattan apartment. His release outraged Montgomery County authorities, who said they have had to wait years to prosecute the case because the victim was so traumatized by the alleged abuse.
"I'm very upset. I'm astounded. I'm disappointed," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said. "Now the victim and the family know Uncle Howard is roaming free. I think that's a travesty. In my experience, this is unprecedented."
Nevison has been the cantor – the official who sings or chants liturgical music and leads the congregation in prayer – at the influential Temple Emanu-El on New York's Fifth Avenue for more than 20 years. The synagogue, founded in 1845, has about 10,000 members.
"The cantor has been a faithful servant to our congregation for 23 years, and never in all of that time has there been any suggestion of improper behavior on his part," read a statement issued by the synagogue this afternoon.
Nevison, who is married and has no children, was originally denied bail in criminal court this afternoon. But his lawyer, John Patrick Deveney, immediately appealed to the New York State Supreme Court and Justice Arlene Goldberg set bail at $100,000. Nevison must post $10,000 tomorrow.
He also surrendered his passport to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who, coincidentally, is affiliated with Temple Emanu-El. Deveney said he didn't know whether Nevison and Morgenthau were friends or acquaintances.
Prosecutors said at least three incidents of abuse occurred between 1993, when the boy was 3, and 1997 - when Nevison visited the family for celebrations and holidays.
The child told investigators that his uncle "threatened to kill him if he ever told anyone about what he did." according to court papers.
Nevison's brother, Lawrence Nevison, 55, and Lawrence Nevison's son, Stewart Nevison, 30, were convicted in 2000 of sexually abusing the boy. Stewart Nevison also told authorities that his father had abused him when he was a child.
The boy's mother has changed her last name and that of her children to avoid the publicity, Castor said. The Inquirer is withholding their names.
An extradition hearing for Howard Nevison is set for March 19.
"He's a very well-respected man in his community," Deveney told the court. "He has very close ties to the community of New York."
Deveney said his client had been living with the possibility of charges for three years.
"With that threat, he never fled," Deveney said in court. "He could have gone and he didn't go. And he won't go now."
He thought Nevison would be allowed to surrender voluntarily, he added.
Castor, though, said he considered Nevison such a high flight risk that he had Lower Merion detectives, unannounced, pick him up at 5:30 a.m. at his home, a few blocks from the synagogue.
"I'd flee if I were him," Castor said.
Castor said that authorities had been aware of the allegations against Howard Nevison for years, but that they could not proceed with prosecution because the boy was too petrified.
Castor acknowledged Nevison's stature within the Jewish community. "A cantor is a figure that is revered within the synagogue, and we tend to assume that religious figures are beyond reproach," he said.
But he also described Nevison as "a menacing presence" to the young child.
"He terrorized the child to the point he would have been too traumatized had he been required to testify," Castor said. "Originally, he wouldn't talk about Uncle Howard."
By last fall, court papers say, the boy told authorities he was ready to go ahead with the prosecution, despite his intense fear of his uncle and the continuing nightmares he suffered. Counseling has helped him muster the courage to testify, Castor said.
The head of Montgomery County's sex-crimes unit, Rich DiSipio, met with the boy, and Castor sat down with his parents to make sure all were prepared for the ordeal to come.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting the case would have run out in 2003, five years after the boy's parents first approached police about the alleged abuse.
Two years ago, when he was 10, the boy testified in Montgomery County at the preliminary hearing and trial of his uncle Lawrence Nevison, who was found guilty and sentenced to five to 15 years. He also testified at the preliminary hearing of his cousin Stewart Nevison, who pleaded guilty to abusing the boy and the boy's sister. Stewart Nevison served jail time and is on probation. Both men are registered in Montgomery County as sexual offenders under Megan's Law.
Howard Nevison's name surfaced during those cases.
"He's the one who was violent," Castor said.
"I think he [Howard] believed the boy was so intimidated by him that he would not talk."
The boy's father, Henry Nevison, is a brother of Lawrence and Howard Nevison. He and Lawrence Nevison told investigators that their older brother Howard sexually abused them when they were children.
Paul J. Fink, professor of psychiatry at Temple University and past president of the American Psychiatric Association, said the Nevison case is unusual because it involves so many people from the same family. But it is not uncommon to see sexual abuse passed on, he said.
"Anybody who is sexually abused tends to abuse others," he said. "That's how they deal with it. There's no rational way to deal with that kind of trauma other than to have to swallow it and develop panic disorder, or do to others."
The Temple Emanu-El Web page describes the synagogue as the "largest Jewish house of worship in the world and the largest Reform Jewish congregation in the United States."
Nevison, known for his performances in cantorial concerts, was featured in "The Papal Concert to Commemorate the Holocaust," in April 1994, becoming the first cantor to sing in the Vatican.
Inquirer staff writer Gaiutra S. Bahadur contributed to this report.
Cantor charged with sex abuse freed from jail
By Ralph Vigoda and Mark Stroh
Philadelphia Inquirer - Feb. 20, 2002
The cantor of one of the world's largest synagogues, charged today with sexually abusing his young nephew in Lower Merion over four years, was later freed from a New York City jail on the promise that he would post bond by noon tomorrow.
Howard Nevison, 61, the third man in his family to be charged with abusing the now 12-year-old boy, was in custody for 12 hours after his predawn arrest at his Manhattan apartment. His release outraged Montgomery County authorities, who said they have had to wait years to prosecute the case because the victim was so traumatized by the alleged abuse.
"I'm very upset. I'm astounded. I'm disappointed," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said. "Now the victim and the family know Uncle Howard is roaming free. I think that's a travesty. In my experience, this is unprecedented."
Nevison has been the cantor – the official who sings or chants liturgical music and leads the congregation in prayer – at the influential Temple Emanu-El on New York's Fifth Avenue for more than 20 years. The synagogue, founded in 1845, has about 10,000 members.
"The cantor has been a faithful servant to our congregation for 23 years, and never in all of that time has there been any suggestion of improper behavior on his part," read a statement issued by the synagogue this afternoon.
Nevison, who is married and has no children, was originally denied bail in criminal court this afternoon. But his lawyer, John Patrick Deveney, immediately appealed to the New York State Supreme Court and Justice Arlene Goldberg set bail at $100,000. Nevison must post $10,000 tomorrow.
He also surrendered his passport to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who, coincidentally, is affiliated with Temple Emanu-El. Deveney said he didn't know whether Nevison and Morgenthau were friends or acquaintances.
Prosecutors said at least three incidents of abuse occurred between 1993, when the boy was 3, and 1997 - when Nevison visited the family for celebrations and holidays.
The child told investigators that his uncle "threatened to kill him if he ever told anyone about what he did." according to court papers.
Nevison's brother, Lawrence Nevison, 55, and Lawrence Nevison's son, Stewart Nevison, 30, were convicted in 2000 of sexually abusing the boy. Stewart Nevison also told authorities that his father had abused him when he was a child.
The boy's mother has changed her last name and that of her children to avoid the publicity, Castor said. The Inquirer is withholding their names.
An extradition hearing for Howard Nevison is set for March 19.
"He's a very well-respected man in his community," Deveney told the court. "He has very close ties to the community of New York."
Deveney said his client had been living with the possibility of charges for three years.
"With that threat, he never fled," Deveney said in court. "He could have gone and he didn't go. And he won't go now."
He thought Nevison would be allowed to surrender voluntarily, he added.
Castor, though, said he considered Nevison such a high flight risk that he had Lower Merion detectives, unannounced, pick him up at 5:30 a.m. at his home, a few blocks from the synagogue.
"I'd flee if I were him," Castor said.
Castor said that authorities had been aware of the allegations against Howard Nevison for years, but that they could not proceed with prosecution because the boy was too petrified.
Castor acknowledged Nevison's stature within the Jewish community. "A cantor is a figure that is revered within the synagogue, and we tend to assume that religious figures are beyond reproach," he said.
But he also described Nevison as "a menacing presence" to the young child.
"He terrorized the child to the point he would have been too traumatized had he been required to testify," Castor said. "Originally, he wouldn't talk about Uncle Howard."
By last fall, court papers say, the boy told authorities he was ready to go ahead with the prosecution, despite his intense fear of his uncle and the continuing nightmares he suffered. Counseling has helped him muster the courage to testify, Castor said.
The head of Montgomery County's sex-crimes unit, Rich DiSipio, met with the boy, and Castor sat down with his parents to make sure all were prepared for the ordeal to come.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting the case would have run out in 2003, five years after the boy's parents first approached police about the alleged abuse.
Two years ago, when he was 10, the boy testified in Montgomery County at the preliminary hearing and trial of his uncle Lawrence Nevison, who was found guilty and sentenced to five to 15 years. He also testified at the preliminary hearing of his cousin Stewart Nevison, who pleaded guilty to abusing the boy and the boy's sister. Stewart Nevison served jail time and is on probation. Both men are registered in Montgomery County as sexual offenders under Megan's Law.
Howard Nevison's name surfaced during those cases.
"He's the one who was violent," Castor said.
"I think he [Howard] believed the boy was so intimidated by him that he would not talk."
The boy's father, Henry Nevison, is a brother of Lawrence and Howard Nevison. He and Lawrence Nevison told investigators that their older brother Howard sexually abused them when they were children.
Paul J. Fink, professor of psychiatry at Temple University and past president of the American Psychiatric Association, said the Nevison case is unusual because it involves so many people from the same family. But it is not uncommon to see sexual abuse passed on, he said.
"Anybody who is sexually abused tends to abuse others," he said. "That's how they deal with it. There's no rational way to deal with that kind of trauma other than to have to swallow it and develop panic disorder, or do to others."
The Temple Emanu-El Web page describes the synagogue as the "largest Jewish house of worship in the world and the largest Reform Jewish congregation in the United States."
Nevison, known for his performances in cantorial concerts, was featured in "The Papal Concert to Commemorate the Holocaust," in April 1994, becoming the first cantor to sing in the Vatican.
Inquirer staff writer Gaiutra S. Bahadur contributed to this report.
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Cantor at Temple Emanu-El Is Accused of Molesting Nephew
By DANIEL J. WAKIN and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
New York Times - February 21, 2002
he cantor of Temple Emanu-El, one of the nation's most prominent synagogues, was arrested yesterday on charges of molesting his nephew in a case that prosecutors say lays out a pattern of sexual abuse within the family.
The accusations against the cantor, Howard Nevison, stunned members of the congregation and of Jewish institutions throughout the city. The synagogue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, released a statement saying that Cantor Nevison had previously brought "this issue" to the attention of leaders there, but that they had "found nothing untoward." A spokeswoman would not elaborate.
Police officers from Montgomery County, in Pennsylvania, arrested Cantor Nevison, 61, at his Upper West Side apartment before dawn. The police said the abuse happened at least three times during visits to the boy's home in Lower Merion Township, a Main Line suburb of Philadelphia, when the victim, now 12, was between 3 and 7 years old.
The cantor's brother Lawrence Nevison and that man's son, Stewart Nevison, both went to jail for sexually abusing the same boy, who has a different surname.
The charges against all three men were based on statements by the victim, who first told the police about the abuse in November 1998, according to an affidavit by Detective George Ohrin of the Lower Merion Township Police Department. Prosecutors and the family decided to delay the case against Cantor Nevison because the boy was so fearful of him and at risk of emotional trauma, Detective Ohrin said. On Oct. 26, the boy said he was ready to proceed.
The cantor's lawyer, John P. Deveney, said the accusations had hung over his client's head like "the sword of Damocles" for three years. "We look forward to fighting the charges," he said.
Cantor Nevison was charged with two counts of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, and one count each of indecent assault, simple assault and terroristic threats.
The affidavit goes much further, though, in meticulously describing a pattern of violent sexual abuse in two generations of the family. It said both Lawrence Nevison, 55, and the boy's father, Henry Nevison, 47, told the police that their older brother Howard had sexually abused them as children. Henry Nevison said he became willing to report the incidents only after his son revealed his own abuse. And the cousin convicted in the abuse, Stewart Nevison, said he himself had been sexually abused by his father, Lawrence, according to the affidavit.
The charges against Cantor Nevison saddened officials at Temple Emanu-El, according to the synagogue's statement.
"The cantor has been a faithful servant to our congregation for 23 years, and never in all of that time has there been any suggestion of improper behavior on his part," the statement said. "When Cantor Nevison first brought this issue to our attention, we considered and reviewed the matter with respect to the cantor's relationship to the congregation and found nothing untoward."
Cantors are prominent in synagogue life, singing and leading prayers in services, overseeing the musical activity and performing some pastoral duties.
The synagogue spokeswoman, Rita Haves, said she did not know whether Cantor Nevison had any contact with children at the synagogue, which has a school.
At a hearing yesterday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Justice Arlene Goldberg released Cantor Nevison on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond secured by $10,000 cash, ordered him to relinquish his passport and gave him until March 19 to surrender to Pennsylvania authorities or face another hearing in New York. The Manhattan district attorney's office did not oppose the conditions, which brought an angry response from the Montgomery County district attorney, Bruce L. Castor Jr.
Mr. Castor said the Manhattan office had ignored his request for high bail, which he called extremely unusual. He also questioned the role in the bail matter of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who is a trustee of Temple Emanu- El.
"It doesn't look good," Mr. Castor said. "I'm not going to accuse him of doing anything wrong. I know he has a good reputation. I'm just surprised that the district attorney in a jurisdiction would not advance our interest." He said that because Cantor Nevison is free, extradition hearings could drag on for months.
In response, a spokeswoman for Mr. Morgenthau, Barbara Thompson, said her office had told the judge that Montgomery County had asked that bail be set at $500,000 and that the matter was handled "in a routine fashion." She said that Mr. Morgenthau knew the cantor through their roles at the temple, but that they were not friends.
Cantor Nevison, a heavy-set tenor wearing a plaid shirt and green jacket, did not speak to reporters when he left court.
Neighbors at his building were aghast at the charges. Several said the cantor had been engaged in a long-running feud with members of his family in Pennsylvania. "Nobody believes this," said a neighbor who gave his name only as Paul and described himself as a friend.
The Emanu-El congregation was founded in 1845 as New York's first Reform temple, and now includes many prominent and wealthy New Yorkers. Its current synagogue, at 65th Street and Fifth Avenue, was built in 1929 and is one of the world's largest.
One member, the pianist and Bach specialist Rosalyn Tureck, said she had enjoyed the voice of Mr. Nevison. "This is a shocking and very tragic piece of news, if it's true," she said.
Mr. Castor, the Montgomery County district attorney, said the abuse was at times violent and "very, very ugly," adding that the authorities had no reason to doubt the victim's truthfulness because his statements had led to the other convictions. Lawrence Nevison was found guilty and is serving a 5- to 15-year sentence in prison; his son pleaded guilty to molesting the victim and his sister and was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months. He is free on parole.
The three brothers grew up in Northeast Philadelphia, authorities said. The victim's parents moved to Montgomery County in 1990, one official said, and have since moved.
What remains unclear is why it took so long for the report of the boy's abuse to reach the authorities.
The affidavit said the boy's mother took her son to the hospital in March 1993, when he complained of pain in his stomach and genital area. Visits continued until July 1996 for treatment of recurring injuries and pain in the genitals and anus, Detective Ohrin said in the affidavit. On Oct. 19, 1998, the mother went to the police.
The detective said he was convinced that the victim's account was reliable for several reasons — because it was so detailed, because his parents confirmed the timing and location, and because the accounts matched the pattern of the cantor's molestation of his younger brothers.
"Unfortunately, sexual abuse within families runs along this pattern," said Capt. Michael J. McGrath of the Lower Merion police.
He added: "It is frequently kept secret within families before they will even acknowledge it or before they bring in outside authorities. And they are children, they can't make critical decisions, they only know what they know at the maturity level for their age."
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NYC cantor arrested for sexually abusing nephew
New York Jewish Week - Feburary 22, 2002
A longtime cantor at one of the nation's largest and most prominent Reform synagogues has been released on bail following his arrest on charges he sexually abused a nephew.
Howard Nevison, 61, of Congregation Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, was ordered by a judge to surrender his passport and told he can leave the city only to turn himself over to authorities in Pennsylvania, where he was charged.
A defense lawyer said Nevison will fight extradition.
Police in Lower Merion, a suburb of Philadelphia, charged Nevison with sexually assaulting the nephew on three occasions between 1993 and 1997 while the boy was 3 to 7 years old.
Nevison was arrested at his New York apartment early yesterday. Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Arlene Goldberg released Nevison on $100,000 bond after an evening court appearance.
Lawrence Nevison, 55, who is Howard Nevison's brother and also an uncle of the boy, and Lawrence Nevison's son, Stewart, 30, were previously convicted of molesting the youngster in unrelated incidents.
The boy testified against Lawrence Nevison at trial, but until October was afraid to confront his other uncle, authorities said.
"Like anyone else, we in law enforcement tend to believe that religious figures are beyond reproach. You want to make very sure before you go accusing one," said District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr.
Howard Nevison faces charges including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault. He could face 27 1Æ2 to 55 years in prison.
Police have known about the allegations since about 1998, but did not pursue charges until the victim, who was undergoing therapy, was ready to confront the uncle, Castor said.
"He had terrorized the child to the point that, in the judgment of his parents, his therapists and our investigators, he was too traumatized to go forward," Castor said.
The cantor, who allegedly molested the boy, now 12, during visits to the family's home, is due in court again in Manhattan on March 19 for an extradition hearing.
Defense lawyers in Pennsylvania are confident the cantor will be exonerated.
"These are stale allegations that the district attorney's office has known about for three years," said lawyer Ralph Jacobs, of Philadelphia. "The memories and the motivation and the timing of all of that will come out at trial."
Nevison has been the cantor at the temple since 1978. In April 1994, he became the first cantor to sing at the Vatican.
Synagogue officials issued a statement supporting Nevison.
"The cantor has been a faithful servant to our congregation for 23 years, and never in all of that time has there been any suggestion of improper behavior on his part," the statement read.
Several visibly shaken congregants leaving the temple following a service yesterday evening declined to comment on the allegations.
Congregation Emanu-El was founded in 1845 as New York City's first Reform congregation. It lists a membership of some 3,000 families.
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Court papers describe boy's sex-abuse trauma
Lawyers say Cantor Howard Nevison will fight extradition to Montgomery County.
By Mark Stroh
Philadelphia Inquirer - Fri, February 22, 2002
The 8-year-old Lower Merion boy threatened several times to kill himself - once by trying to throw himself from a moving car. He begged for video cameras to be placed in every room of his home so that his mother could see what happened when she wasn't home.
Alarmed, his parents sent him to a psychologist, who eventually learned what had profoundly disturbed their son for years: the trauma of being sexually abused in separate attacks by three male relatives, according to Montgomery County Court papers.
Two of those men - the child's uncle and cousin, Lawrence Nevison and Stewart Nevison - were convicted in 2000 of child sex-abuse charges and sent to jail after the boy testified against them. But prosecutors said the child was too terrified until now - at age 12 - to take the stand against the third man he accused, his uncle Howard Nevison.
Howard Nevison, 61, of New York, the cantor at Temple Emanu-El, one of the largest synagogues in the world, posted $10,000 cash bail yesterday in New York on charges that he sexually abused the child at least three times at the child's Lower Merion home.
To the dismay of Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., the prominent Jewish figure was released on a $100,000 recognizance bond on Wednesday.
Cantor Nevison, who maintains his innocence, plans to fight extradition to Pennsylvania, his lawyers said.
Prosecutors said they have known of the allegations of incest against Howard Nevison since the boy's family first came forward in 1998, leading to charges against the other two men. It wasn't until October, after much psychological counseling, Castor said, that the youth was able to confront Howard Nevison and testify. "This is a man, according to the victim, who terrorized him," said Rich DeSipio, chief of sex crimes for the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, who said he had interviewed the victim. "He threatened to kill him."
Castor was infuriated yesterday that New York authorities disregarded Montgomery County's request for $500,000 bail for Cantor Nevison, in effect, Castor said, taking the cantor's side.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau is a board member of Temple Emanu-El, but Castor stopped short of suggesting that Cantor Nevison had received preferential treatment.
Lower Merion detectives arrested Cantor Nevison before dawn at his Manhattan apartment Wednesday, hoping to immediately extradite him to Montgomery County to face the charges.
But 12 hours after the arrest, Cantor Nevison walked out of court on his own recognizance. A criminal court judge initially denied bail, but his attorney, John P. Deveney, immediately appealed to the New York State Superior Court, which agreed to let Cantor Nevison go free on the promise of posting the $10,000 cash bail yesterday.
Castor was especially critical that the New York assistant district attorney did not oppose the lower bail. "That's them taking the side of the accused," Castor said. "The assistant D.A. up there chooses to dismiss what we ask for and goes along with the argument of the defense attorney. The last time I checked, we're supposed to be on the same team."
Barbara Thompson, a spokeswoman for Morgenthau, said her office did not oppose the lower bail because "it's what we thought was appropriate." She said that although Morgenthau sits on the board of Temple Emanu-El, and knows Cantor Nevison, they are not friends. "They weren't friends; they don't socialize with one another," she said.
Cantor Nevison is scheduled for an extradition hearing on March 19 in Manhattan. Castor said that if Cantor Nevison fought extradition, it could be months before he gets to Montgomery County to face the charges.
"While I'm not the most patient guy in the world, this is a good lesson," Castor said.
Police have charged Cantor Nevison, who is originally from Northeast Philadelphia, with forcing the child to engage in sexual acts between 1993 and 1997, when the child was between 3 and 7 years old. The alleged abuse took place on visits to the child's Lower Merion home.
So frightened was the child that he insisted his mother change the locks at their home and not give his "Uncle Howard" the keys, authorities said. To protect her family from the notoriety of the cases, prosecutors said, the child's mother had the family surname legally changed in 1999. The Inquirer is withholding their names.
Lawrence Nevison, 55, who is Howard Nevison's brother, was convicted in 2000 of sexually abusing the child, and remains in state prison jail on consecutive sentences of 5 to 15 years and 1 to 3 years.
Stewart Nevison, 30, who pleaded guilty in 2000 to lesser charges of abuse of the same child, served a sentence of 11 to 23 months and is out on parole. Prosecutors said he lives in Philadelphia and is a registered sex offender.
DeSipio, of the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, said the delay in bringing charges against Howard Nevison was not expected to weaken his case. More significant, he said, is that the victim's other accusations have been proved in court - accusations made at the same time as those against Howard Nevison.
"The biggest fact in this case is, he told the truth," DeSipio said, in testimony against Lawrence and Stewart Nevison. "He's been proven truthful. Two courts have already decided that this boy is a truth-teller."
Cantor Nevison has been the cantor at Temple Emanu-El, and a resident of New York City, for more than 20 years. In 1994, he became the first cantor to sing in the Vatican, in a service commemorating the Holocaust.
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Synagogue Stands By Cantor
By Pete Bowles
Newsday - February 22, 2002
Cantor Howard Nevison, arrested Wednesday on charges of sexually abusing a male relative, put up $10,000 cash yesterday to secure his $100,000 bond and was expected to continue his duties as the melodic leader of the city's largest Reform synagogue.
Nevison, 61, cantor of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan since 1978, was arrested at his West 70th Street apartment early Wednesday on charges of molesting a child in Pennsylvania on three occasions between 1993 and 1997, while the boy was 3 to 7-years-old.
Officials and members of Temple Emanu-El said there was no reason to believe Nevison might flee before his next court appearance - an extradition hearing - on March 19.
Asked yesterday about Nevison's status at the temple and whether he still would be performing his duties, Rita Haves, a spokeswoman for Temple Emanu-El, said an earlier statement issued by synagogue officials "speaks for itself."
The statement, released Wednesday, said in part, "we continue to presume Cantor Nevison innocent until proven otherwise."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a member of the temple who married his now former wife there three decades ago, said it was unlikely that Nevison would try to flee. He said he understood the allegations first surfaced several years ago.
"If the guy was going to flee, he probably would have done it long before now," Bloomberg said.
At Nevison's arraignment Wednesday, Acting State Supreme Court Justice Arlene Goldberg ordered him to surrender his passport and secure bond by noon yesterday. She also ruled he cannot leave the city except to surrender to authorities in Montgomery County, Pa., where the charges were lodged.
Nevison's attorney, John Patrick Deveney, said his client would fight extradition.
Court papers show that Nevison is the latest family member to be charged with sexually abusing the boy at his home outside Philadelphia. Nevison's brother, Lawrence, 55, and nephew, Stewart, 30, previously were convicted of molesting the youngster in unrelated incidents.
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Molestation Left Boy Suicidal — Complaint
By MICHELE McPHEE and ROBERT INGRASSIA
New York Daily News - February 22, 2002
The boy allegedly molested by Temple Emanu-El Cantor Howard Nevison was so distraught at the time he often talked about killing himself, court records show.
The disclosure came amid reports Temple Emanu-El officials may have known about the sex abuse allegations against the popular cantor by his nephew for some time.
Some Jewish leaders said yesterday they were outraged that the synagogue did nothing about Nevison earlier.
"The consensus ... is that they should have taken action then to distance themselves by suspending him pending the outcome of the investigation," one Jewish leader said. "They didn't do it then, and they're not doing it now."
The boy first reported in October 1998 that Nevison, another uncle and a cousin had sexually abused him for four years, starting when he was 3 years old.
As a result, the boy "became extremely depressed and spoke of killing himself on several occasions," according to a criminal complaint filed against the cousin, Stewart Nevison.
The boy's tender mental state left authorities unwilling to put him on the stand to testify against Nevison, who had allegedly threatened to kill him if he told anyone about the abuse.
But they felt the youth, who is now 12, was strong enough to confront the other relatives.
He testified at a trial against the second uncle, Lawrence Nevison, 55, who was convicted and sentenced to state prison. The cousin, Stewart Nevison, 30, pleaded guilty to molestation charges and is on probation.
But until last fall, he was too terrified of Howard Nevison to agree to testify against him, authorities said. Nevison is charged in Lower Merion Township, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb, with five molestation-related charges.
Nevison, 61, was arrested Wednesday and released the same day. He returned to Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday to post $10,000 of a $100,000 personal recognizance bond.
His quick release brought outrage from Pennsylvania prosectors and accusations, later denied, that Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, a member of Temple Emanu-El's board of trustees, gave Nevison special treatment.
Nevison — cantor of Emanu-El since 1978 — first told temple officials about the accusations three years ago, according to law enforcement and Jewish community sources.
"People wondered why, when he went to the hierarchy three years ago, why didn't anyone see this coming and take action to prevent a public relations catastrophe?" said one Jewish leader.
Temple Emanu-El officials refused to say when they learned of the accusations.
The congregation said Wednesday that it "considered and reviewed the matter with respect to the cantor's relationship to the congregation and found nothing untoward."
An Emanu-El spokeswoman declined yesterday to elaborate on that statement.
Nevison's attorney, Ralph Jacobs, said the cantor denies the charges.
"He will plead not guilty and we are confident he will be exonerated at trial," Jacobs said.
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Temple criticized over cantor sex abuse caseDEBRA NUSSBAUM COHEN and ERIC J. GREENBERG
The New York Jewish Week - March 1, 2002/Adar 17, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 24
NEW YORK - Experts in sexual abuse violations among clergy are criticizing Temple Emanu-El for the way it has handled the arrest of its cantor, Howard Nevison, on charges that he sexually abused his young nephew.
"It's a huge mistake that they kept him on" after Nevison brought the issue to the attention of synagogue leaders, said Dr. Samuel Klagsbrun, director of the pastoral psychiatry program at the Jewish Theological Seminary, which ordains rabbis and cantors.
Nevison's brother, Larry, and Larry's son, Stewart, were arrested in 1999 and prosecuted for sexually abusing the same boy. Larry Nevison was convicted and is in prison. Stewart Nevison pled guilty and is out on parole.
The victim, abused between the ages of 3 and 7, feared Howard Nevison, according to an affidavit by the detective who investigated the case. In that affidavit, the victim's father is quoted as saying that Howard Nevison, who is 14 years his senior, also raped him when he was a child.
Prosecutors were waiting until the boy, now 12, was ready to testify against his uncle before charging the clergyman.
Nevison is free on his own recognizance. He is expected to appear in court next month on a matter related to his extradition to Pennsylvania, which his attorney has said he will fight. The alleged abuse took place in Lower Merion Township, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. Nevison's attorney, Ralph Jacobs, said the cantor denies the charges and will plead not guilty.
According to a statement the synagogue released after Nevison's arrest last week, "When Cantor Nevison first brought this issue to our attention, we considered and reviewed the matter with respect to the cantor's relationship to the congregation and found nothing untoward."
A spokeswoman for the stately Reform synagogue on Fifth Avenue referred all calls to Senior Rabbi Ronald Sobel, who did not return several messages. The temple president, associate and assistant rabbis also did not return calls.
Several psychiatrists who train clergy on pastoral and ethics issues say that once Emanu-El's board became aware of the allegations, it immediately should have suspended Nevison with pay pending the outcome of the police investigation for the emotional and physical well-being of the congregation.
Temple Emanu-El is a member of the Reform movement's congregational arm, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, which has a "crisis team" of professionals and specialists who are sent to synagogues free to help them get through scandals and emergencies that involve sexual abuse, arson and embezzlement.
The synagogue has not yet requested its help, said Rabbi Lennard Thal, UAHC senior vice president, who directs the crisis team.
Though Nevison for 23 years has been serving one of Reform Judaism's flagship temples, he is not a member of the Reform movement's American Conference of Cantors.
Instead, he is a member of the Conservative movement's professional organization, the Cantors Assembly. Nevison gained admission to that group 12 years ago, said its executive vice president, Cantor Stephen Stein.
Several months ago, Stein sent to his 550 members guidelines suggesting measures to take when tutoring bar and bat mitzvah students.
He urged cantors not to be alone with a child in a room and encouraged parents to sit in on lessons. If that is not possible, Stein suggested that cantors should have at least two students in the room at the same time.
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Emanu-El Criticized Over Cantor Case - Ethics authorities say Nevison, pending sexual abuse charges, should have been suspended.
Debra Nussbaum Cohen and Eric J. Greenberg - Staff Writers
The Jewish Week - March 1, 2002
Experts in sexual ethics violations among clergy are criticizing Temple Emanu-El for the way it has handled the arrest of its cantor, Howard Nevison, on charges that he sexually abused his young nephew.
"It's a huge mistake that they kept him on" after Nevison brought the issue to the attention of synagogue leaders, said Dr. Samuel Klagsbrun, director of the pastoral psychiatry program at the Jewish Theological Seminary, which ordains rabbis and cantors.
Nevison's brother, Larry, and Larry's son, Stewart, were arrested in 1999 and prosecuted for sexually abusing the same boy. Larry Nevison was convicted and is in prison. Stewart Nevison pled guilty and is out on parole.
The victim, abused between the ages of 3 and 7, feared Howard Nevison, according to an affidavit by the detective who investigated the case. In that affidavit, the victim's father is quoted as saying that Howard Nevison, who is 14 years his senior, also raped him when he was a child.
Prosecutors were waiting until the boy, now 12, was ready to testify against his uncle before charging the clergyman.
Nevison is free on his own recognizance. He is expected to appear in court next month on a matter related to his extradition to Pennsylvania, which his attorney has said he will fight. The alleged abuse took place in Lower Merion Township, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. Nevison's attorney, Ralph Jacobs, said the cantor denies the charges and will plead not guilty.
According to a statement the synagogue released after Nevison's arrest last week, "When Cantor Nevison first brought this issue to our attention, we considered and reviewed the matter with respect to the Cantor's relationship to the congregation and found nothing untoward."
A spokeswoman for the stately Reform synagogue on Fifth Avenue referred all calls to Senior Rabbi Ronald Sobel, who did not return several messages. The temple president, associate and assistant rabbis also did not return calls.
Several psychiatrists who train clergy on pastoral and ethics issues say that once Emanu-El's board became aware of the allegations, it immediately should have suspended Nevison with pay pending the outcome of the police investigation for the emotional and physical well-being of the congregation.
At the very least, the psychiatrists said, the board should have modified and supervised his responsibilities.
That the temple apparently did not do so "is a classic example of people wanting to avoid dealing with a problem that's staring them in the face," said Klagsbrun, who is also executive medical director of the psychiatric Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, N.Y.
It also remains unclear what steps, if any, Emanu-El officials took to investigate the situation or to modify Nevison's duties.
"I hope they did some kind of inhouse investigation of the allegations," said Dr. Michelle Friedman, a psychiatrist in private practice in Manhattan who also trains rabbinical students at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a Modern Orthodox seminary on the Upper West Side. "It's quite tragic if they didn't."
Rabbi Sobel spoke briefly about the scandal last Friday night at Sabbath services.
"My friends, this is a sad time for Cantor Nevison and his family, as well as for the family of Temple Emanu-El," he said before about 100 people. "The emotional stress is profound."
Nevison did not attend the service. "It was felt best for Cantor Nevison not to participate at this time. We know you understand," Rabbi Sobel said.
One male temple member in his 30s expressed sadness and disbelief.
"I don't want to believe it," he told The Jewish Week. "There's something wrong with [the boy's] story. It doesn't quite make sense. Why did they wait so long to do this?"
"I think it's an absolute disgrace," a young mother dropping off her child at the temple's nursery school said Wednesday morning of the Nevison case.
She said she was assured by Emanu-El officials there are no allegations regarding other children and Nevison.
Another mother in her 30s said she received a letter from the temple saying it supported Nevison. She said she was not concerned for her child because "the nursery school is totally separate from the temple."
Attempts to reach Rabbi Sobel in person as well as by phone were unsuccessful. A security guard said he was in a meeting with a temple committee.
Temple Emanu-El is a member of the Reform movement's congregational arm, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, which has a "crisis team" of professionals and specialists who are sent to synagogues free to help them get through scandals and emergencies that involve sexual abuse, arson and embezzlement.
The synagogue has not yet requested its help, said Rabbi Lennard Thal, UAHC senior vice president, who directs the crisis team.
"The largest of the congregations tend to see themselves as self-sufficient," said Rabbi Thal. "I can't judge what they've done. Maybe they are doing a tremendous amount behind the scenes and waiting until facts are clear."
But another Reform official said Emanu-El is mishandling the situation by not asking the movement for assistance. "They want to do things on their own and it's crazy," he said.
Cantors generally prepare students for bar and bat mitzvah, perform pastoral duties like counseling, officiate at lifecycle events and lead parts of prayer services.
Because Temple Emanu-El, which has some 3,000 member families, has four rabbis on staff as well as the cantor, it is not clear which of these typical roles Nevison played beyond adding his soaring voice to prayer services and meeting one-on-one for brief sessions with bar and bat mitzvah students.
Whatever his job has entailed, "it would have been prudent with such accusations for the synagogue to have installed some degree of monitoring or supervision," said Friedman. "In this case, not letting him have unmonitored contact with children would have been the responsible and wise thing for the temple to do."
Clergy In The Headlines
Nevison's arrest comes at a time when sexual abuses by clergymen are already in the headlines: the Catholic dioceses of Philadelphia and Manchester, N.H., turned over to prosecutors last week the names of dozens of priests accused of molesting children. And John Geoghan, a former Boston-area priest, is facing criminal charges and 84 civil lawsuits for the sexual abuse of children over many years. He was transferred by superiors from one church to another when allegations arose.
The Jewish community has faced its share of clergy sexual abuse scandals as well. They usually involve rabbis, but allegations also have been raised against cantors.
As a result of this, and the current climate of heightened awareness about sexual boundaries, cantors' professional organizations, like those of rabbis, are paying more attention to these issues.
Though Nevison for 23 years has been serving one of Reform Judaism's flagship temples, he is not a member of the Reform movement's American Conference of Cantors.
Instead, he is a member of the Conservative movement's professional organization, the Cantors Assembly. Nevison gained admission to that group 12 years ago, said its executive vice president, Cantor Stephen Stein.
Nevison was not trained in a cantorial program, Stein said. Instead, he earned a conservatory degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and apprenticed under a leading cantor and teacher, who is now dead.
Several months ago, Stein sent to his 550 members guidelines suggesting measures to take when tutoring bar and bat mitzvah students.
He urged cantors not to be alone with a child in a room and encouraged parents to sit in on lessons. If that is not possible, Stein suggested that cantors should have at least two students in the room at the same time.
Stein also recommended that cantors not sit right next to students — "I have a large office, and I sit across the room," he said in an interview — and that they avoid any physical contact. He also said giving a student a ride home after tutoring is not a good idea, but if a parent cannot pick up his child and it is unavoidable, the student should ride in the back seat.
Stein was spurred to draft the guidelines by hearing about training received by his wife, a teacher, at her school.
"Unfortunately it has become necessary to take what seem like more drastic measures," said Stein. "Improper conduct on the part of a few has made the rest of us feel the need to be more cautious."
The Cantors Assembly presently does not plan to sanction Nevison, said Stein. "I don't see what would be gained by putting him on a leave of membership," he said. "What would we do, stop sending him mail?
"We're taking a position similar to the one his congregation has taken," Stein said. "We don't want to prejudge him, and will see how the legal process plays itself out."
The Conservative group has no formal code of ethics, but has an ethics committee that meets on an as-needed basis.
"If he was to be found guilty, I'm confident they would remove him from membership," said Stein, adding that if Cantor Nevison were to turn to the Cantors Assembly for help looking for a new job, "we would not refer him to congregations while this matter is unresolved."
The Reform movement's American Conference of Cantors has no jurisdiction over Nevison but does have in place a 14-page code of ethics that is being revised to conform to the model established in recent years by the movement's rabbinical organization.
In response to a number of prominent cases of sexual misconduct by its members, the Central Conference of American Rabbis revised, and then refined, an extensive ethics code with detailed processes and types of discipline.
Cantor Richard Cohn, president of the 380-member Reform cantors' group, said that in the several years of his involvement, no member has been expelled or suspended for an ethics violation, though some have for contravening professional placement policy.
Representatives of both cantors' groups said that the best ending to a breach of sexual ethics is when the cantor repents — does teshuvah — repairs relationships within the congregation and stays on.
They were also uncertain of whether abuses that take place outside of a cantor's official duties should be assessed the same way that those he commits on the job are.
But experts in clergy sexual abuse say that it should make no difference.
"The rights of children have to be protected no matter what the venue," said Herbert Nieburg, who instructs rabbinical and cantorial students about pastoral issues at JTS and directs the student counseling service there.
The new official Catholic practice of turning abusers over to prosecutors "is clearly much more morally appropriate and ethically correct than the way Emanu-El has handled it," said Nieburg.
"The attitude toward this is changing," he said. "We tended to protect the offenders. We'd fire them or they'd resign and go somewhere else. But child abuse is such an epidemic problem that we're really beginning not to exempt anyone."
The steps taken by those Catholic dioceses are "giving a clear message now that you're going to be responsible, ethically and morally, for the consequences of your behavior," said Nieburg.
In terms of its impact on the Jewish community, he said, "I think we're going to follow suit."
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A Higher Standard - Editorials
The New York Jewish Times - March 1, 2002
The arrest last week of Howard Nevison, cantor of Temple Emanu-El, the nation's most prominent Reform temple, on charges of sexually assaulting his young nephew over a period of several years is a reminder that no religion or denomination is immune from dealing with issues of child abuse. Nevison, who has served the temple for some 23 years, maintains his innocence, and of course there is such a presumption until guilt is proven, at least legally. But is there a higher moral standard for members of the clergy, for rabbis and cantors who are given our trust and who often counsel, teach and train our children?
We think so, as do prominent psychologists, as well as rabbinic and cantorial associations, whose guidelines and codes call attention to the need for proper behavior and discipline, when appropriate. Following the cantor's arrest, Temple Emanu-El issued a brief statement noting his years as "a faithful servant" to the congregation and asserting there was no knowledge of any "improper behavior on his part." But the statement added that "when Cantor Nevison first brought this issue to our attention, we considered and reviewed the matter ... and found nothing untoward."
What did the cantor tell the congregation, and when? What kind of review was held? And how were the conclusions reached that there was no problem? Unfortunately, Temple Emanu-El has been less than responsive in addressing these matters, as well as pleading ignorance as to whether the cantor had any contact with children at the temple. It is common in many synagogues for the cantor to help prepare youngsters for their bar and bat mitzvahs, often in a one-on-one situation. Surely it is reasonable to ask whether the cantor had such, or similar, duties during his more than two decades at Emanu-El.
Nevison was not present at services last Shabbat, but there is no indication that he has been suspended or that his responsibilities have been changed in any way. Instead, officials of the congregation have closed ranks and clammed up. This is not surprising, given the legal ramifications, but it is disappointing, especially at a time when religious communities are focusing on the need for more openness in addressing allegations of abuse by members of the clergy. We hope the temple will reconsider its initial response, or lack of one, and take actions to inform and protect its congregants, who should insist on answers to troubling questions left unaddressed.
Surely we have learned by now that confronting problems of alleged abuse in an open, straightforward manner is the only way for an institution to regain trust.
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Prosecutor's Power - Letters
New York Jewish Times - March 3, 2002
Whatever the merit of the sexual harassment charges against Cantor Howard Nevison of Temple Emanu-el, the behavior of Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor Jr. in bringing them should not go unchallenged. Nevison had known for several years about the accusations that might be made against him and had informed the temple leadership about them. When Castor decided to bring charges, he could have arranged with Nevison's attorneys for a quiet arraignment.
Instead, Castor had him arrested in his apartment in the dead of night, at 5:30 a.m., and then publicized his alleged sexual misconduct of more than 40 years ago — behavior not included in the current charges. And when New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's office refused to support Castor's demand for $500,000 bail, and it was set instead at $100,000 — allowing Mr. Nevison to remain free — he criticized Mr. Morgenthau, a Temple Emanu-el trustee.
Sexual slander is subject to few constraints today. When such accusations are made, the presumption of innocence is often jettisoned and the charges are immediately accepted widely. Prosecutorial powers must therefore be used responsibly.
Leonard J. Lehrman
Long Island
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Yoffie Defends Temple in Cantor Sex Abuse Case
By Nacha Cattan
Forward - March 8, 2002
V.CV; N.31,383 5
The leader of America's Reform synagogue movement is defending a Manhattan temple's handling of the arrest of its cantor on child abuse charges.
The president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, said he found nothing wrong with an announcement by Manhattan's Temple Emanu-El that the cantor's status remains unchanged despite the arrest, a point criticized by ethics experts in news reports. Rabbi Yoffie maintained that it made all the difference that the abuse allegations refer to events outside the framework of the synagogue.
"It's unthinkable to me that Emanu-El is not doing everything within its power to ensure the children of its congregation are safe," said Rabbi Yoffie. "The leadership of Emanu-El is looking for the best way to act with the highest ethical standards of our tradition to protect the adults and children. I have confidence in their leadership and ability to deal with this difficult situation."
Some congregants of the 3,000-family strong temple, however, have been critical of the synagogue's response to Pennsylvania police charges that Cantor Howard Nevison abused his young nephew between 1993 and 1997, while the boy was between 3 and 7 years old, at the boy's home in Lower Merion Township, Pa. Mr. Nevison's brother and his brother's son were both convicted on charges of abusing the boy.
One temple member, David Ostwald, said he worries about how news of the cantor's arrest may affect congregants' children and admonished the synagogue for not addressing the issue in the synagogue's Hebrew school classrooms.
"Even though I have no doubt that nothing happened at the synagogue, there's still the issue of the possible psychological trauma of children learning of these allegations about someone they trust implicitly," Mr. Ostwald said. "It's incumbent upon the administration of the synagogue to gently address that with children." Mr. Ostwald said that for the sake of the congregants' children he would prefer if the cantor continued to stay away from services until the court reaches a decision.
A temple member and spokeswoman for the congregation, Vicki Weiner, confirmed that Mr. Nevison's status is "unchanged." Ms. Weiner, whose public relations company, VMW Corporate and Investor Relations, was hired by the temple to handle this crisis, said she did not know whether or not the temple has placed the cantor under watch or whether it has required any change in the way the cantor carries out his duties. Ms. Weiner also said there has been no resignation of memberships from the synagogue as a result of the allegations.
Temple officials said the cantor brought the issue to their "attention" prior to his arrest February 21, but have not yet said what the cantor told them and when, and what they did to review the matter.
The senior rabbi of the temple, Ronald Sobel, did not return several phone calls seeking comment.
A supporter of the cantor, Anna Malamood, said, "he's an innocent victim of a crummy family." Ms. Malamood said she has known Mr. Nevison for 33 years and that she and her late husband, Herman, an opera singer, used to sing with him.
A member of the congregation who wished to remain anonymous said, "I agree with the temple's position. This is America and we are innocent until proven guilty. I think it's a horrible accusation. I think it's absolutely frightening, but it's an accusation."
For the second consecutive week, Mr. Nevison was not present during Friday evening Shabbat services at the temple.
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Yoffie Defends Temple in Cantor Sex Abuse Case
By Nacha Cattan
Forward - March 8, 2002
V.CV; N.31,383 5
The leader of America's Reform synagogue movement is defending a Manhattan temple's handling of the arrest of its cantor on child abuse charges.
The president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, said he found nothing wrong with an announcement by Manhattan's Temple Emanu-El that the cantor's status remains unchanged despite the arrest, a point criticized by ethics experts in news reports. Rabbi Yoffie maintained that it made all the difference that the abuse allegations refer to events outside the framework of the synagogue.
"It's unthinkable to me that Emanu-El is not doing everything within its power to ensure the children of its congregation are safe," said Rabbi Yoffie. "The leadership of Emanu-El is looking for the best way to act with the highest ethical standards of our tradition to protect the adults and children. I have confidence in their leadership and ability to deal with this difficult situation."
Some congregants of the 3,000-family strong temple, however, have been critical of the synagogue's response to Pennsylvania police charges that Cantor Howard Nevison abused his young nephew between 1993 and 1997, while the boy was between 3 and 7 years old, at the boy's home in Lower Merion Township, Pa. Mr. Nevison's brother and his brother's son were both convicted on charges of abusing the boy.
One temple member, David Ostwald, said he worries about how news of the cantor's arrest may affect congregants' children and admonished the synagogue for not addressing the issue in the synagogue's Hebrew school classrooms.
"Even though I have no doubt that nothing happened at the synagogue, there's still the issue of the possible psychological trauma of children learning of these allegations about someone they trust implicitly," Mr. Ostwald said. "It's incumbent upon the administration of the synagogue to gently address that with children." Mr. Ostwald said that for the sake of the congregants' children he would prefer if the cantor continued to stay away from services until the court reaches a decision.
A temple member and spokeswoman for the congregation, Vicki Weiner, confirmed that Mr. Nevison's status is "unchanged." Ms. Weiner, whose public relations company, VMW Corporate and Investor Relations, was hired by the temple to handle this crisis, said she did not know whether or not the temple has placed the cantor under watch or whether it has required any change in the way the cantor carries out his duties. Ms. Weiner also said there has been no resignation of memberships from the synagogue as a result of the allegations.
Temple officials said the cantor brought the issue to their "attention" prior to his arrest February 21, but have not yet said what the cantor told them and when, and what they did to review the matter.
The senior rabbi of the temple, Ronald Sobel, did not return several phone calls seeking comment.
A supporter of the cantor, Anna Malamood, said, "he's an innocent victim of a crummy family." Ms. Malamood said she has known Mr. Nevison for 33 years and that she and her late husband, Herman, an opera singer, used to sing with him.
A member of the congregation who wished to remain anonymous said, "I agree with the temple's position. This is America and we are innocent until proven guilty. I think it's a horrible accusation. I think it's absolutely frightening, but it's an accusation."
For the second consecutive week, Mr. Nevison was not present during Friday evening Shabbat services at the temple.
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Cantor surrenders to authorities on molestation charges
Associated Press - March 3, 2001
NARBERTH, Pa. (AP) -- A longtime cantor at one of the nation's largest and most prominent Reform synagogues surrendered to authorities Friday to face charges he sexually abused his nephew.
Howard Nevison, 61, of Congregation Emanu-El in New York City, was arrested Feb. 20. He and his attorney had said they would fight extradition to Pennsylvania.
Police in Lower Merion, a Philadelphia suburb, charged Nevison with sexually assaulting his nephew on three occasions between 1993 and 1997 while the boy was 3 to 7 years old.
Nevison had been free on $100,000 bail, set by a New York judge. At a hearing Friday, District Justice Henry J. Shireson set bail at $250,000.
Nevison posted 10 percent of the sum and was released. He was ordered to give notice of any travel outside New York. The judge also ordered that Nevison's passport, now held by New York police, be turned over. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next Friday.
Police have known about the allegations since about 1998 but did not pursue charges until the victim, who was undergoing therapy, was ready to confront the uncle, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor said.
"We were disappointed that the district attorney's office decided to revive this investigation three years after the allegations originally surfaced," said Nevison's attorney, Ralph Jacobs.
Nevison is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, simple assault and terroristic threats.
If convicted on all counts, he could face up to 55 years in prison.
Nevison has been the cantor at the Manhattan temple, whose 3,000 families include several prominent New York families, since 1978. A cantor leads a congregation in song, while the rabbi is the spiritual leader. In April 1994, he became the first cantor to sing at the Vatican.
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Surprise as cantor turns himself in
By Kevin Dale - Inquirer Suburban Staff
Philadelphia Inquirer - March 09, 2002
Howard Nevison, accused of abusing a nephew, arrived from N.Y. to face charges. Authorities sensed a ploy.
LOWER MERION - Accompanied by a vanload of friends and family, the New York cantor charged with sexually abusing his toddler-age Lower Merion nephew almost a decade ago turned himself in yesterday.
The morning appearance of Howard Nevison at a storefront district court surprised police and prosecutors. They said that the unannounced arrival of Nevison, cantor at Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, was an attempt by his lawyers to avoid district attorneys and secure favorable bail.
"It seems to me that the defendant and his lawyers tried to sneak into court and then sneak out, hoping we would never show up," said Montgomery County First District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, who, along with the judge and detectives, had to change schedules to accommodate the hearing.
"Obviously, that didn't happen," Ferman said.
Ferman's request for $1 million bail was reduced to 10 percent of $250,000 by District Justice Henry Schireson, who said the $100,000 bail set in New York was insufficient for the "very serious" nature of the charges. Schireson also ordered that Cantor Nevison, 61, surrender his passport to the District Attorney's Office within 24 hours and have no contact with witnesses or their families.
The cantor was formally charged with abusing the nephew on at least three occasions between 1993 and 1997, when the boy was between ages 3 and 7.
Cantor Nevison signed paperwork with a bail bondsman for $25,000 and, after eating a sandwich in the tiny courtroom, walked out of the Montgomery Avenue district court and drove off with his lawyer - roughly five hours after his arrival in the area.
The cantor, wearing a navy blue suit, did not address the court at the afternoon arraignment, which consisted of a roughly half-hour, closed-door sidebar, during which Cantor Nevison's wife, Fern, patted her husband's shoulder and jokingly instructed him not be "mean-looking" as he left the building.
Cantor Nevison's lawyer, Ralph Jacobs, said that Cantor Nevison had an understanding with Montgomery County authorities that he would turn himself if charges were brought against him in Lower Merion.
"We were disappointed last month that the District Attorney's Office chose to stage a predawn arrest in Manhattan, which was completely unnecessary in light of the understanding that he would surrender himself," Jacobs said.
According to Lower Merion Police Sgt. John Stillwagon, Cantor Nevison and Jacobs went to district court this morning about 10 a.m. A court clerk called Stillwagon, who said Cantor Nevison had to be processed first by police.
"They started telling the clerks that they had an arrangement with the District Attorney's Office that they could just turn him in at the court, which I found out later was untrue," Stillwagon said. "So I sent detectives down to court to arrest him and bring him here."
Because his arrest in New York was on a fugitive charge, Cantor Nevison had to be formally charged yesterday on the sex-abuse crimes and fingerprinted and photographed at the police station before he could be arraigned.
In an argument that sounded more like a closing argument than a request for bail, Ferman said the acts of which Cantor Nevison is accused are the most "despicable, vile, violent acts that one can commit."
Jacobs objected to Ferman's argument, which he said was filled with "character assassination" and "extraneous ad hominem remarks . . . that I think I have no place in a bail hearing."
Cantor Nevison is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday before Schireson. Ferman said the boy whom Nevison is accused of sexually abusing, now 12, would testify.
Cantor Nevison is the third member of his family charged with abusing the boy. His brother Lawrence Nevison and Lawrence Nevison's son Stewart were convicted in 2000 of abusing the boy.
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Nevison Defense, Prosecution Spar
The New York Jewish Week - April 5, 2002
 |
| Convicted Sex Offender - cantor Howard Nevison |
Even before Cantor Howard Nevison's trial begins, the defense and the prosecution are clashing over the case's timing.
Nevison, who is employed by Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan, was arrested last month on charges that he sexually abused his young nephew, the son of the clergyman's brother.
Another Nevison brother was found guilty of abusing the same boy and is serving time in a Pennsylvania state prison. That man's son, a cousin of the victim, pleaded guilty on similar charges and is now out on parole.
Their cases were initiated three years ago in the Pennsylvania county where the boy lives.
Prosecutors say they waited to move on the charges against the cantor until the boy, who is now 12 years old, was ready to testify in court.
The boy, who according to an affidavit was sexually molested by his uncle from the age of 3, was terrified of him, according to prosecutors — more frightened of him than of his other uncle and cousin.
"The decision not to charge Howard Nevison three years ago was right," said Ralph Jacobs, his attorney. "Certainly if the boy was able to testify in two different court proceedings three years ago, we think there's absolutely no basis for any kind of concern like that. That excuse rings hollow to us."
"Well, so much for the rules of professional conduct and not commenting on the credibility of witnesses," said Risa Vetri Ferman, the first assistant district attorney for Montgomery County, Pa., who is prosecuting the case.
When prosecutors first presented the case three years ago, when the alleged victim was 9, "We had specific reasons [for not moving against Cantor Nevison] that had to do with the child, and his relationship with and intense fear of this defendant," Ferman said.
The boy will testify against Nevison at a preliminary hearing set for April 17.
Though now "he's ready to testify in court, no one should mistake that for this being an easy undertaking," said Ferman. "This will be very difficult for him and his family to deal with. He is still very frightened and that's unlikely to go away."
Temple Emanu-El officials are still not speaking publicly about the cantor, though he did tell them something about the impending charges some time before he was arrested.
The congregation's rabbi, Ronald Sobel, who shortly before the cantor's arrest announced that he is retiring this spring, has declined to respond to written questions. He also has refused repeated requests for an interview.
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Haredi Group Balks At Clergy Law `Some rabbis may not comply' with measure mandating report of sexual abuse suspicionsDebra Nussbaum Cohen - Staff Writer
The Jewish Week - April 5, 2002
New legislation adding clergy to those professionals who are legally required to report suspected child abuse is being welcomed by a wide range of rabbinic leaders and those who work with victims, but it is being opposed by an influential group in the fervently Orthodox community.
As Catholic Church officials struggle to deal with a flood of lawsuits over the sexual abuse of children by priests, the New York state Senate unanimously passed the measure. The Assembly is preparing a similar bill.
The legislation comes as Manhattan's largest Reform congregation, Temple Emanu-El, remains silent on the sexual abuse charges against its cantor, though its leadership had information about the allegations before Howard Nevison was arrested last month. (See accompanying story.)
Professionals who come into contact with children — doctors, nurses and dentists, schoolteachers and administrators, psychologists, social workers, child care workers and law enforcement staff — must report to the state any suspected abuse.
But clergy have been exempt from the requirement in New York since 1828, when the state Legislature became the first in the nation to protect the "clergy-penitent privilege." The law has stood through the efforts of the Catholic Church and Agudath Israel of America, which have blocked measures for change at the state and local levels.
This time, however, the Church is staying out of the fray, leaving only Agudath Israel, which represents the interests of fervently Orthodox Jews on a variety of issues, in opposing the addition of clergy to the law.
The organization, whose offices are essentially closed for the Passover holiday, is still undecided on whether it will formally oppose the bills, said David Zwiebel, Agudah's executive vice president for governmental and public affairs.
But, he said, if the law is passed without any exemption for clergy-penitent privilege, some Orthodox rabbis may choose not to comply with it.
"If the law tells the rabbis `you've got to go to the authorities on this' and the rabbis feel that, for instance, a case of abuse goes back seven years and the best way to deal with it now is to refer the man to therapy rather than to law enforcement, they will choose to deal with it themselves," said Zwiebel, who is also an attorney.
"You decide where your first duties and obligations are," he said.
Illustrating the position of some in the haredi community, an Orthodox pediatrician in Brooklyn who has lectured on child abuse and disseminated tapes of her speeches has said that though she is required to report suspicions of child abuse, she checks with her rabbi to get permission.
Psychology professionals who work with victims of sexual and physical abuse say the new law will likely help their young victims.
It "makes it easier for clergy to do the right thing," said Herb Neiburg, who directs behavioral medicine at the psychiatric Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, N.Y., and teaches pastoral counseling at the Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary.
"When something is mandated by law, it takes away the guilt over breaking what used to be this old type of priest-penitent relationship," he said.
"The tough part will be when clergy hear that other clergy have molested kids. It's always tough to turn in a colleague, but it has to get done," said Neiburg. "This law will open that door."
Leaders of the Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and centrist Orthodox movements have all publicly voiced support for the legislation.
But those who work with the fervently Orthodox say it may not work in their community, which is suspicious of secular authority and has its own way of dealing with problems — relying on rabbinic judgment.
"People go to rabbonim [rabbis] to talk," said David Mandel, chief executive officer of the Brooklyn-based Ohel Children's Home and Family Services. "This law may discourage people from going to talk to their rabbis if they think that the conversation is going to be on the record."
That, Neiburg argues, "is like saying that since pediatricians are mandated reporters, no one will bring a kid with injuries that could look like abuse to a pediatrician, and it obviously doesn't work that way."
Even so, said Mandel, "the legislation may be premature" for the Orthodox community.
"Legislation will not necessarily dramatically improve the way the Orthodox community handles these issues," he said. "Continuing to educate the community, to remove the stigma from the victim and his or her family and put the onus on the offender, will make the most dramatic changes."
Haredi Group Balks At Clergy Law `Some rabbis may not comply' with measure mandating report of sexual abuse suspicionsDebra Nussbaum Cohen - Staff Writer
The Jewish Week - April 5, 2002
New legislation adding clergy to those professionals who are legally required to report suspected child abuse is being welcomed by a wide range of rabbinic leaders and those who work with victims, but it is being opposed by an influential group in the fervently Orthodox community.
As Catholic Church officials struggle to deal with a flood of lawsuits over the sexual abuse of children by priests, the New York state Senate unanimously passed the measure. The Assembly is preparing a similar bill.
The legislation comes as Manhattan's largest Reform congregation, Temple Emanu-El, remains silent on the sexual abuse charges against its cantor, though its leadership had information about the allegations before Howard Nevison was arrested last month. (See accompanying story.)
Professionals who come into contact with children — doctors, nurses and dentists, schoolteachers and administrators, psychologists, social workers, child care workers and law enforcement staff — must report to the state any suspected abuse.
But clergy have been exempt from the requirement in New York since 1828, when the state Legislature became the first in the nation to protect the "clergy-penitent privilege." The law has stood through the efforts of the Catholic Church and Agudath Israel of America, which have blocked measures for change at the state and local levels.
This time, however, the Church is staying out of the fray, leaving only Agudath Israel, which represents the interests of fervently Orthodox Jews on a variety of issues, in opposing the addition of clergy to the law.
The organization, whose offices are essentially closed for the Passover holiday, is still undecided on whether it will formally oppose the bills, said David Zwiebel, Agudah's executive vice president for governmental and public affairs.
But, he said, if the law is passed without any exemption for clergy-penitent privilege, some Orthodox rabbis may choose not to comply with it.
"If the law tells the rabbis `you've got to go to the authorities on this' and the rabbis feel that, for instance, a case of abuse goes back seven years and the best way to deal with it now is to refer the man to therapy rather than to law enforcement, they will choose to deal with it themselves," said Zwiebel, who is also an attorney.
"You decide where your first duties and obligations are," he said.
Illustrating the position of some in the haredi community, an Orthodox pediatrician in Brooklyn who has lectured on child abuse and disseminated tapes of her speeches has said that though she is required to report suspicions of child abuse, she checks with her rabbi to get permission.
Psychology professionals who work with victims of sexual and physical abuse say the new law will likely help their young victims.
It "makes it easier for clergy to do the right thing," said Herb Neiburg, who directs behavioral medicine at the psychiatric Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, N.Y., and teaches pastoral counseling at the Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary.
"When something is mandated by law, it takes away the guilt over breaking what used to be this old type of priest-penitent relationship," he said.
"The tough part will be when clergy hear that other clergy have molested kids. It's always tough to turn in a colleague, but it has to get done," said Neiburg. "This law will open that door."
Leaders of the Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and centrist Orthodox movements have all publicly voiced support for the legislation.
But those who work with the fervently Orthodox say it may not work in their community, which is suspicious of secular authority and has its own way of dealing with problems — relying on rabbinic judgment.
"People go to rabbonim [rabbis] to talk," said David Mandel, chief executive officer of the Brooklyn-based Ohel Children's Home and Family Services. "This law may discourage people from going to talk to their rabbis if they think that the conversation is going to be on the record."
That, Neiburg argues, "is like saying that since pediatricians are mandated reporters, no one will bring a kid with injuries that could look like abuse to a pediatrician, and it obviously doesn't work that way."
Even so, said Mandel, "the legislation may be premature" for the Orthodox community.
"Legislation will not necessarily dramatically improve the way the Orthodox community handles these issues," he said. "Continuing to educate the community, to remove the stigma from the victim and his or her family and put the onus on the offender, will make the most dramatic changes."
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Song of Sorrow
By Susan Dominus
New York Magazine, Metro - April 15, 2002
For 23 years, Howard Nevison's magnificent baritone filled the posh sanctuary of Temple Emanu-El. But the music ended with Nevison's arrest in February on the stunning charge that he had sexually abused his young nephew. It's a case that has put an entire family on trial.
Not long after their son started kindergarten, Henry Nevison and his wife, Jacqui, documentary filmmakers who lived on the Main Line in Philadelphia, started worrying about him. Once a smiling, outgoing child, over time he had grown increasingly nervous, withdrawn around other kids, inclined to complain about vague stomachaches and body pains. But low-grade worry turned to full-blown panic when Joel (not his real name) came storming downstairs one November afternoon in 1997 in the grip of a desperate fit, crying inconsolably. Joel, then 8, had covered his face with a white mask made of underwear he'd ripped up. Across it, he'd scrawled with a black Magic Marker, I'M A BITCH, I SUCK, I'M A LOSER. When Jacqui tried to persuade him to take it off, he refused. "I'm bad," he told her. "I don't want you to see my face."
Joel's parents were as baffled as they were horrified. Almost a year would pass before they'd come to understand the source of his demons, a year in which their curly-haired boy was frequently suicidal and obviously terrified. In therapy over the subsequent months, he slowly started revealing the torments he'd endured at the hands of his own family. He'd been sexually abused by his uncle Larry (his father's older brother, who confessed in 1999 and is currently in prison), and also by Larry's adult son Stewart, who pleaded guilty and served a year before being released on parole. Finally, the boy charged, he was sexually abused by his uncle Howie (his father's oldest brother, fourteen years Henry's senior).
Uncle Howie is better known to New Yorkers as Cantor Howard Nevison, part of the rabbinical hierarchy at Congregation Emanu-El, the city's most prominent Reform Jewish synagogue, for 23 years. In the early-morning hours of February 20, police arrested him in his Upper West Side home. On April 17, a preliminary hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial. He is contesting the charges. "Howard Nevison is innocent, and we are confident he will be exonerated," says his attorney, Ralph Jacobs.
These accusations are very different from the suddenly ubiquitous stories of priests molesting parishioners. This is strictly a family affair. Whether or not Howard Nevison is guilty -- the prosecution's three-year delay in bringing charges against him could severely undermine the case, according to experts -- the charges comprise a tragic textbook example of what psychologists call intergenerational transmission. When Larry confessed to detectives that he had abused Joel, he also claimed that Howard had sexually abused him when he was young. Stewart says his father molested him when he was a boy. Most remarkably, Henry told detectives he believed his son's charges because, as a boy, he too had been abused by both Howard and Larry, and in much the same ways: Larry gently, and Howard violently, with penetration, pain, and threats. Howard Nevison has denied those accusations, too.
Three days after Howard Nevison was charged with sexual abuse, Emanu-El's associate rabbi, David Posner, eased into his Saturday sermon with a joke. How is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, he asked soberly, like the upcoming festival of Purim -- a day of colorful masks and costumes and make-believe? The punch line: It's the day when people dress up and pretend to be real Jews. No one laughed. "It's a distasteful joke," he acknowledged apologetically to the scattering of people in the cavernous, chilly sanctuary.
The congregants at Emanu-El -- New York's swankest synagogue, with a Fifth Avenue address; a powerful, well-connected board; and a membership of 10,000 -- can be famously casual about religious observance, even by the standards of the Reform movement, Judaism's liberal branch. Its spectacular stained-glass rose window and five-story-high limestone buttresses lend it a cathedral-like air: Our Lady of Emanu-El, some members call it fondly.
On that Sabbath, however, the members who gathered might well have been seeking spiritual guidance on a particular matter. If so, they were disappointed. Rabbi Posner never addressed Nevison's absence -- at least not directly. He talked instead about the terrible precariousness of fate, how Purim's tale depicts national heroes and enemies of the state switching places with dizzying speed, then back again, all in a matter of days.
But for Nevison, the blow had been coming for years; the cantor first learned he was a suspect not long after Joel's parents initially approached the police in 1998. Linda Fairstein, former longtime chief of the New York district attorney's sex-crimes-prosecution unit, says she's "stunned" that it took so long to file charges against the cantor. "I've never heard of that," she says. "It's quite extraordinary that people who already gained the trust of a child for the prosecution of relatives couldn't then also elicit his consent in prosecuting another one at the time."
Why the delay? Joel, according to the Pennsylvania district attorney bringing the charges, was too afraid to testify against the cantor, allegedly the most terrifying of the three men accused of molesting him. In the affidavit of probable cause that resulted in Howard Nevison's arrest, the boy describes him as "a big man with a mean, powerful voice and frightening glare," who threatened to kill him if he spoke up.
That characterization bears little resemblance to the man known to Emanu-El's members, most of whom describe him the same way: private, but gracious and understated. "He's a teddy bear," says one woman whose sons were bar mitzvahed at Emanu-El, one recently. "This is not a man who's a scary person."
"He's worked with many young boys preparing for their bar mitzvah, and everyone just loves him," says Joan Salomon, an artist and former member of the music committee who helped select Nevison for his job. She's convinced, she says, that "Howard is as innocent as I am."
The day the allegations broke, the news spread instantly. "All my friends e-mailed me back, and they all said the same thing: Oy vey," says Iris Fishman, an Upper West Side mom whose daughter was bat mitzvahed at Emanu-El last year. Fishman says she immediately grilled her daughter about whether the cantor had ever behaved inappropriately with her. She got a DefCon Level 10 eye-roll in response.
Some parents were outraged to learn that the temple leadership had known since 1998 about an investigation of the Nevison family yet continued allowing the cantor to meet with boys and girls preparing for their bar mitzvahs. ("Hideous" is how one Upper East Side attorney, whose child is in nursery school, describes Emanu-El's handling of the affair.) Vicki Weiner, a spokeswoman for the temple, responds that the leadership did "due diligence" at the time and felt comfortable keeping him on. They were then unaware, Weiner says, that his two younger brothers had accused Howard of sexual abuse.
"Cantor Nevison had alerted a select few officials that something was going on, but this was a family matter," says Weiner. "We were told that his brother and nephew were being investigated, but he was never charged, and there was never any formal investigation. He told us there had been some questions about him, but that was it." In fact, responds Risa Vetri Ferman, the Montgomery County sex-crimes prosecutor on the case, the investigation began in October 1998 and was "official, formal, and ongoing" until the cantor was arrested in February.
For much of their marriage, Henry and Jacqui lived in a quaint white house with a wraparound porch, two dogs, and a third-floor office for their small film-production company. Staff members came and went; the couple bickered and made up; Henry hammed it up for employees, trying to boost morale as they pulled together projects like an earnest ten-part educational series about Native American history.
Although Jacqui and Henry remain close, they separated in October. Now Henry lives and works alone, mostly editing military histories, cutting and pasting, trying to make sense of the mayhem.
"Nothing prepares you for this," he says, perched on a couch near the front door. Heavyset, like his brother Howard, Henry has small, sneaker-clad feet, a mustache that's just shy of walrus, and glasses just shy of arty. Still reeling from the extent of the exposure his brother's arrest got in New York, he points to an oversize Sony TV that dominates a corner of the room. "We anticipated that it would be big, but nothing prepares you for the fact of your dysfunctionality becoming national news."
In the affidavit, police quote Henry describing Howard as "intimidating, controlling, mean, and sadistic." Contemplating how to characterize him as an adult, Henry snorts. "Howard shows you the side of Howard he wants you to see," he says. "He always felt he had the answers for me -- where I'd live, who I'd marry." He pauses. "The interesting thing is that he cared about those things. Our relationship wasn't all negative."
It's clear that Henry still feels some residual pride in his brother's talent. "That throat," he says. "It was legend in our house. I was very proud of my brother. I used to love to brag about who he is and what he does. I felt very proud of that."
The day Henry learned Howard had finally been arrested, he drove to his mother's Philadelphia home, breaking the news to her before she heard it elsewhere.
"People keep saying, 'Why'd you go after the family? Why couldn't you keep it in the family, handle it that way?' " says Henry, suddenly defensive. His face flushes red, then just as suddenly drains of color. "I didn't go after my brothers. The prosecutors went after my brothers."
As Henry talks about his family, he seems almost numb, as if flattened by the mass of circumstances weighing on him. He brightens only once, when asked about a collection of early-twentieth-century cameras displayed on some shelves. As he gently handles a 16-mm. camera, Henry explains that he collects historical home videos, footage of parents and kids goofing around on holiday in San Francisco in the twenties, or maybe on a cruise. He has hundreds of reels -- sweet, nostalgic depictions of family lives long past.
Even before Joel's manic episode with the mask, there had been signs of trouble. When he was 3, he came home from school one day and said his penis hurt. In fact, it was bruised. There are a number of ways it could have happened -- a bump on a piece of furniture, for example -- but it worried Jacqui enough that she went to his preschool to ensure that no caregiver would ever be alone with him.
Although Joel continued on and off to complain about pain -- sometimes in his stomach, sometimes around his genitals -- Jacqui and Henry had little sense of what could be troubling him. "They were seeing signs something was wrong, but they couldn't put their fingers on it -- it's the unthinkable," says Jill Talus, a close friend of Jacqui's with a child around Joel's age. "How do you even go there? It's almost easier to believe your kid has cancer than to think it's sexual abuse."Jacqui and Henry saw Henry's brothers several times a year: One summer, Larry spent a lot of time helping them renovate the house. Howard and his wife, Fern, a petite woman who worked for years in a dentist's office, visited on holidays. When Larry's son Stewart needed to save some money and pull his act together, Jacqui and Henry took him in. A few months later, after finding blood in Joel's stool, Jacqui took her son to the doctor, who didn't sound any alarms. Only after the incident with the mask was she concerned he was being harmed. She whisked Joel off to another doctor; when she returned, Stewart was gone, leaving his belongings behind.
Joel never seemed the same after that: He tried to throw himself in front of a car; he was angry and out of control. Jacqui started spending less time at the production company, and more with Joel and Laura (also not her real name), his younger sister by three years. In therapy, it all came out. Eventually, in October 1998, Jacqui walked into a police station to talk about what they'd learned.
The assertions in the affidavit of probable cause supporting Howard's arrest are grim: that Howard partially penetrated Joel and pinched his penis (causing the bruise), threatening to kill him if he talked; that Larry licked his genitals, and that Stewart "pulled his pants down, got on top of him, and rubbed his penis back and forth." The affidavit also states that Stewart penetrated Laura with his finger. 'Ihad no reason to disbelieve what my son said when he told me," says Henry, "because Howie did the exact same thing to me. It wasn't like 'What is this bizarre thing you're saying about a member of my family?' I was horrified -- suddenly it was like a switch turned on in my head and I started to remember vividly the pain."
Henry believes that someone may have abused Howard, inflicting an earlier sin, if not the original one. But who that might be, he doesn't speculate. The Nevison parents, Mervin and Sylvia, started their family in Strawberry Mansion, then a comfortable, close-knit Jewish community in Philadelphia. Both Mervin's and Sylvia's fathers were cantors; Henry was told neighbors used to come by to hear his maternal grandfather recite the Shabbat prayers on the stoop.
Mervin was a grocer, a mild man who suffered a heart attack at 40, then never worked again and stayed home with the kids. ("It wouldn't have been him," says Henry. "He hated confrontation.") Sylvia, who supported the family as a seamstress, was more assertive (her first words upon meeting Fern were, "Nice to meet you, Howie's not getting married until he goes to Europe," where she hoped he'd launch his career).
Henry says that Howard, already a student at the Curtis Institute of Music, one of the country's most prestigious music conservatories, penetrated him when he was about 8, in the bathroom, up against the cold tub, as his parents watched TV on the floor below. "It was probably Walter Cronkite," he says. "It doesn't take long. I was seeing stars. I remember praying and hoping it would end." He claims it happened on one other occasion; a third time, he slipped away. Within the family, to his brothers, Howard was cruel and sadistic, Henry says, adding, "I don't think anyone outside the family ever saw it."
Henry says his own experience with his two brothers helped him understand Joel, but also intensified his feelings of responsibility for the terror his son endured. "Imagine the guilt that I have to live with," he says. Another flush of red, then a quick fade.
The possibility that Henry, too, could well be a recipient of whatever behavioral "virus" might have afflicted his family was not lost on the police, who briefly looked into Henry's relationship with Joel. They submitted him to a polygraph test, which he passed, confirming one he'd taken independently. After questioning Joel repeatedly on the matter, they ultimately ruled Henry out as a suspect.
Henry himself says that for a long time, he was afraid to have children, unsure, at some level, of the kind of father he'd be. He says he was troubled to see the way Larry beat up on his own kids, impulsive behavior Henry now chalks up to sexual humiliations Larry says he suffered at Howard's hands. "I didn't have children with my first wife," says Henry. "I really believe it's because I was afraid of being abusive. I was afraid of repeating, of doing the very thing . . . I think there's a part of us that we're afraid is a dark corner, and we don't want to put ourselves in situations where we might reveal it."
Of the three sons, Howard seemed to be the golden one. After graduating in 1965 from Curtis, he eventually moved to New York with Fern. For nearly fifteen years, he tried to make it in the opera world while making a living as a cantor at Progressive Shaari Zedek Synagogue in Brooklyn and in the choir at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, near Lincoln Center. Eventually it became clear that the Met wasn't about to tap him. The opportunity at Emanu-El, which came up in 1978, provided a level of prestige and security that made it easier for him to relinquish his operatic ambitions. It apparently didn't matter to Emanu-El that he had no seminary training. He sang, as one Curtis classmate described him, "like a pint-size Robert Merrill." His voice was particularly prized because the temple's Friday-evening Sabbath service is broadcast weekly over WQXR-FM.
Outside of social life within the synagogue, Nevison kept up with his classical-music connections: He stayed in touch with several classmates from Curtis, including prominent Metropolitan Opera soprano Judith Blegen. And he remained active in some local classical-music groups, serving as vice-president of the once prestigious, now somewhat musty Bohemian Society. "Our official position is innocent until guilty," says Bohemian Society president Abba Bogin. "We're distressed by the situation, but we don't want to make any prejudgments until the trial."
For all of Montgomery County district attorney Bruce Castor's grandstanding, the case is far from airtight. Joel evidently sustained physical injuries, but there's a man in jail and another one just out who could be responsible for that. The prosecution will have to rely heavily on the testimony of a 12-year-old repeating the statements he made as a 9-year-old recalling what happened to him as early as 3. Linda Fairstein describes testimony by children remembering incidents that happened when they were that young as "treacherous" in terms of potential unreliability. She also points out that the delay gave the D.A. time to coach the young witness -- a point that surely will not be lost on the defense.
Should Henry and Larry testify about their alleged abuse as children -- and it's unclear the judge will allow that testimony -- their statements would prove problematic, too: Larry is hardly sympathetic, and Henry's description of his memories is complicated. He doesn't claim to have blocked them out entirely (the standard for classic recovered-memory syndrome); on the other hand, he says he only confronted them after Joel spoke out.
Defense attorneys would have no trouble finding expert witnesses to question the reliability of Henry's memories. And if he claims they weren't suppressed, why would he allow his son to be alone in a room with the man he says tormented him? Or putting Henry on the witness stand could backfire: If he'd been abused himself -- or believed he'd been -- could he have pressured his son into testifying in his stead?
Stewart Nevison's older brother, scott, is a 32-year-old truck driver who lives in Philadelphia. "He's a pompous prick," he says about Howard, "and I haven't talked to him in ten years. What's it to you?" It smells like kitty litter in the hallway of his apartment, and there's a sticker on the plywood door inviting guests to open their arms to Jesus.The crack in the door gradually grows wider as Scott counterattacks: "How'd you feel if it was your family? I've got three blows -- my father, my brother, and my uncle."
Inside Scott's dimly lit apartment, there's a small Christmas tree in a dark corner, overflowing ashtrays, overflowing boxes of kitty litter. Lighting up a cigarette and leaning against a doorway to the kitchen, Scott seems relieved to be talking about the subject. "Yeah, you could say he was the hip uncle," he says, "because he was more freewheeling than my dad." Until Scott was 9, Larry beat both Scott and Stewart -- closed-fist hitting, in the head, on the shoulder. "I used to piss my pants when I saw him coming at me," says Scott.
Larry, who worked in a print shop, left his wife when Scott was 9, Stewart 8. (Larry's first wife, Carol, remarried and is now a Jew for Jesus living with her second husband in Philadelphia; she declined to comment.) When Larry walked out, Howard effectively cut him off, stepping in to help Carol. Howard and Fern would spend weekends at Carol's home, pitching in, splurging on gifts for the kids. "He and Fern -- they just kept us laughing 24/7," says Scott. Now he smiles boyishly, remembering, and sits down at the table. "I just loved him as my uncle. He was the one responsible for getting me motivated to go to college. That's why all this is so hard." He flushes red, and then the color fades almost immediately, a physical response startlingly similar to Henry's.
The relationship abruptly ended when Scott, struggling financially with school, dropped out to take a job driving a recycling truck. "Howard was like, 'Real nice job for a Nevison,' " says Scott. "I said, 'F you, buddy, I don't have to take it from you.' " A flush, a fade. "I was mad at myself for not being able to do what I wanted to do. A lot of stuff wasn't going my way."
Scott blames Howard and Larry for a lot of things, but neither of them, he says, ever touched him sexually. As for the array of charges, Scott doesn't know what to think, except that he believes in Stewart's innocence. Stewart initially contested the charges, but shortly after a jury sentenced his father to five to fifteen years (Larry is appealing the conviction), Stewart pleaded guilty to two counts of lesser molestation charges, spending about a year in prison before being released on parole this past November. "I told him," says Scott, " 'You didn't do it, so then don't say you did!' " Despite the rift with Howard, he can't fully accept the notion of his uncle as a pedophile. "For one thing, he wasn't there that often," he says, adding, "How do you prove you didn't do something like that? If they could accuse Stew . . . they could accuse me."
Now married (to a woman fifteen years older, with ten kids from earlier marriages), he says he'd never hurt her or her kids, an assertion he makes with pride. "So boo-hoo-hoo, something happened, your dad beat you up. I was beat, but I never touched a soul in my life," says Scott, smoking furiously. "If there's something wrong, you think, I better go to the doctor, not I'll just hide it. You have to take responsibility."
Still, he feels ashamed of his family. "I feel guilt," he says, trying to work out why. "It's my family. Maybe there's some kind of gene in the blood."
Scott occasionally talks to his grandmother Sylvia. Even after all that's been charged, the mundane kinds of guilt persist. "Sylvia always asks me, 'Have you tried writing your father?' " says Scott. He looks down sheepishly. "And I have to lie and say that I do."
When thinking back on Howard's career, Henry remembers feeling most gripped by one of his early roles, with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. "I have a vivid memory of him playing the villain who kills his wife in Puccini's Il Tabarro. I loved to watch that because he was so demonic." Henry's chest practically puffs up and his eyes grow slitted as he reenacts his brother's performance for a moment. He wraps his arm across his front with a flourish as if enfolding himself in a cloak. "I used to think that was so cool. He had this evil, baritone voice" -- he sits up straight, opens his voice, and lets out a deep trill. Then he deflates; he looks confused, like he's trying to understand why he loved his brother in that role, admired it so.
"When he attacked me, when he did what he did to me, it was with that same level of dominance," he finally says. "I felt his evil. When I read what my son said about Howard -- that he had an 'intimidating voice' -- that really sent it home to me. That was my experience."
Eleven days before his extradition hearing, at around ten on a Friday morning, Howard, possibly hoping to avoid press, unexpectedly turned himself in at a small courthouse in Narberth, Pennsylvania, arriving with a vanful of friends and family. Later that day, after a handcuffed trip to the police station for fingerprinting, he was released on $25,000 bail. On the way out of the courthouse, as he faced the photographers the police had alerted, Fern tried to make light of the situation: Make sure not to be too "mean-looking," she was reported saying dryly to her husband. But back in the courtroom, she'd turned to a friend and wept in her arms.
Song of Sorrow
By Susan Dominus
New York Magazine, Metro - April 15, 2002
For 23 years, Howard Nevison's magnificent baritone filled the posh sanctuary of Temple Emanu-El. But the music ended with Nevison's arrest in February on the stunning charge that he had sexually abused his young nephew. It's a case that has put an entire family on trial.
Not long after their son started kindergarten, Henry Nevison and his wife, Jacqui, documentary filmmakers who lived on the Main Line in Philadelphia, started worrying about him. Once a smiling, outgoing child, over time he had grown increasingly nervous, withdrawn around other kids, inclined to complain about vague stomachaches and body pains. But low-grade worry turned to full-blown panic when Joel (not his real name) came storming downstairs one November afternoon in 1997 in the grip of a desperate fit, crying inconsolably. Joel, then 8, had covered his face with a white mask made of underwear he'd ripped up. Across it, he'd scrawled with a black Magic Marker, I'M A BITCH, I SUCK, I'M A LOSER. When Jacqui tried to persuade him to take it off, he refused. "I'm bad," he told her. "I don't want you to see my face."
Joel's parents were as baffled as they were horrified. Almost a year would pass before they'd come to understand the source of his demons, a year in which their curly-haired boy was frequently suicidal and obviously terrified. In therapy over the subsequent months, he slowly started revealing the torments he'd endured at the hands of his own family. He'd been sexually abused by his uncle Larry (his father's older brother, who confessed in 1999 and is currently in prison), and also by Larry's adult son Stewart, who pleaded guilty and served a year before being released on parole. Finally, the boy charged, he was sexually abused by his uncle Howie (his father's oldest brother, fourteen years Henry's senior).
Uncle Howie is better known to New Yorkers as Cantor Howard Nevison, part of the rabbinical hierarchy at Congregation Emanu-El, the city's most prominent Reform Jewish synagogue, for 23 years. In the early-morning hours of February 20, police arrested him in his Upper West Side home. On April 17, a preliminary hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial. He is contesting the charges. "Howard Nevison is innocent, and we are confident he will be exonerated," says his attorney, Ralph Jacobs.
These accusations are very different from the suddenly ubiquitous stories of priests molesting parishioners. This is strictly a family affair. Whether or not Howard Nevison is guilty -- the prosecution's three-year delay in bringing charges against him could severely undermine the case, according to experts -- the charges comprise a tragic textbook example of what psychologists call intergenerational transmission. When Larry confessed to detectives that he had abused Joel, he also claimed that Howard had sexually abused him when he was young. Stewart says his father molested him when he was a boy. Most remarkably, Henry told detectives he believed his son's charges because, as a boy, he too had been abused by both Howard and Larry, and in much the same ways: Larry gently, and Howard violently, with penetration, pain, and threats. Howard Nevison has denied those accusations, too.
Three days after Howard Nevison was charged with sexual abuse, Emanu-El's associate rabbi, David Posner, eased into his Saturday sermon with a joke. How is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, he asked soberly, like the upcoming festival of Purim -- a day of colorful masks and costumes and make-believe? The punch line: It's the day when people dress up and pretend to be real Jews. No one laughed. "It's a distasteful joke," he acknowledged apologetically to the scattering of people in the cavernous, chilly sanctuary.
The congregants at Emanu-El -- New York's swankest synagogue, with a Fifth Avenue address; a powerful, well-connected board; and a membership of 10,000 -- can be famously casual about religious observance, even by the standards of the Reform movement, Judaism's liberal branch. Its spectacular stained-glass rose window and five-story-high limestone buttresses lend it a cathedral-like air: Our Lady of Emanu-El, some members call it fondly.
On that Sabbath, however, the members who gathered might well have been seeking spiritual guidance on a particular matter. If so, they were disappointed. Rabbi Posner never addressed Nevison's absence -- at least not directly. He talked instead about the terrible precariousness of fate, how Purim's tale depicts national heroes and enemies of the state switching places with dizzying speed, then back again, all in a matter of days.
But for Nevison, the blow had been coming for years; the cantor first learned he was a suspect not long after Joel's parents initially approached the police in 1998. Linda Fairstein, former longtime chief of the New York district attorney's sex-crimes-prosecution unit, says she's "stunned" that it took so long to file charges against the cantor. "I've never heard of that," she says. "It's quite extraordinary that people who already gained the trust of a child for the prosecution of relatives couldn't then also elicit his consent in prosecuting another one at the time."
Why the delay? Joel, according to the Pennsylvania district attorney bringing the charges, was too afraid to testify against the cantor, allegedly the most terrifying of the three men accused of molesting him. In the affidavit of probable cause that resulted in Howard Nevison's arrest, the boy describes him as "a big man with a mean, powerful voice and frightening glare," who threatened to kill him if he spoke up.
That characterization bears little resemblance to the man known to Emanu-El's members, most of whom describe him the same way: private, but gracious and understated. "He's a teddy bear," says one woman whose sons were bar mitzvahed at Emanu-El, one recently. "This is not a man who's a scary person."
"He's worked with many young boys preparing for their bar mitzvah, and everyone just loves him," says Joan Salomon, an artist and former member of the music committee who helped select Nevison for his job. She's convinced, she says, that "Howard is as innocent as I am."
The day the allegations broke, the news spread instantly. "All my friends e-mailed me back, and they all said the same thing: Oy vey," says Iris Fishman, an Upper West Side mom whose daughter was bat mitzvahed at Emanu-El last year. Fishman says she immediately grilled her daughter about whether the cantor had ever behaved inappropriately with her. She got a DefCon Level 10 eye-roll in response.
Some parents were outraged to learn that the temple leadership had known since 1998 about an investigation of the Nevison family yet continued allowing the cantor to meet with boys and girls preparing for their bar mitzvahs. ("Hideous" is how one Upper East Side attorney, whose child is in nursery school, describes Emanu-El's handling of the affair.) Vicki Weiner, a spokeswoman for the temple, responds that the leadership did "due diligence" at the time and felt comfortable keeping him on. They were then unaware, Weiner says, that his two younger brothers had accused Howard of sexual abuse.
"Cantor Nevison had alerted a select few officials that something was going on, but this was a family matter," says Weiner. "We were told that his brother and nephew were being investigated, but he was never charged, and there was never any formal investigation. He told us there had been some questions about him, but that was it." In fact, responds Risa Vetri Ferman, the Montgomery County sex-crimes prosecutor on the case, the investigation began in October 1998 and was "official, formal, and ongoing" until the cantor was arrested in February.
For much of their marriage, Henry and Jacqui lived in a quaint white house with a wraparound porch, two dogs, and a third-floor office for their small film-production company. Staff members came and went; the couple bickered and made up; Henry hammed it up for employees, trying to boost morale as they pulled together projects like an earnest ten-part educational series about Native American history.
Although Jacqui and Henry remain close, they separated in October. Now Henry lives and works alone, mostly editing military histories, cutting and pasting, trying to make sense of the mayhem.
"Nothing prepares you for this," he says, perched on a couch near the front door. Heavyset, like his brother Howard, Henry has small, sneaker-clad feet, a mustache that's just shy of walrus, and glasses just shy of arty. Still reeling from the extent of the exposure his brother's arrest got in New York, he points to an oversize Sony TV that dominates a corner of the room. "We anticipated that it would be big, but nothing prepares you for the fact of your dysfunctionality becoming national news."
In the affidavit, police quote Henry describing Howard as "intimidating, controlling, mean, and sadistic." Contemplating how to characterize him as an adult, Henry snorts. "Howard shows you the side of Howard he wants you to see," he says. "He always felt he had the answers for me -- where I'd live, who I'd marry." He pauses. "The interesting thing is that he cared about those things. Our relationship wasn't all negative."
It's clear that Henry still feels some residual pride in his brother's talent. "That throat," he says. "It was legend in our house. I was very proud of my brother. I used to love to brag about who he is and what he does. I felt very proud of that."
The day Henry learned Howard had finally been arrested, he drove to his mother's Philadelphia home, breaking the news to her before she heard it elsewhere.
"People keep saying, 'Why'd you go after the family? Why couldn't you keep it in the family, handle it that way?' " says Henry, suddenly defensive. His face flushes red, then just as suddenly drains of color. "I didn't go after my brothers. The prosecutors went after my brothers."
As Henry talks about his family, he seems almost numb, as if flattened by the mass of circumstances weighing on him. He brightens only once, when asked about a collection of early-twentieth-century cameras displayed on some shelves. As he gently handles a 16-mm. camera, Henry explains that he collects historical home videos, footage of parents and kids goofing around on holiday in San Francisco in the twenties, or maybe on a cruise. He has hundreds of reels -- sweet, nostalgic depictions of family lives long past.
Even before Joel's manic episode with the mask, there had been signs of trouble. When he was 3, he came home from school one day and said his penis hurt. In fact, it was bruised. There are a number of ways it could have happened -- a bump on a piece of furniture, for example -- but it worried Jacqui enough that she went to his preschool to ensure that no caregiver would ever be alone with him.
Although Joel continued on and off to complain about pain -- sometimes in his stomach, sometimes around his genitals -- Jacqui and Henry had little sense of what could be troubling him. "They were seeing signs something was wrong, but they couldn't put their fingers on it -- it's the unthinkable," says Jill Talus, a close friend of Jacqui's with a child around Joel's age. "How do you even go there? It's almost easier to believe your kid has cancer than to think it's sexual abuse."Jacqui and Henry saw Henry's brothers several times a year: One summer, Larry spent a lot of time helping them renovate the house. Howard and his wife, Fern, a petite woman who worked for years in a dentist's office, visited on holidays. When Larry's son Stewart needed to save some money and pull his act together, Jacqui and Henry took him in. A few months later, after finding blood in Joel's stool, Jacqui took her son to the doctor, who didn't sound any alarms. Only after the incident with the mask was she concerned he was being harmed. She whisked Joel off to another doctor; when she returned, Stewart was gone, leaving his belongings behind.
Joel never seemed the same after that: He tried to throw himself in front of a car; he was angry and out of control. Jacqui started spending less time at the production company, and more with Joel and Laura (also not her real name), his younger sister by three years. In therapy, it all came out. Eventually, in October 1998, Jacqui walked into a police station to talk about what they'd learned.
The assertions in the affidavit of probable cause supporting Howard's arrest are grim: that Howard partially penetrated Joel and pinched his penis (causing the bruise), threatening to kill him if he talked; that Larry licked his genitals, and that Stewart "pulled his pants down, got on top of him, and rubbed his penis back and forth." The affidavit also states that Stewart penetrated Laura with his finger. 'Ihad no reason to disbelieve what my son said when he told me," says Henry, "because Howie did the exact same thing to me. It wasn't like 'What is this bizarre thing you're saying about a member of my family?' I was horrified -- suddenly it was like a switch turned on in my head and I started to remember vividly the pain."
Henry believes that someone may have abused Howard, inflicting an earlier sin, if not the original one. But who that might be, he doesn't speculate. The Nevison parents, Mervin and Sylvia, started their family in Strawberry Mansion, then a comfortable, close-knit Jewish community in Philadelphia. Both Mervin's and Sylvia's fathers were cantors; Henry was told neighbors used to come by to hear his maternal grandfather recite the Shabbat prayers on the stoop.
Mervin was a grocer, a mild man who suffered a heart attack at 40, then never worked again and stayed home with the kids. ("It wouldn't have been him," says Henry. "He hated confrontation.") Sylvia, who supported the family as a seamstress, was more assertive (her first words upon meeting Fern were, "Nice to meet you, Howie's not getting married until he goes to Europe," where she hoped he'd launch his career).
Henry says that Howard, already a student at the Curtis Institute of Music, one of the country's most prestigious music conservatories, penetrated him when he was about 8, in the bathroom, up against the cold tub, as his parents watched TV on the floor below. "It was probably Walter Cronkite," he says. "It doesn't take long. I was seeing stars. I remember praying and hoping it would end." He claims it happened on one other occasion; a third time, he slipped away. Within the family, to his brothers, Howard was cruel and sadistic, Henry says, adding, "I don't think anyone outside the family ever saw it."
Henry says his own experience with his two brothers helped him understand Joel, but also intensified his feelings of responsibility for the terror his son endured. "Imagine the guilt that I have to live with," he says. Another flush of red, then a quick fade.
The possibility that Henry, too, could well be a recipient of whatever behavioral "virus" might have afflicted his family was not lost on the police, who briefly looked into Henry's relationship with Joel. They submitted him to a polygraph test, which he passed, confirming one he'd taken independently. After questioning Joel repeatedly on the matter, they ultimately ruled Henry out as a suspect.
Henry himself says that for a long time, he was afraid to have children, unsure, at some level, of the kind of father he'd be. He says he was troubled to see the way Larry beat up on his own kids, impulsive behavior Henry now chalks up to sexual humiliations Larry says he suffered at Howard's hands. "I didn't have children with my first wife," says Henry. "I really believe it's because I was afraid of being abusive. I was afraid of repeating, of doing the very thing . . . I think there's a part of us that we're afraid is a dark corner, and we don't want to put ourselves in situations where we might reveal it."
Of the three sons, Howard seemed to be the golden one. After graduating in 1965 from Curtis, he eventually moved to New York with Fern. For nearly fifteen years, he tried to make it in the opera world while making a living as a cantor at Progressive Shaari Zedek Synagogue in Brooklyn and in the choir at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, near Lincoln Center. Eventually it became clear that the Met wasn't about to tap him. The opportunity at Emanu-El, which came up in 1978, provided a level of prestige and security that made it easier for him to relinquish his operatic ambitions. It apparently didn't matter to Emanu-El that he had no seminary training. He sang, as one Curtis classmate described him, "like a pint-size Robert Merrill." His voice was particularly prized because the temple's Friday-evening Sabbath service is broadcast weekly over WQXR-FM.
Outside of social life within the synagogue, Nevison kept up with his classical-music connections: He stayed in touch with several classmates from Curtis, including prominent Metropolitan Opera soprano Judith Blegen. And he remained active in some local classical-music groups, serving as vice-president of the once prestigious, now somewhat musty Bohemian Society. "Our official position is innocent until guilty," says Bohemian Society president Abba Bogin. "We're distressed by the situation, but we don't want to make any prejudgments until the trial."
For all of Montgomery County district attorney Bruce Castor's grandstanding, the case is far from airtight. Joel evidently sustained physical injuries, but there's a man in jail and another one just out who could be responsible for that. The prosecution will have to rely heavily on the testimony of a 12-year-old repeating the statements he made as a 9-year-old recalling what happened to him as early as 3. Linda Fairstein describes testimony by children remembering incidents that happened when they were that young as "treacherous" in terms of potential unreliability. She also points out that the delay gave the D.A. time to coach the young witness -- a point that surely will not be lost on the defense.
Should Henry and Larry testify about their alleged abuse as children -- and it's unclear the judge will allow that testimony -- their statements would prove problematic, too: Larry is hardly sympathetic, and Henry's description of his memories is complicated. He doesn't claim to have blocked them out entirely (the standard for classic recovered-memory syndrome); on the other hand, he says he only confronted them after Joel spoke out.
Defense attorneys would have no trouble finding expert witnesses to question the reliability of Henry's memories. And if he claims they weren't suppressed, why would he allow his son to be alone in a room with the man he says tormented him? Or putting Henry on the witness stand could backfire: If he'd been abused himself -- or believed he'd been -- could he have pressured his son into testifying in his stead?
Stewart Nevison's older brother, scott, is a 32-year-old truck driver who lives in Philadelphia. "He's a pompous prick," he says about Howard, "and I haven't talked to him in ten years. What's it to you?" It smells like kitty litter in the hallway of his apartment, and there's a sticker on the plywood door inviting guests to open their arms to Jesus.The crack in the door gradually grows wider as Scott counterattacks: "How'd you feel if it was your family? I've got three blows -- my father, my brother, and my uncle."
Inside Scott's dimly lit apartment, there's a small Christmas tree in a dark corner, overflowing ashtrays, overflowing boxes of kitty litter. Lighting up a cigarette and leaning against a doorway to the kitchen, Scott seems relieved to be talking about the subject. "Yeah, you could say he was the hip uncle," he says, "because he was more freewheeling than my dad." Until Scott was 9, Larry beat both Scott and Stewart -- closed-fist hitting, in the head, on the shoulder. "I used to piss my pants when I saw him coming at me," says Scott.
Larry, who worked in a print shop, left his wife when Scott was 9, Stewart 8. (Larry's first wife, Carol, remarried and is now a Jew for Jesus living with her second husband in Philadelphia; she declined to comment.) When Larry walked out, Howard effectively cut him off, stepping in to help Carol. Howard and Fern would spend weekends at Carol's home, pitching in, splurging on gifts for the kids. "He and Fern -- they just kept us laughing 24/7," says Scott. Now he smiles boyishly, remembering, and sits down at the table. "I just loved him as my uncle. He was the one responsible for getting me motivated to go to college. That's why all this is so hard." He flushes red, and then the color fades almost immediately, a physical response startlingly similar to Henry's.
The relationship abruptly ended when Scott, struggling financially with school, dropped out to take a job driving a recycling truck. "Howard was like, 'Real nice job for a Nevison,' " says Scott. "I said, 'F you, buddy, I don't have to take it from you.' " A flush, a fade. "I was mad at myself for not being able to do what I wanted to do. A lot of stuff wasn't going my way."
Scott blames Howard and Larry for a lot of things, but neither of them, he says, ever touched him sexually. As for the array of charges, Scott doesn't know what to think, except that he believes in Stewart's innocence. Stewart initially contested the charges, but shortly after a jury sentenced his father to five to fifteen years (Larry is appealing the conviction), Stewart pleaded guilty to two counts of lesser molestation charges, spending about a year in prison before being released on parole this past November. "I told him," says Scott, " 'You didn't do it, so then don't say you did!' " Despite the rift with Howard, he can't fully accept the notion of his uncle as a pedophile. "For one thing, he wasn't there that often," he says, adding, "How do you prove you didn't do something like that? If they could accuse Stew . . . they could accuse me."
Now married (to a woman fifteen years older, with ten kids from earlier marriages), he says he'd never hurt her or her kids, an assertion he makes with pride. "So boo-hoo-hoo, something happened, your dad beat you up. I was beat, but I never touched a soul in my life," says Scott, smoking furiously. "If there's something wrong, you think, I better go to the doctor, not I'll just hide it. You have to take responsibility."
Still, he feels ashamed of his family. "I feel guilt," he says, trying to work out why. "It's my family. Maybe there's some kind of gene in the blood."
Scott occasionally talks to his grandmother Sylvia. Even after all that's been charged, the mundane kinds of guilt persist. "Sylvia always asks me, 'Have you tried writing your father?' " says Scott. He looks down sheepishly. "And I have to lie and say that I do."
When thinking back on Howard's career, Henry remembers feeling most gripped by one of his early roles, with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. "I have a vivid memory of him playing the villain who kills his wife in Puccini's Il Tabarro. I loved to watch that because he was so demonic." Henry's chest practically puffs up and his eyes grow slitted as he reenacts his brother's performance for a moment. He wraps his arm across his front with a flourish as if enfolding himself in a cloak. "I used to think that was so cool. He had this evil, baritone voice" -- he sits up straight, opens his voice, and lets out a deep trill. Then he deflates; he looks confused, like he's trying to understand why he loved his brother in that role, admired it so.
"When he attacked me, when he did what he did to me, it was with that same level of dominance," he finally says. "I felt his evil. When I read what my son said about Howard -- that he had an 'intimidating voice' -- that really sent it home to me. That was my experience."
Eleven days before his extradition hearing, at around ten on a Friday morning, Howard, possibly hoping to avoid press, unexpectedly turned himself in at a small courthouse in Narberth, Pennsylvania, arriving with a vanful of friends and family. Later that day, after a handcuffed trip to the police station for fingerprinting, he was released on $25,000 bail. On the way out of the courthouse, as he faced the photographers the police had alerted, Fern tried to make light of the situation: Make sure not to be too "mean-looking," she was reported saying dryly to her husband. But back in the courtroom, she'd turned to a friend and wept in her arms.
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Cantor Must Stand Trial on Kid-Sex Rap
Newsday Magazine - April 17, 2002
Narberth, Pa. -- A prominent New York City cantor was ordered to stand trial on child sex-assault charges yesterday after a judge heard testimony from the alleged victim.
Howard Nevison, 61, who has been free on bond since his Feb. 20 arrest, continues to work at Manhattan's Temple Emanu-El, said Ralph Jacobs, one of his four lawyers.
Nevison's 12-year-old nephew, in about 90 minutes of testimony, said the cantor had sexually assaulted him four times when he was between the ages of 3 and 7.
Two other relatives of the boy - the cantor's brother and another nephew - have been convicted of sexually assaulting him in unrelated incidents.
One is in prison; the other is on parole.
During cross-examination, Jacobs asked the boy if he was confusing Nevison with another relative, suggesting the cantor's weight had changed significantly over time.
"No, it was my Uncle Howard," the boy responded tersely.
"Let's put it this way. If my mother gained or lost 100 pounds, I would still know who it is because it's family."
Nevison faces two felony counts of indecent sexual intercourse and four misdemeanors, including assault and making threats against the boy, who is a child actor.
The cantor, whose wife of three decades attended the court session, is scheduled to be arraigned on June 13.
The couple has no children.
Nevison, cantor at Emanu-El since 1978, declined comment following the hearing.
He was arrested in February at his West 70th Street apartment.
At the time, investigators in Pennsylvania said claims of abuse first came to their attention in 1998. But Montgomery County DA Bruce Castor said cops didn't pursue the case at the time because the boy was "scared to death."
Castor has described the allegations against the cantor as "very ugly."
Officials at the Fifth Avenue synagogue, the city's largest, have issued a statement that Nevison is considered innocent until proven guilty.
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Boy,12, testifying against cantor accused of sex abuse
By JIM NOLAN
Phillidelphia Inquirer - April 17, 2002
"Uncle Howie" and his young nephew haven't been in the same room for more than two years.
But today, the Rosemont boy, 12, is expected to testify at a preliminary hearing that he was sexually abused by Howard "Uncle Howie" Nevison when he was between 3 and 7 years old.
Nevison, 61, faces two counts of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, in addition to charges of indecent assault, simple assault and terroristic threats. The charges stem from abuse that allegedly took place at the boy's Main Line home between 1993 and 1997.
Court documents filed by Montgomery County prosecutors allege that the longtime cantor at the prominent Fifth Avenue Reform synagogue, Temple Emanu-El - allegedly squeezed the boy's genitals and threatened to kill him if he ever told anyone.
Nevison - the first cantor to sing at the Vatican - has denied the charges and is currently free on $250,000 bail.
At Nevison's arraignment last month, District Justice Henry Schireson forbid him from traveling and having any contact with his extended family.
The cantor's lawyers, Ralph A. Jacobs and Bebe H. Kivitz, have labelled the allegations stale and openly questioned why?
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New York City cantor ordered to stand trial on sex charges in Pennsylvania
Associated Press - April 18, 2001
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2002/20020418/wwww.html
NARBERTH, Pa. (AP) -- A cantor at one of New York City's largest Reform synagogue was ordered to stand trial on child sex assault charges after a judge heard testimony from the alleged victim Wednesday.
Howard Nevison, 61, the longtime cantor at Congregation Emanu-El in Manhattan, is charged with assaulting his nephew several times when the boy was between 3 and 7.
Nevison, cantor at Emanu-El since 1978, declined comment after the hearing. He previously has denied the charges.
The boy, now 12, took the stand Wednesday and described four occasions on which he said he was abused.
"He was strong and powerful and I was defenseless," the boy testified.
Two other male relatives have been convicted of sexually assaulting the boy in unrelated incidents. The abuse was disclosed through therapy and first reported to suburban Philadelphia police around 1998.
During cross-examination, defense lawyer Ralph Jacobs asked if the boy was confusing Nevison with someone else, suggesting that Nevison's weight had changed significantly over the years.
"No, it was my Uncle Howard," the boy responded tersely. "If my mother gained or lost 100 pounds, I would still know who it is because it's family."
The boy said the abuse occurred at his suburban Philadelphia home.
Nevison faces two felony counts of indecent sexual intercourse and four misdemeanors, including assault and making threats against the boy. He remains free on $250,000 bail and continues to work at the synagogue.
Jacobs, one of Nevison's four attorneys, faulted prosecutors for waiting more than three years to file the charges against Howard Nevison.
"Testimony in a criminal case is not like a bottle of wine you put away for a few years and hope it gets better," Jacobs said.
The boy testified that he did not report the abuse for years because Nevison threatened to kill him.
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Cantor faces trial on sex-abuse counts - His nephew, 12, gives graphic testimony
By JIM NOLAN
Philladelphia Enquirer - April 17, 2002
The young boy couldn't always remember the exact times, or the exact words spoken, or exactly how old he was when he was allegedly sexually attacked.
But he did not forget the alleged attacks themselves - recounting them yesterday in graphic, disturbing detail, along with the eerily innocuous inventory that rounds out a child's memory of significant events.
The boy remembered "bad touches" - having his pants pulled down and his genitals pinched in the pantry of his kitchen on Thanksgiving, ostensibly over a turkey leg. And another threatening, pinching incident in the bathroom of a fish restaurant.
He also recalled violent, painful sexual encounters of anal and oral intercourse - including one on a previous Mother's Day that allegedly unfolded behind the closed door of his upstairs room on the floor, next to a bunkbed with Cheerios print sheets.
"He did like a push-up motion up and down - it hurt very much," the boy testified in a packed Main Line courtroom.
When prosecutor Risa V. Ferman asked him to point to the man allegedly responsible for molesting him, the boy's soft-featured face tightened, and his arm jutted forward.
His eyes fixed on a silver-haired man at the defense table - a man he hadn't seen in person for nearly two years. A man he'd been trying to avoid all morning: Uncle Howard.
"When somebody does something that horrible and painful you're really going to remember it all your life," the boy, now 12, explained during a preliminary hearing for Howard Nevison - the prominent New York City synagogue cantor charged with sexually molesting, assaulting and threatening his nephew when he was three to eight years old.
Narberth District Justice Henry Schireson ruled there was enough evidence for Nevison to stand trial. A formal arraignment date was set for June 13.
Allegations against the cantor first surfaced several years ago while police investigated the boy's other uncle, Lawrence Nevison, 55, and the boy's cousin, Stewart Nevison, 30.
In 2000, both men were convicted of sexually assaulting the boy and were sent to prison. The boy testified against both of them.
Nevison attorney Ralph A. Jacobs questioned whether the boy's testimony yesterday consisted of "true memories, or the accumulation of inferences and suggestions that have occurred over time."
After the hearing, he also said there were "dramatic contradictions" between the testimony and court documents filed in the case.
The alleged inconsistencies range from the number of times the boy said Nevison pinched his genitals, to the dates of some of the incidents, to the boy's recollection of if he saw a doctor.
"Three years ago he put different faces and different names on these kind of allegations," Jacobs said after the hearing, openly questioning why authorities had waited three years to charge Nevison with the crime.
Prosecutors have said they chose not to pursue charges against the cantor at the time because the boy's doctors and therapists thought that the strain of another trial could irreparably harm him.
Yesterday in court, the boy's parents, grandparents and school-age friend were there to support him, along with Lower Merion Det. George Ohrin.
Nevison occasionally looked at the boy, but the boy rarely looked Nevison's way. That didn't mean the child was confused about who allegedly attacked him.
"It was my Uncle Howard," he said sternly after Jacobs suggested the boy may have confused the appearance of his client with another attacker.
"I know my Uncle Howard. I know who he is," he said. "I've seen him many times in ways that weren't delightful. He's done very bad things to me."
Cantor faces trial on sex-abuse counts - His nephew, 12, gives graphic testimony
By JIM NOLAN
Philladelphia Enquirer - April 17, 2002
The young boy couldn't always remember the exact times, or the exact words spoken, or exactly how old he was when he was allegedly sexually attacked.
But he did not forget the alleged attacks themselves - recounting them yesterday in graphic, disturbing detail, along with the eerily innocuous inventory that rounds out a child's memory of significant events.
The boy remembered "bad touches" - having his pants pulled down and his genitals pinched in the pantry of his kitchen on Thanksgiving, ostensibly over a turkey leg. And another threatening, pinching incident in the bathroom of a fish restaurant.
He also recalled violent, painful sexual encounters of anal and oral intercourse - including one on a previous Mother's Day that allegedly unfolded behind the closed door of his upstairs room on the floor, next to a bunkbed with Cheerios print sheets.
"He did like a push-up motion up and down - it hurt very much," the boy testified in a packed Main Line courtroom.
When prosecutor Risa V. Ferman asked him to point to the man allegedly responsible for molesting him, the boy's soft-featured face tightened, and his arm jutted forward.
His eyes fixed on a silver-haired man at the defense table - a man he hadn't seen in person for nearly two years. A man he'd been trying to avoid all morning: Uncle Howard.
"When somebody does something that horrible and painful you're really going to remember it all your life," the boy, now 12, explained during a preliminary hearing for Howard Nevison - the prominent New York City synagogue cantor charged with sexually molesting, assaulting and threatening his nephew when he was three to eight years old.
Narberth District Justice Henry Schireson ruled there was enough evidence for Nevison to stand trial. A formal arraignment date was set for June 13.
Allegations against the cantor first surfaced several years ago while police investigated the boy's other uncle, Lawrence Nevison, 55, and the boy's cousin, Stewart Nevison, 30.
In 2000, both men were convicted of sexually assaulting the boy and were sent to prison. The boy testified against both of them.
Nevison attorney Ralph A. Jacobs questioned whether the boy's testimony yesterday consisted of "true memories, or the accumulation of inferences and suggestions that have occurred over time."
After the hearing, he also said there were "dramatic contradictions" between the testimony and court documents filed in the case.
The alleged inconsistencies range from the number of times the boy said Nevison pinched his genitals, to the dates of some of the incidents, to the boy's recollection of if he saw a doctor.
"Three years ago he put different faces and different names on these kind of allegations," Jacobs said after the hearing, openly questioning why authorities had waited three years to charge Nevison with the crime.
Prosecutors have said they chose not to pursue charges against the cantor at the time because the boy's doctors and therapists thought that the strain of another trial could irreparably harm him.
Yesterday in court, the boy's parents, grandparents and school-age friend were there to support him, along with Lower Merion Det. George Ohrin.
Nevison occasionally looked at the boy, but the boy rarely looked Nevison's way. That didn't mean the child was confused about who allegedly attacked him.
"It was my Uncle Howard," he said sternly after Jacobs suggested the boy may have confused the appearance of his client with another attacker.
"I know my Uncle Howard. I know who he is," he said. "I've seen him many times in ways that weren't delightful. He's done very bad things to me."
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Hypnosis raised in cantor's boy sex case
By AUSTIN FENNER - DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
New York Daily News - Friday, August 2nd, 2002
Lawyers for a prominent cantor charged with sexually abusing his nephew for years say the boy may have made the accusation because it was suggested to him during hypnosis.
"He has been in treatment with a hypnotherapist who is a follower of a school of hypnotism which believes in injected hypnotic suggestion even in casual conversation," according to the court papers filed in Pennsylvania by lawyers for Howard Nevison.
Lawyers for Nevison, 61, the longtime cantor of Temple Emanu-El, an historic reform synagogue on Fifth Ave., also asked that the charges against him be dropped.
"We asked for a hearing to explore whether the child therapist, a well-known hypnotherapist, used any hypnotic techniques on the child to see if that explains the many changes in the child's story," said Ralph Jacobs, Nevison's attorney.
"If you have a child who is in therapy and doesn't report anything, and then he's with a second therapist, you want to see what influences the intervening therapy had."
Prosecutors said that the boy was never hypnotized and accused the defense of trying to tarnish the victim's credibility.
"He absolutely was not [hypnotized]," said Assistant District Attorney Richard DeSipio of the Montgomery County prosecutor's office.
"It is a deliberate attempt to undermine his credibility without any factual basis whatsoever. The child was never hypnotized."
The boy's second therapist, Herbert Lustig, was unavailable for comment.
Prosecutors in Montgomery County, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb, charged Nevison in February with sexually abusing his nephew between March 1993 and May 1998 - beginning at age 3.
Nevison, who is free on $250,000 bail, is on a paid leave of absence from the synagogue.
The nephew, now 12, testified in a court hearing in April that Nevison sexually abused him on several occasions at family gatherings and at the boy's home in the Philadelphia suburb.
Jacobs noted that prosecutors waited more than three years to bring charges against the cantor, while it went forward with a case against the boy's two other relatives.
The boy testified at two previous trials against his uncle Larry Nevison and cousin Stewart Nevison.
They were found guilty of sexually abusing him in separate and unrelated incidents.
DeSipio said the boy was particularly terrified of Howard Nevison and had to develop a comfort level before going ahead to testify against him.
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Legal Defense Fund For NevisonBy Debra Nussbaum Cohen
The Jewish Week - April 19, 2002
Howard Nevison's friends believe he is innocent, and some of them are putting their money where their mouth is.
A letter went out last week from a committee of Cantor Nevison's friends who are raising money for his newly established legal defense fund, The Jewish Week has learned.
The cantor, who for 24 years has served the Upper East Side's tony Temple Emanu-El, was arrested in February on charges that he sexually molested his young nephew. He is now awaiting trial. Nevison's lawyer has maintained that his client is innocent.
Seven of the cantor's friends — including the long-time, but now retired, synagogue administrator at Emanu-El — mailed a letter to 2,000 people. Many, but not all of them, are members of the Reform synagogue.
"Dear Friends," begins the letter, which was obtained by The Jewish Week. "We are writing to you in the hope that you will share with us the distress so many of us are feeling about the charges which have been leveled at our good friend and faithful servant, Cantor Howard Nevison."
"Many of us want to help Howard with the burden of the cost in establishing his innocence," it says, and goes on to provide high-end supporters with relevant tax and estate-planning advice.
"We sincerely hope that you will wish to help Howard in this time of tribulation and will respond generously. We also trust that we have not transgressed the bounds of propriety in making this request of you.
"In America a person is innocent until proven otherwise, and surely we believe this of Howard, whom we have known and admired for almost 25 years."
The cantor's friends have responded in a "satisfactory" way, says Henry Fruhauf, the former temple administrator who has a decades-long friendship with the clergyman. Fruhauf and his late wife had vacationed with Cantor Nevison and his wife, Fern, in Florida and Puerto Rico; and the men met for dinner in New York.
He declined to say how much has been collected in the first week.
The seven members of the Committee of Friends of Howard Nevison are all Emanu-El congregants but do not include any of the synagogue's board or professional leadership. "We felt it would be inappropriate," Fruhauf says, "but members of the board have definitely contributed."
Cantor Nevison told Fruhauf about the potential allegations two or three years ago, shortly after he told the synagogue leadership, said the former administrator. That was about the time the cantor's brother and his young adult son were arrested and prosecuted for sexually molesting the same young son of another brother.
"It was most distressing, what he told me," said Fruhauf. "He absolutely said these were false allegations; and knowing him as well as I do, I certainly believed that it was so."
Legal Defense Fund For NevisonBy Debra Nussbaum Cohen
The Jewish Week - April 19, 2002
Howard Nevison's friends believe he is innocent, and some of them are putting their money where their mouth is.
A letter went out last week from a committee of Cantor Nevison's friends who are raising money for his newly established legal defense fund, The Jewish Week has learned.
The cantor, who for 24 years has served the Upper East Side's tony Temple Emanu-El, was arrested in February on charges that he sexually molested his young nephew. He is now awaiting trial. Nevison's lawyer has maintained that his client is innocent.
Seven of the cantor's friends — including the long-time, but now retired, synagogue administrator at Emanu-El — mailed a letter to 2,000 people. Many, but not all of them, are members of the Reform synagogue.
"Dear Friends," begins the letter, which was obtained by The Jewish Week. "We are writing to you in the hope that you will share with us the distress so many of us are feeling about the charges which have been leveled at our good friend and faithful servant, Cantor Howard Nevison."
"Many of us want to help Howard with the burden of the cost in establishing his innocence," it says, and goes on to provide high-end supporters with relevant tax and estate-planning advice.
"We sincerely hope that you will wish to help Howard in this time of tribulation and will respond generously. We also trust that we have not transgressed the bounds of propriety in making this request of you.
"In America a person is innocent until proven otherwise, and surely we believe this of Howard, whom we have known and admired for almost 25 years."
The cantor's friends have responded in a "satisfactory" way, says Henry Fruhauf, the former temple administrator who has a decades-long friendship with the clergyman. Fruhauf and his late wife had vacationed with Cantor Nevison and his wife, Fern, in Florida and Puerto Rico; and the men met for dinner in New York.
He declined to say how much has been collected in the first week.
The seven members of the Committee of Friends of Howard Nevison are all Emanu-El congregants but do not include any of the synagogue's board or professional leadership. "We felt it would be inappropriate," Fruhauf says, "but members of the board have definitely contributed."
Cantor Nevison told Fruhauf about the potential allegations two or three years ago, shortly after he told the synagogue leadership, said the former administrator. That was about the time the cantor's brother and his young adult son were arrested and prosecuted for sexually molesting the same young son of another brother.
"It was most distressing, what he told me," said Fruhauf. "He absolutely said these were false allegations; and knowing him as well as I do, I certainly believed that it was so."
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Friends Start Legal Fund For Cantor Charged With Sexually Abusing Nephew
Associated Press - April 23, 2002
The former administrator of a Manhattan synagogue has led efforts to start a legal fund for a cantor charged with sexually molesting a nephew in Pennsylvania.
Henry Fruhauf is with Temple Emanu-El in New York and head of the Committee of Friends of Howard Nevison. The Daily News reports Fruhauf has sent out letters to congregants seeking donations for Nevison's legal fund.
Howard Nevison, the 61-year-old cantor at Emanu-El, is charged with assaulting his nephew several times when the boy was between three and seven.
The boy, now 12, took the stand Wednesday in Pennsylvania and described four occasions on which he said he was abused. Nevison has denied the charges. He faces two felony counts of indecent sexual intercourse and four misdemeanors, including assault and making threats against the boy.
A spokeswoman for Emanu-El says the temple has nothing to do with the solicitations and that she didn't believe the temple's mailing list was used.
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Paid Leave For Nevison
by Debra Nussbaum Cohen
The Jewish Week - May 10, 2002
Temple Emanu-El has granted its cantor, who is awaiting trial on charges that he sexually abused his young nephew, a paid leave of absence, The Jewish Week has learned.
A letter sent to members last week from Robert Bernhard, the temple's president, said Cantor Howard Nevison has been on leave since Feb. 20, the day of his arrest, when he was "relieved of all duties."
A source connected with the synagogue said it is a paid leave "because this is not punitive."
It is the first time since the arrest that leadership of the prestigious Reform temple has publicly addressed the employment status of Nevison, whose duties as cantor included meeting with students in advance of their bar and bat mitzvahs.
At a preliminary hearing in Montgomery County, Pa., where the criminal charges were filed, a judge ruled that a trial should take place. Following that, Nevison formally requested a leave of absence from Rabbi Ronald Sobel, the senior rabbi at Emanu-El.
Rabbi Sobel agreed and the board of trustees concurred unanimously, according to the letter, which was obtained by The Jewish Week.
"Cantor Nevison continues to assert his innocence with respect to the charges brought against him," Bernhard said in his letter. "While we await the conclusion of the legal process, we want to re-state that during the 24 years that Howard Nevison has served the temple, loyally and faithfully, there has never been a complaint, even a suggestion, from anyone within the congregation of improper behavior on his part."
Nevison, who is free on bail, has been spending most of his time in New York. He is scheduled to be arraigned June 13 on charges that he sexually abused his young nephew over a period of years.
The nephew, now 12 and living in the Philadelphia area, also was abused by Nevison's brother, Lawrence, and the brother's son, Stewart. Lawrence Nevison was convicted and is serving time in a Pennsylvania state prison. Stewart Nevison, who is a young adult, pleaded guilty and after serving a brief sentence is out on parole.
At Temple Emanu-El, it is not clear if an interim or replacement cantor will be hired.
That isn't the only change taking place at Emanu-El.
Rabbi Sobel is stepping down, in a move he announced early this year, shortly before Nevison's arrest. Longtime Associate Rabbi David Posner is expected to be ratified for the top job in an upcoming meeting of the temple's board of trustees.
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Glass Houses
By Ira Rifkin
Jewish Week - June 15, 2002
Clergymen -- both Catholic and Jewish -- need to fess up about sexual abuse. I, myself, was sexually molested by a rabbinical studnet in our synagogue when I was 11. This kind of behavior has to stop.
Jewsweek.com | Here's an all-too-common example of Jewish paranoia that may resonate. You hear of some particularly despicable crime and immediately wonder if Jews were responsible. Then, depending upon the answer, you cringe or breathe a sigh of relief. Well here's some good news for a people who haven't had much to smile about lately: none of the predators in the pedophilia scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church appear to be Jewish -- although I must caution that these days you can't always go by last names.
But this is no joking matter. Nor is it a time to point fingers, or engage in self-righteous judgments. Granted, the temptation is there, given the church's horrendous treatment of Jews over the ages (recent attempts to make amends notwithstanding), and its one-sided support for Palestinians at Israel's expense.
The number of pedophile priests and the church hierarchy's attempt to cover up the situation is horrendous, and the damage done to individuals and the institution cannot be minimized. However let's not forget that no people or faith has a corner on immorality and stupidity. We are all capable of evil deeds, and Jews have had their share of embarrassments in this regard as well. Two egregious cases involving the sexual abuse of children recently rocked our own American Jewish community.
"... misplaced and twisted sexuality shows up everywhere, the horror of abuse is not lessened by there being fewer victims, and the problem likely occurs within the Jewish community more often than we care to imagine ..."
One involved Rabbi Baruch Lanner, who formerly headed the National Conference of Synagogue Youth. Rabbi Lanner was forced to resign after nine men and women, now in their forties, accused him of sexually, physically and emotionally abusing them when they were members of the Orthodox Union's youth organization in the 1970s. In addition, OU leaders were faulted for "errors of judgment" for not acting against Rabbi Lanner despite their awareness of the allegations for many years.
The second case involved Cantor Howard Nevison of Temple Emanu-El, the Reform movement's showcase Manhattan synagogue. Cantor Nevison was charged with sexually abusing his young nephew over the course of several years, and Temple Emanu-El was roundly criticized for taking no action after its board was made aware of the allegations against Cantor Nevison.
In both cases, leaders who were entrusted by the community to act responsibly instead acted foolishly and self-servingly, bringing great shame upon themselves and their institutions -- which is just what the Catholic bishops did.
A fair question to ask is why compare presumably isolated cases in the Jewish community with the widespread abuse that has surfaced in Catholic circles? That's not my intent, which is only to remind that misplaced and twisted sexuality shows up everywhere, that the horror of abuse is not lessened by there being fewer victims, and that the problem likely occurs within the Jewish community more often than we care to imagine.
Surely, there are cases involving Jewish religious leaders that are never reported by frightened and embarrassed children, or that never become public knowledge. I know this to be true because a rabbinical student who led the youth group at an Orthodox synagogue in Queens, N.Y., sexually molested me when I was about 11. The offense occurred in the synagogue basement, and was a prime reason why I stayed away from synagogues and Jewish life for many years.
My sense of guilt kept me from telling anyone about the experience until I became an adult and understood that I was not at fault. Did my assailant also assault others? Given the methodical way he went about it, I have to conclude that he did. How many others, I wonder, also stayed quiet out of fear and shame?
Our tradition tells us that evil is no less a part of the divine plan than is righteousness. One need not be a universalist to conclude that Catholic priests are, inherently, no better or worse as individuals than are Jews or the members of any other group of people. An air of self-righteous superiority never helps when dealing with the complexity of human behavior.
Humility is the better response, as is compassion for the victims of priestly predators. So let's hope that the bishops will react, finally, out of a commitment to justice and their faith. And let's hope Jewish leaders will have learned their lesson when they next confront the problem, as will surely happen sooner or later.
Ira Rifkin, a contributing writer to Jewsweek.com, is the editor of "Spiritual Innovators: Seventy-Five Extraordinary People Who Changed the World in the Last Century," newly published by SkylightPaths. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland.
Glass Houses
By Ira Rifkin
Jewish Week - June 15, 2002
Clergymen -- both Catholic and Jewish -- need to fess up about sexual abuse. I, myself, was sexually molested by a rabbinical studnet in our synagogue when I was 11. This kind of behavior has to stop.
Jewsweek.com | Here's an all-too-common example of Jewish paranoia that may resonate. You hear of some particularly despicable crime and immediately wonder if Jews were responsible. Then, depending upon the answer, you cringe or breathe a sigh of relief. Well here's some good news for a people who haven't had much to smile about lately: none of the predators in the pedophilia scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church appear to be Jewish -- although I must caution that these days you can't always go by last names.
But this is no joking matter. Nor is it a time to point fingers, or engage in self-righteous judgments. Granted, the temptation is there, given the church's horrendous treatment of Jews over the ages (recent attempts to make amends notwithstanding), and its one-sided support for Palestinians at Israel's expense.
The number of pedophile priests and the church hierarchy's attempt to cover up the situation is horrendous, and the damage done to individuals and the institution cannot be minimized. However let's not forget that no people or faith has a corner on immorality and stupidity. We are all capable of evil deeds, and Jews have had their share of embarrassments in this regard as well. Two egregious cases involving the sexual abuse of children recently rocked our own American Jewish community.
"... misplaced and twisted sexuality shows up everywhere, the horror of abuse is not lessened by there being fewer victims, and the problem likely occurs within the Jewish community more often than we care to imagine ..."
One involved Rabbi Baruch Lanner, who formerly headed the National Conference of Synagogue Youth. Rabbi Lanner was forced to resign after nine men and women, now in their forties, accused him of sexually, physically and emotionally abusing them when they were members of the Orthodox Union's youth organization in the 1970s. In addition, OU leaders were faulted for "errors of judgment" for not acting against Rabbi Lanner despite their awareness of the allegations for many years.
The second case involved Cantor Howard Nevison of Temple Emanu-El, the Reform movement's showcase Manhattan synagogue. Cantor Nevison was charged with sexually abusing his young nephew over the course of several years, and Temple Emanu-El was roundly criticized for taking no action after its board was made aware of the allegations against Cantor Nevison.
In both cases, leaders who were entrusted by the community to act responsibly instead acted foolishly and self-servingly, bringing great shame upon themselves and their institutions -- which is just what the Catholic bishops did.
A fair question to ask is why compare presumably isolated cases in the Jewish community with the widespread abuse that has surfaced in Catholic circles? That's not my intent, which is only to remind that misplaced and twisted sexuality shows up everywhere, that the horror of abuse is not lessened by there being fewer victims, and that the problem likely occurs within the Jewish community more often than we care to imagine.
Surely, there are cases involving Jewish religious leaders that are never reported by frightened and embarrassed children, or that never become public knowledge. I know this to be true because a rabbinical student who led the youth group at an Orthodox synagogue in Queens, N.Y., sexually molested me when I was about 11. The offense occurred in the synagogue basement, and was a prime reason why I stayed away from synagogues and Jewish life for many years.
My sense of guilt kept me from telling anyone about the experience until I became an adult and understood that I was not at fault. Did my assailant also assault others? Given the methodical way he went about it, I have to conclude that he did. How many others, I wonder, also stayed quiet out of fear and shame?
Our tradition tells us that evil is no less a part of the divine plan than is righteousness. One need not be a universalist to conclude that Catholic priests are, inherently, no better or worse as individuals than are Jews or the members of any other group of people. An air of self-righteous superiority never helps when dealing with the complexity of human behavior.
Humility is the better response, as is compassion for the victims of priestly predators. So let's hope that the bishops will react, finally, out of a commitment to justice and their faith. And let's hope Jewish leaders will have learned their lesson when they next confront the problem, as will surely happen sooner or later.
Ira Rifkin, a contributing writer to Jewsweek.com, is the editor of "Spiritual Innovators: Seventy-Five Extraordinary People Who Changed the World in the Last Century," newly published by SkylightPaths. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland.
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Judge says boy, 13, can testify in abuse case
Associated Press - January 07, 2003
NORRISTOWN, Pa. - A 13-year-old boy will be allowed to testify about alleged sexual abuse by his uncle, a longtime cantor at one of the nation's largest and most prominent Reform synagogues, a judge has ruled.
Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler issued the decision Monday in the case involving a boy who has accused his uncle, Howard Nevison, of repeatedly sexually abusing him between 1993 and 1998, starting when the boy was 4.
Defense lawyer Ralph A. Jacobs argued that the boy's testimony was elicited during dozens of sessions with therapist Herbert Lutsig, who routinely hypnotizes patients, and that such techniques made the testimony inadmissible.
Tressler sided with prosecutors, who denied that the boy underwent hypnotherapy.
"He ruled that Dr. Lutsig was very clear and did not hypnotize the child," Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said Monday.
Nevison, 62, is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, and making terroristic threats. Nevison, who has denied the charges, is scheduled to go on trial in April.
Nevison is on a paid leave from Temple Emanu-El. He has been the cantor at the Manhattan temple, whose 3,000 families include several prominent New York families, since 1978.
In April 1994, he became the first cantor to sing at the Vatican.
The alleged abuse occurred during holidays and family gatherings when Nevison visited relatives in Lower Merion, prosecutors said. The boy testified at a preliminary hearing last year that his uncle threatened to kill him if he told of the abuse.
If convicted on all counts, Nevison could face up to 55 years in prison.
Tressler also heard arguments on prosecutors' attempts to introduce evidence that Nevison had sexually abused his two younger brothers in a manner similar to the abuse alleged by Nevison's nephew.
One of the brothers is the boy's father. The other is serving a five- to 10-year prison sentence for abusing the boy. Both men have told prosecutors that their brother sexually assaulted them when they were children.
A hearing on the brothers' testimony is scheduled for Monday.
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Testimony against cantor allowed
A judge will allow a boy's statements about sexual abuse. The defense said the cantor's nephew had been under hypnosis.
By Keith Herbert
Philadelphia Inquirer - January 7, 2003
A jury will be allowed to hear key testimony from a Lower Merion boy who has accused his uncle, a cantor on leave from a Manhattan synagogue, of sexually assaulting him, a judge ruled yesterday.
Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler issued the decision in the case involving a 13-year-old boy who has accused his uncle, Howard Nevison, of repeatedly sexually abusing him between 1993 and 1998, starting when the boy was 4.
Defense lawyers had asked Tressler to bar the boy's testimony because they said it was elicited during dozens of sessions with a therapist who routinely employs hypnotic methods. During pretrial hearings in November, defense lawyer Ralph A. Jacobs of Philadelphia argued that suggestive and coercive techniques used by Herbert Lutsig made the testimony inadmissible.
After listening to arguments held in private, Tressler sided with the prosecutors, who denied that the boy underwent hypnotherapy.
"He ruled that Dr. Lutsig was very clear and did not hypnotize the child," Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.
A trial for Nevison, who faces charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, and making terroristic threats, is scheduled for April.
Nevison, 62, is on a paid leave from his post at Temple Emanu-El. The alleged abuse occurred during holidays and family gatherings when Nevison visited relatives in Lower Merion. The boy testified at a preliminary hearing last year that his uncle threatened to kill him if he told of the abuse.
Tressler also heard arguments on the prosecution's attempt to introduce evidence that Nevison had sexually abused his two younger brothers in a manner similar to the abuse alleged by Nevison's nephew.
One of the brothers is the boy's father. The other is serving a five- to 10-year prison sentence for abusing the boy. Both men have told prosecutors that their brother sexually assaulted them when they were children.
Ferman said she couldn't go into detail about the discussions held in private, saying only that they dealt with the prosecution establishing a factual basis for the brothers' testimony at trial.
Another hearing on the brothers' testimony is scheduled for Monday.
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Cantor's brothers to testify against him
By: Magaret Gibbons ,
Times Herald - June 4, 2003
COURTHOUSE - The two younger brothers of prominent New York City cantor Howard Nevison, who is charged with sexually abusing his young Lower Merion nephew, will be able to testify as prosecution witnesses against their brother, according to a ruling handed down Wednesday by Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler.
The two brothers, one of who is the Lower Merion boy's father, are expected to testify that they, too, allegedly were sexually abused by Nevison when they were boys. The purpose of having Nevison's two brothers testify, according to the prosecution's motion, is to show that Nevison has a pattern of "violent, forceful and intimidating sodomy of young relatives" under the age of 10.
The defense, which has opposed the prosecution's request to allow the brothers to testify at the trial, repeatedly has said that these allegations by the brothers are false. Also, the timing of these alleged incidents is from years ago and too remote to have any relevance to the current charges, the defense argued. Finally, according to the defense, these allegations were never reported or prosecuted at the time they were supposed to have occurred.
Tressler, who heard testimony concerning the brothers' testimony and its value behind closed doors, said in his ruling that the circumstances of the alleged prior incidents and those of the current situation "reveal criminal conduct that is distinctive and so nearly identical so as to become the signature" of the perpetrator. The similarity between the past and current alleged crimes is sufficient to offset any time lapse, the judge said in the ruling. Also, he added, the value of the testimony is not outweighed by any prejudicial impact it might have on Nevison.
However, noting that his ruling could substantially affect the outcome of the trial and that there is substantial room for a difference of opinion on the issue, Tressler gave the defense the OK to immediately appeal his ruling rather than wait until the trial is concluded.
An appeal could push the trial into next year.
Because there is a gag order in place, lawyers on both sides could not comment on the judge's decision.
The 62-year-old Nevison, the long-time cantor at New York's Temple Emanu-El synagogue, was arrested at his New York residence on Feb. 20, 2002, on two felony charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, simple assault and terroristic threats.
These charges stem from alleged incidents of sexual abuse of Nevison's nephew when Nevison visited the home of the boy's family for holidays and other family functions between 1993 and 1997, when the boy, now 13, was between the ages of 4 and 8.
County and township law enforcement officers first learned of the alleged abuse in November 1998, but no charges were brought at that time because the boy was terrified to testify against him, said county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. earlier this year in announcing Nevison's arrest. Since that time, the boy has received psychiatric counseling and, in the fall of 2001, the boy's parents and psychiatrist advised authorities that the boy was now prepared to testify against his uncle.
The boy, who is now in the seventh grade, subsequently testified against Nevison at Nevison's preliminary hearing in April 2002 before District Justice Henry Schireson. Schireson ruled that there was sufficient evidence to hold Nevison for trial.
Nevison, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is free on $25,000 bail.
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Brothers' Testimony Will Be Allowed In Cantor Sex Trial
CBS- Philadelphia - June 4, 2003
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA (KYW 1060) A prominent New York City cantor has suffered a serious reversal in his defense against allegations that he sexually abused his young nephew at the boy's Lower Merion home.
When he goes to trial, Cantor Howard Nevison will be faced by his two younger brothers. Montgomery County judge Paul Tressler has ruled that their testimony will be allowed.
They will tell the court that when they were youngsters, their brother Howard sexually molested them.
Judge Tressler determined that the incidents they and the young nephew have described are so nearly similar as to become the signature of the same perpetrator.
Ironically, one of those brothers may appear in prison clothes. He's now serving time for sexually molesting the same nephew involved in the cantor's case.
Nevison's lawyers had attempted to keep the damaging testimony from the jury when Nevison goes on trial later this year. Without that evidence, the prosecution's case depends largely on the word of the young boy against the word of his prominent uncle.
In his ruling, the judge noted that the brothers' testimony will substantially affect the outcome of the case. As a result, Nevison will be allowed to appeal the order directly to Pennsylvania Superior Court.
Brothers' Testimony Will Be Allowed In Cantor Sex Trial
CBS- Philadelphia - June 4, 2003
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA (KYW 1060) A prominent New York City cantor has suffered a serious reversal in his defense against allegations that he sexually abused his young nephew at the boy's Lower Merion home.
When he goes to trial, Cantor Howard Nevison will be faced by his two younger brothers. Montgomery County judge Paul Tressler has ruled that their testimony will be allowed.
They will tell the court that when they were youngsters, their brother Howard sexually molested them.
Judge Tressler determined that the incidents they and the young nephew have described are so nearly similar as to become the signature of the same perpetrator.
Ironically, one of those brothers may appear in prison clothes. He's now serving time for sexually molesting the same nephew involved in the cantor's case.
Nevison's lawyers had attempted to keep the damaging testimony from the jury when Nevison goes on trial later this year. Without that evidence, the prosecution's case depends largely on the word of the young boy against the word of his prominent uncle.
In his ruling, the judge noted that the brothers' testimony will substantially affect the outcome of the case. As a result, Nevison will be allowed to appeal the order directly to Pennsylvania Superior Court.
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Cantor's brothers to testify - Will detail his abuse of them as childrenBy JIM NOLAN
Philladelphia Daily News - Thursday, June 05, 2003
Accused nephew molester Howard "Uncle Howie" Nevison may have to face brother Larry and brother Henry in court.
A Montgomery County judge yesterday ruled that the brothers of the prominent New York City cantor, who is accused of sexually assaulting his Main Line nephew, can testify against him at his upcoming trial.
Judge Paul W. Tressler said the circumstances surrounding alleged abuse detailed by the brothers was "distinctive and so nearly identical" to Howard Nevison's alleged abuse of his young nephew that it indicated a "signature of the same perpetrator."
The ruling was clearly a victory for county prosecutors, whose case will use the allegation of prior acts to buttress the account of the boy, a child actor who is now 13.
Larry Nevison, 56, and the boy's father, Henry Nevison, both claim to have been sexually assaulted by Howard Nevison when they were younger than 10.
Neither man ever filed charges, and the statute of limitations on the alleged crimes expired.
But years later, in February, 2002, Howard Nevison was arrested and charged with attacking Henry Nevison's son between 1993 and 1998, starting when the boy was roughly 4 years old.
The charges - involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, indecent assault and terroristic threats - stem from what prosecutors allege were several violent encounters with the boy during Uncle Howie's holiday visits to the Main Line.
Larry and Henry Nevison's tales of abuse surfaced last year as prosecutors and Lower Merion Detective George Ohrin compiled evidence against Howard Nevision in the current abuse case.
Part of that work involved a prison visit with Larry Nevison, who was convicted in 2000 of sexually assaulting the boy himself. He is currently serving a five to 10 year sentence.
Howard Nevison, 62, is currently out on bail and on paid leave from his job as cantor for Temple Emanu-El, an affluent Fifth Avenue synagogue.
During earlier court hearings, First Assistant District Attorney Risa V. Ferman argued that the brother's testimony should be admissible at Nevison's trial as an indicator of prior acts of abuse.
Defense attorneys meanwhile, argued that the allegations were unproven, maliciously motivated and would severely prejudice a jury against their client, who is well-respected in New York circles and has no prior criminal record.
Yesterday, however, Tressler ruled that the similarities in the abuse alleged by Nevison's brothers offsets and outweighs the long period of time that transpired between the incidents.
But Tressler recognized the damaging evidence could have a significant impact on Nevison's defense and cleared the way for the cantor's attorneys to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Cantor's brothers to testify - Will detail his abuse of them as childrenBy JIM NOLAN
Philladelphia Daily News - Thursday, June 05, 2003
Accused nephew molester Howard "Uncle Howie" Nevison may have to face brother Larry and brother Henry in court.
A Montgomery County judge yesterday ruled that the brothers of the prominent New York City cantor, who is accused of sexually assaulting his Main Line nephew, can testify against him at his upcoming trial.
Judge Paul W. Tressler said the circumstances surrounding alleged abuse detailed by the brothers was "distinctive and so nearly identical" to Howard Nevison's alleged abuse of his young nephew that it indicated a "signature of the same perpetrator."
The ruling was clearly a victory for county prosecutors, whose case will use the allegation of prior acts to buttress the account of the boy, a child actor who is now 13.
Larry Nevison, 56, and the boy's father, Henry Nevison, both claim to have been sexually assaulted by Howard Nevison when they were younger than 10.
Neither man ever filed charges, and the statute of limitations on the alleged crimes expired.
But years later, in February, 2002, Howard Nevison was arrested and charged with attacking Henry Nevison's son between 1993 and 1998, starting when the boy was roughly 4 years old.
The charges - involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, indecent assault and terroristic threats - stem from what prosecutors allege were several violent encounters with the boy during Uncle Howie's holiday visits to the Main Line.
Larry and Henry Nevison's tales of abuse surfaced last year as prosecutors and Lower Merion Detective George Ohrin compiled evidence against Howard Nevision in the current abuse case.
Part of that work involved a prison visit with Larry Nevison, who was convicted in 2000 of sexually assaulting the boy himself. He is currently serving a five to 10 year sentence.
Howard Nevison, 62, is currently out on bail and on paid leave from his job as cantor for Temple Emanu-El, an affluent Fifth Avenue synagogue.
During earlier court hearings, First Assistant District Attorney Risa V. Ferman argued that the brother's testimony should be admissible at Nevison's trial as an indicator of prior acts of abuse.
Defense attorneys meanwhile, argued that the allegations were unproven, maliciously motivated and would severely prejudice a jury against their client, who is well-respected in New York circles and has no prior criminal record.
Yesterday, however, Tressler ruled that the similarities in the abuse alleged by Nevison's brothers offsets and outweighs the long period of time that transpired between the incidents.
But Tressler recognized the damaging evidence could have a significant impact on Nevison's defense and cleared the way for the cantor's attorneys to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
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Brothers of cantor may testify against him
ASSOCIATED PRESS - June 5, 2003
NORRISTOWN — Two brothers of a prominent New York City cantor accused of sexually assaulting his nephew can testify against him, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Prosecutors said the two middle-aged men are prepared to testify that as children they were also molested by their brother, Howard Nevison, who has been leading worshippers in prayer and song at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan since 1978.
Nevison, 62, was charged last year with assaulting his nephew during a series of family get-togethers between 1993 and 1998, starting when the boy was about 4 years old.
One of Nevison's brothers, Lawrence, was convicted in 2000 of sexually assaulting the same boy and is serving a prison sentence.
Lawrence Nevison and a second brother — the boy's father, Henry — both claim to have been molested by Howard Nevison when they were young.
Judge Paul W. Tressler said that while witnesses are normally barred from discussing a defendant's past crimes, the circumstances of the abuse they say they suffered years ago was distinctive enough to indicate a "signature of the same perpetrator," and could be heard by jurors.
Defense attorneys said the old allegations were maliciously motivated and would prejudice a jury against their client.
The boy making the accusations, now 13, may also testify in the trial.
Temple Emanu-El is New York's largest Reform synagogue. Nevison, who in 1994 became the first cantor to sing at the Vatican, is on paid leave from the temple and is free on bail.
Brothers of cantor may testify against him
ASSOCIATED PRESS - June 5, 2003
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| Howard Nevison is on the far right. Center is the Dali Lama |
Prosecutors said the two middle-aged men are prepared to testify that as children they were also molested by their brother, Howard Nevison, who has been leading worshippers in prayer and song at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan since 1978.
Nevison, 62, was charged last year with assaulting his nephew during a series of family get-togethers between 1993 and 1998, starting when the boy was about 4 years old.
One of Nevison's brothers, Lawrence, was convicted in 2000 of sexually assaulting the same boy and is serving a prison sentence.
Lawrence Nevison and a second brother — the boy's father, Henry — both claim to have been molested by Howard Nevison when they were young.
Judge Paul W. Tressler said that while witnesses are normally barred from discussing a defendant's past crimes, the circumstances of the abuse they say they suffered years ago was distinctive enough to indicate a "signature of the same perpetrator," and could be heard by jurors.
Defense attorneys said the old allegations were maliciously motivated and would prejudice a jury against their client.
The boy making the accusations, now 13, may also testify in the trial.
Temple Emanu-El is New York's largest Reform synagogue. Nevison, who in 1994 became the first cantor to sing at the Vatican, is on paid leave from the temple and is free on bail.
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Testimony questioned in Cantor case
By Margaret Gibbons
Times Herald - July 8, 2003
COURTHOUSE - Defense attorneys for prominent New York City Cantor Howard Nevison, who is charged with sexually abusing his young Lower Merion nephew, are battling to keep the cantor's two brothers from testifying at trial about similar abuse they allegedly suffered from Nevison.
Defense lawyer Ralph A. Jacobs Tuesday said he has appealed to the state Superior Court to overturn a pre-trial ruling by Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler.
Jacobs declined comment on the details of the appeal, noting that the judge has issued a gag order in the case. The appeal concerns a matter heard behind closed doors at the defense's request. Jacobs also has petitioned the state Superior Court to keep the details of the appeal under wrap. However, according to earlier court papers that were public, the issued argued behind closed doors involved whether to permit the brothers' testimony about how they, too, allegedly were sexually abused by Nevison when they were young boys. One of the brothers is the boy's father. County First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, citing the gag order, also declined comment on the appeal. The purpose of having Nevison's two brothers testify, according to the prosecution's initial court filing, is to show that Nevison has a pattern of "violent, forceful and intimidating sodomy of young relatives" under the age of 10.
The defense, which has opposed the prosecution's request to allow the brothers to testify at the trial, repeatedly has said that these allegations by the brothers are false. Also, the timing of these alleged incidents is from years ago and too remote to have any relevance to the current charges, the defense argued. Finally, according to the defense, these allegations were never reported or prosecuted at the time they were supposed to have occurred.
Tressler, who heard testimony concerning the brothers' testimony and its value inside his chambers outside the public's view, said in his ruling that the circumstances of the alleged prior incidents and those of the current situation a "reveal criminal conduct that is distinctive and so nearly identical so as to become the signature" of the perpetrator. The similarity between the past and current alleged crimes is sufficient to offset any time lapse, the judge said in the ruling. Also, he added, the value of the testimony is not outweighed by any prejudicial impact it might have on Nevison.
The 62-year-old Nevison, the long-time cantor at New York's Temple Emanu-El synagogue, Nevison, was arrested at his New York residence on Feb. 20, 2002, on two felony charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, simple assault and terroristic threats.
These charges stem from alleged incidents of sexual abuse of Nevison's nephew when Nevison visited the home of the boy's family for holidays and other family functions between 1993 and 1997 when the boy was between the ages of 4 and 8. He is now 13. County and township law enforcement officers first learned of the alleged abuse in November 1998, but no charges were brought at that time because the boy was terrified to testify against him, said county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. earlier this year in announcing Nevison's arrest. Since that time, the boy has received psychiatric counseling and, in the fall of 2001, the boy's parents and psychiatrist advised authorities that the boy was now prepared to testify against his uncle. The boy, who is now in the seventh grade, subsequently testified against Nevison at Nevison's preliminary hearing in April 2002 before District Justice Henry Schireson. Schireson ruled that there was sufficient evidence to hold Nevison for trial. Nevison, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is free on $25,000 bail.
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Pennsylvania News - News in brief from the Philadelphia area
The Associated Press - July 9, 2003
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Defense lawyers for a New York City cantor accused of sexually abusing a boy want the state Supreme Court to prevent the clergyman's brothers from testifying that he abused them many years ago.
Neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers for Howard Nevison may comment because of a gag order, and some of the court papers in the case are under seal. But according to court papers that were made public, prosecutors believe the testimony is needed to show that Nevison has a pattern of "violent, forceful and intimidating sodomy" with children under the age of 10.
The defense has said in court papers that the allegations are false and that they allegedly occurred so long ago that they have no relevance
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Cantor's abuse trial won't start until 2004
Margaret Gibbons
The Mercury - August 29, 2003
NORRISTOWN -- Prominent New York City cantor Howard Nevison, charged with sexually abusing his young Lower Merion nephew, will not stand trial until sometime next year.
The state Superior Court, in a rare decision, this week agreed to hear a defense motion aimed at overturning Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler's pre-trial ruling allowing the prosecution to call Nevison's two younger brothers, one of which is the Lower Merion boy's father, to testify that they were similarly abused by Nevison in their youth.
Tressler explained Tuesday that the Superior Court only hears appeals of pre-trial rulings when "it believes a significant issue is involved that could affect the outcome of the trial."
When he handed down his decision in June, Tressler acknowledged that it could substantially affect the outcome of the trial and that there was substantial difference on the issue.
"It's the (boy) or (the boy) and two brothers," said Tressler."It will certainly impact on the trial."
Tressler gave the defense the OK to immediately appeal his decision to the state Superior Court, which had the option to hear the appeal now or wait until the trial had concluded.
Nevison, the longtime cantor at New York's Temple Emanu-El synagogue, initially was slated to come to trial before the end of the year. The trial has been indefinitely postponed until the higher court hears the appeal and makes its decision.
The purpose of having Nevison's two brothers testify, according to the prosecution's initial court filing, is to show that Nevison has a pattern of "violent, forceful and intimidating sodomy of young relatives" under the age of 10.
The defense, which has opposed the prosecution's request to allow the brothers to testify at the trial, repeatedly has said that these allegations by the brothers are false. Also, the timing of these alleged incidents is from years ago and too remote to have any relevance to the current charges, the defense argued. Finally, according to the defense, these allegations were never reported or prosecuted at the time they were supposed to have occurred.
Tressler, who heard testimony concerning the brothers' testimony and its value inside his chambers outside the public's view, said in his ruling that the circumstances of the alleged prior incidents and those of the current situation "reveal criminal conduct that is distinctive and so nearly identical so as to become the signature" of the perpetrator.
The similarity between the past and current alleged crimes is sufficient to offset any time lapse, the judge said in the ruling. Also, he added, the value of the testimony is not outweighed by any prejudicial impact it might have on Nevison.
The 62-year-old Nevison was arrested at his New York residence on Feb. 20, 2002, on two felony charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, simple assault and terroristic threats.
These charges stem from alleged incidents of sexual abuse of Nevison's nephew when Nevison visited the home of the boy's family for holidays and other family functions between 1993 and 1997 when the boy was between the ages of 4 and 8. He is now 13.
County and township law enforcement officers first learned of the alleged abuse in November 1998, but no charges were brought at that time because the boy was terrified to testify against him, said county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. earlier this year in announcing Nevison's arrest.
Since that time, the boy has received psychiatric counseling and, in the fall of 2001, the boy's parents and psychiatrist advised authorities that the boy was now prepared to testify against his uncle.
The boy subsequently testified against Nevison at Nevison's preliminary hearing in April 2002 before District Justice Henry Schireson. Schireson ruled that there was sufficient evidence to hold Nevison for trial.
Nevison, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is free on $25,000 bail.
Cantor's abuse trial won't start until 2004
Margaret Gibbons
The Mercury - August 29, 2003
NORRISTOWN -- Prominent New York City cantor Howard Nevison, charged with sexually abusing his young Lower Merion nephew, will not stand trial until sometime next year.
The state Superior Court, in a rare decision, this week agreed to hear a defense motion aimed at overturning Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler's pre-trial ruling allowing the prosecution to call Nevison's two younger brothers, one of which is the Lower Merion boy's father, to testify that they were similarly abused by Nevison in their youth.
Tressler explained Tuesday that the Superior Court only hears appeals of pre-trial rulings when "it believes a significant issue is involved that could affect the outcome of the trial."
When he handed down his decision in June, Tressler acknowledged that it could substantially affect the outcome of the trial and that there was substantial difference on the issue.
"It's the (boy) or (the boy) and two brothers," said Tressler."It will certainly impact on the trial."
Tressler gave the defense the OK to immediately appeal his decision to the state Superior Court, which had the option to hear the appeal now or wait until the trial had concluded.
Nevison, the longtime cantor at New York's Temple Emanu-El synagogue, initially was slated to come to trial before the end of the year. The trial has been indefinitely postponed until the higher court hears the appeal and makes its decision.
The purpose of having Nevison's two brothers testify, according to the prosecution's initial court filing, is to show that Nevison has a pattern of "violent, forceful and intimidating sodomy of young relatives" under the age of 10.
The defense, which has opposed the prosecution's request to allow the brothers to testify at the trial, repeatedly has said that these allegations by the brothers are false. Also, the timing of these alleged incidents is from years ago and too remote to have any relevance to the current charges, the defense argued. Finally, according to the defense, these allegations were never reported or prosecuted at the time they were supposed to have occurred.
Tressler, who heard testimony concerning the brothers' testimony and its value inside his chambers outside the public's view, said in his ruling that the circumstances of the alleged prior incidents and those of the current situation "reveal criminal conduct that is distinctive and so nearly identical so as to become the signature" of the perpetrator.
The similarity between the past and current alleged crimes is sufficient to offset any time lapse, the judge said in the ruling. Also, he added, the value of the testimony is not outweighed by any prejudicial impact it might have on Nevison.
The 62-year-old Nevison was arrested at his New York residence on Feb. 20, 2002, on two felony charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, simple assault and terroristic threats.
These charges stem from alleged incidents of sexual abuse of Nevison's nephew when Nevison visited the home of the boy's family for holidays and other family functions between 1993 and 1997 when the boy was between the ages of 4 and 8. He is now 13.
County and township law enforcement officers first learned of the alleged abuse in November 1998, but no charges were brought at that time because the boy was terrified to testify against him, said county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. earlier this year in announcing Nevison's arrest.
Since that time, the boy has received psychiatric counseling and, in the fall of 2001, the boy's parents and psychiatrist advised authorities that the boy was now prepared to testify against his uncle.
The boy subsequently testified against Nevison at Nevison's preliminary hearing in April 2002 before District Justice Henry Schireson. Schireson ruled that there was sufficient evidence to hold Nevison for trial.
Nevison, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is free on $25,000 bail.
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Brothers barred from testifying in sex abuse caseBy MARGARET GIBBONS
Times Herald - August 3, 2004
COURTHOUSE - The state Superior Court has overturned a Montgomery County decision that would have permitted the two brothers of former New York City cantor Howard Nevison, who is charged with sexually abusing his young Lower Merion nephew, to testify at trial to similar abuse they allegedly suffered from Nevison.
In barring the brothers' testimony, a three-member panel of Superior Court judges, in a decision handed down late last week, said the alleged abuse of the two brothers took place some 40 years ago - too long a time lapse to have relevance to the current case against Nevison.
Also, according to the appeals court's eight-page written decision, there were as many differences as similarities between the incidents alleged by the brothers and the current crimes with which Nevison is charged.
For example, in ruling in favor of the brothers' testimony, Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler said that one of the similarities was that the brothers and the nephew were related to Nevison. The Superior Court stated that the brothers were just a few years younger than Nevison at the time of their alleged incidents while the nephew was decades younger than Nevison.
Tressler also noted that Nevison allegedly threatened to kill his alleged victims if they told anyone about the alleged incident. The Superior Court said that only one brother and the nephew are claiming they were threatened and that only the nephew is alleging that Nevison pinched his genitals to drive home that threat.
While there may be some similarities between the alleged incidents of sexual abuse, these similarities did not rise to the level of a "signature" crime that would justify permitting the testimony of the two brothers, according to the state Superior Court.
There is a gag order in place that prohibits the prosecution and defense from discussing the specifics of the Nevison case.
However, county First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, who is prosecuting the case, said her office will have to review the decision and discuss it with the boy's mother.
Ferman said she hopes to have a decision by the end of the week as to whether her office will appeal the Superior Court's decision to the state Supreme Court or whether to ask Tressler to simply schedule the matter for trial and move forward without the brothers' testimony. ~
The 63-year-old Nevison, a long-time cantor at New York's Temple Emanu-El synagogue, was arrested at his New York residence on Feb. 20, 2002, on two felony charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, simple assault and terroristic threats.
These charges stem from alleged incidents of sexual abuse of Nevison's nephew when Nevison visited the home of the boy's family for holidays and other family functions between 1993 and 1997 when the boy was between the ages of four and eight. He is now 14.
County and township law enforcement officers first learned of the alleged abuse in November 1998 but no charges were brought at that time because the boy was terrified to testify against him, said county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. when announcing Nevison's arrest.
Since that time, the boy has received psychiatric counseling and, in the fall of 2001, the boy's parents and psychiatrist advised authorities that the boy was now prepared to testify against his uncle.
The boy, who is now in the eighth grade, subsequently testified against Nevison at Nevison's preliminary hearing in April 2002 before District Justice Henry Schireson. Schireson ruled that there was sufficient evidence to hold Nevison for trial.
Nevison, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is free on $25,000 bail.
The purpose of having Nevison's two brothers testify, according to the prosecution's initial court filing, is to show that Nevison has a pattern of "violent, forceful and intimidating sodomy of young relatives" under the age of 10.
The defense, which has opposed the prosecution's request to allow the brothers to testify at the trial, repeatedly has said that these allegations by the brothers are false. Also, the timing of these alleged incidents is from years ago and too remote to have any relevance to the current charges, the defense argued.
Finally, according to the defense, these allegations were never reported or prosecuted at the time they were supposed to have occurred.
This testimony would be highly prejudicial against their client, according to defense attorneys.
Tressler, who heard testimony concerning the brothers' testimony and its value inside his chambers outside the public's view, said in his ruling that the circumstances of the alleged prior incidents and those of the current situation "reveal criminal conduct that is distinctive and so nearly identical so as to become the signature" of the perpetrator.
The similarity between the past and current alleged crimes is sufficient to offset any time lapse, Tressler said in the ruling. Also, he added, the value of the testimony is not outweighed by any prejudicial impact it might have on Nevison.
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August trial set for ex-cantor accused of molesting nephew
A pretrial hearing was set for July 1. The man is charged with abusing the boy during visits with relatives in Lower Merion.
By Keith Herbert
Philadelphia Inquirer - April 29, 2005
Former New York City cantor Howard Nevison will go to trial on child-molestation charges Aug. 19 in Montgomery County.
Nevison, 64, was in Montgomery County Court yesterday with his attorney when Judge Paul W. Tressler set the trial date. Tressler also scheduled a pretrial hearing for July 1.
A gag order had been imposed on the lawyers in the case. Nevison's attorney, Ralph A. Jacobs, and First Assistant District Attorney Risa V. Ferman declined to comment.
Nevison is charged with molesting his nephew between 1993 and 1998, when the boy was 3 to 7 years old. The alleged abuse occurred during holidays and family gatherings when Nevison visited relatives in Lower Merion.
The alleged crime came to light in October 1998, when the victim's mother told police that her son had been sexually assaulted by his two uncles and a cousin.
Prosecutors said that members of the family claimed previous abuse: Nevison's two brothers, one of whom is the alleged victim's father, told them that Nevison molested them 40 years ago.
In an earlier ruling, Tressler allowed prosecutors to introduce testimony from the brothers as evidence showing a "common scheme, plan or design" to the molestation allegations.
But Nevison's lawyers appealed to the Pennsylvania Superior Court. A three-judge panel overruled Tressler and barred the brothers' testimony. The panel found the brothers' allegations too old and not specific enough to identify a "signature" crime.
The two family members who were also identified by the victim's mother have already pleaded guilty to sexual assault.
Lawrence Nevison, the boy's uncle, is serving a 5- to 15-year sentence. The victim's cousin, Stewart Nevison, served 11 months in prison and was paroled, according to court records.
In 2003, Nevison was put on leave from Temple Emanu-El, on East 65th Street in Manhattan. Nevison led prayers and sang at the congregation for 23 years.
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Cantor Pleads Guity to Sex Abuse Charges
ABC News - June 12, 2006
NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania - June 12, 2006 - New York City Cantor Howard Nevison pled guilty this morning in Norristown to charges that he sexually abused his nephew.
The incidents happened in Lower Merion, in the mid-nineties, when the child was between four and eight years old.
Nevison pled guilty to five misdemeanors, and could face up to 19 years in prison when he is sentenced later.
Montgomery County prosecutors dropped a felony charge against him, and said the victim's family wanted to end the case now before a trial.
Cantor Pleads Guity to Sex Abuse Charges
ABC News - June 12, 2006
NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania - June 12, 2006 - New York City Cantor Howard Nevison pled guilty this morning in Norristown to charges that he sexually abused his nephew.
The incidents happened in Lower Merion, in the mid-nineties, when the child was between four and eight years old.
Nevison pled guilty to five misdemeanors, and could face up to 19 years in prison when he is sentenced later.
Montgomery County prosecutors dropped a felony charge against him, and said the victim's family wanted to end the case now before a trial.
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Former NYC cantor pleads guilty to sex assaults on nephew
Associated Press - June 13, 2006
NORRISTOWN, Pa. - The former cantor of a prominent New York City synagogue pleaded guilty Monday to sexually abusing a young nephew beginning when the boy was 3.
Howard Nevison, 65, entered a plea agreement after fighting the charges for four years. He acknowledged the assaults occurred when he visited relatives on Philadelphia's Main Line for holidays and family gatherings.
Under a deal forged with Montgomery County prosecutors, Nevison accepts the terms of the plea agreement but does not admit to all the prosecution's allegations.
Nevison pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of indecent assault, terroristic threats, simple assault, corruption of minors and child endangerment, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Two felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse will be dismissed at Nevison's sentencing; the date has not been set.
"The reason we reached this agreement was that the family felt that it was in the victim's best interest," First Assistant Prosecutor Risa V. Ferman said. Prosecutors felt they could win the case at trial, but feared the appeals would go on for years, she said.
Nevison, the longtime cantor at Congregation Emanu-El in Manhattan, faces up to 19 years in prison but could get probation, she said.
The attacks continued until the boy was 7. Another uncle, Lawrence Nevison, and a male cousin have served time for sexually assaulting the same boy.
The victim testified against the cantor during an April 2002 preliminary hearing, describing four separate attacks.
"He was strong and powerful and I was defenseless," the boy, then 12, testified.
The boy's parents issued a brief statement Monday, saying they were pleased their son would avoid the further trauma of a trial. He is a child actor with some film credits to his name.
Defense lawyer Ralph Jacobs declined comment.
Prosecutors said Nevison sexually abused two of his younger brothers - including the boy's father - during their childhoods. Nevison had fought to exclude their testimony on the subject from the trial.
Nevison was put on leave in 2003 from Temple Emanu-El, a Reform synagogue on Fifth Avenue with many prominent members.
The boy first disclosed the abuse, which occurred from 1993 through 1997, in therapy.
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An uncle admits molesting his nephew
The New York City man pleaded guilty to the assaults during holiday visits to Lower Merion.
By Keith Herbert
Philidelphia Inquirer - June 13, 2006
Former New York City cantor Howard Nevison pleaded guilty yesterday to sexually assaulting his nephew during the mid-1990s in Lower Merion.
Nevison, 65, admitted the assaults happened during holidays and family gatherings when Nevison visited relatives on the Main Line. The crimes occurred when the victim was between 3 and 7 years old.
Montgomery County Judge Paul Tressler accepted a plea in which Nevison accepts the terms of the negotiated plea bargain but does not admit to the facts presented by the prosecution.
Nevison pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, terroristic threats, simple assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children.
Two felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse will be dismissed when Nevison is sentenced. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
In a two-paragraph statement, the victim's parents said they were "pleased" that Nevison admitted to "unconscionable acts" committed against their son.
"We are pleased that justice will be served by Howard Nevison's admission of guilt and that the trauma of a trial can be avoided for our son," the statement said.
First Assistant Prosecutor Risa V. Ferman said prosecutors were prepared for trial with the victim testifying.
"But the reason we reached this agreement was that the family felt that it was in the victim's best interest," Ferman said. "We all know you can win a trial, the appeals go on for years, sometimes decades, and it's never completely over."
Nevison faces a maximum prison sentence of up to 19 years, but could get probation, Ferman said.
Ralph Jacobs, Nevison's Philadelphia attorney, said yesterday he did not want to comment.
In October 1998, the victim's mother told police that her son had been sexually assaulted by his two uncles and cousin.
Lawrence Nevison, another of the boy's uncles, is serving a 5-to-15-year sentence for sexual assault. The victim's cousin, Stewart Nevison, served 11 months in prison and was paroled.
In 2003, Howard Nevison was put on leave from Temple Emanu-El, on East 65th Street in Manhattan, where he led prayers and sang for 23 years.
An uncle admits molesting his nephew
The New York City man pleaded guilty to the assaults during holiday visits to Lower Merion.
By Keith Herbert
Philidelphia Inquirer - June 13, 2006
Former New York City cantor Howard Nevison pleaded guilty yesterday to sexually assaulting his nephew during the mid-1990s in Lower Merion.
Nevison, 65, admitted the assaults happened during holidays and family gatherings when Nevison visited relatives on the Main Line. The crimes occurred when the victim was between 3 and 7 years old.
Montgomery County Judge Paul Tressler accepted a plea in which Nevison accepts the terms of the negotiated plea bargain but does not admit to the facts presented by the prosecution.
Nevison pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, terroristic threats, simple assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children.
Two felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse will be dismissed when Nevison is sentenced. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
In a two-paragraph statement, the victim's parents said they were "pleased" that Nevison admitted to "unconscionable acts" committed against their son.
"We are pleased that justice will be served by Howard Nevison's admission of guilt and that the trauma of a trial can be avoided for our son," the statement said.
First Assistant Prosecutor Risa V. Ferman said prosecutors were prepared for trial with the victim testifying.
"But the reason we reached this agreement was that the family felt that it was in the victim's best interest," Ferman said. "We all know you can win a trial, the appeals go on for years, sometimes decades, and it's never completely over."
Nevison faces a maximum prison sentence of up to 19 years, but could get probation, Ferman said.
Ralph Jacobs, Nevison's Philadelphia attorney, said yesterday he did not want to comment.
In October 1998, the victim's mother told police that her son had been sexually assaulted by his two uncles and cousin.
Lawrence Nevison, another of the boy's uncles, is serving a 5-to-15-year sentence for sexual assault. The victim's cousin, Stewart Nevison, served 11 months in prison and was paroled.
In 2003, Howard Nevison was put on leave from Temple Emanu-El, on East 65th Street in Manhattan, where he led prayers and sang for 23 years.
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Nevison: I Did Nothing Wrong
Temple Emanu-El cantor speaks out for first time after guilty plea in sex abuse case involving his nephew.
Debra Nussbaum Cohen - Staff Writer
Jewish Week (NY) - June 14, 2006
After pleading guilty this week to five counts of sexually abusing his young nephew over a four-year period, Cantor Howard Nevison continues to maintain that he did nothing wrong.
In an exclusive interview with The Jewish Week Tuesday — the first time he has spoken publicly about the case that made sensational headlines in 2002 — Cantor Nevison said that his deal with prosecutors was akin to a "no contest" plea — "when you don't admit to anything."
"You're accepting that something happened but not saying that I did anything" wrong, he continued.
The assistant district attorney who prosecuted him sees things differently.
Cantor Nevison pleaded guilty on Monday to five misdemeanor-level offenses relating to sexually abusing his nephew in the early 1990s, when the boy was between 4 and 7 years old. Those offenses include indecent assault, corruption of the morals of a minor and terroristic threats.
In exchange for his guilty plea, the district attorney dropped a felony charge of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse.
Had he been convicted on all of the original counts, the maximum sentence would have been 25 Ũ years in prison.
"He came in and accepted responsibility for what he's done. That's the most important part of this story for all of us here," said Risa Vetri Ferman, the first assistant district attorney for Montgomery County, a suburb of Philadelphia, where Cantor Nevison was prosecuted because it was where the family of his brother, Henry Nevison, lived when the crimes took place.
A sentencing date has not yet been set, but Cantor Nevison could be sentenced to as little as probation or house arrest, and to as much as 19 years in jail, Ferman said.
She agreed to allow Cantor Nevison, who is 65, to plead guilty in exchange for the dropped charge at the behest of the victim's parents, she said. Ferman was preparing to go to trial this summer when they approached her and asked her to find a way to avoid it.
The boy, whose identity is being shielded by everyone around him, is now 16 years old and "doing extremely well," Ferman said. "He has a wonderfully supportive family around him and he's made great strides in recovering from the abuse suffered at the hands of three people [Nevison, along with his brother Lawrence Nevison and Lawrence's son Stewart.] They did not want to put him back on a destructive path. For him to go through a trial at this point in his life would have been too damaging, too traumatic."
She met with his family Monday after Cantor Nevison entered his plea. His victim "felt great vindication at the plea, and he and his family are extremely happy," said Ferman.
But as far as Cantor Nevison is concerned, they shouldn't be.
"I'm not accepting responsibility for it at all," he told The Jewish Week.
When asked why he didn't insist on a jury trial, at which he might have been exonerated, Cantor Nevison said "I was destroyed by the D.A. in the press, and you can't get a decent jury when they put those lies in the newspapers," he said.
His lawyer did not return a phone call, nor did his employers at Temple Emanu-El.
The tony Reform synagogue on Fifth Avenue and 65th Street, where Cantor Nevison had for 23 years sung and prepared bar and bat mitzvah students, put him on a paid leave of absence shortly after he was arrested, in February 2002.
Temple Rabbis David Posner and Amy Erlich, and its president, investment banker and Lincoln Center Institute trustee Robert Bernhard, did not return phone calls this week seeking comment.
Temple administrator Mark Heitlinger declined to say if Cantor Nevison remains on paid leave or not.
As of this year, the cantor resigned his membership in the Cantors Assembly, the professional organization of which he was a member, said Cantor Steve Stoehr, the group's president. There is no way to undo a cantor's investiture, said Cantor Stoehr, no equivalent to a priest being defrocked.
Cantor Nevison's crimes "blemish the human race," he said. "Part of you has to feel pity for a person who can't control these urges he must have, part of you feels disappointment, anger, a litany of other emotions, as we would a suicide or any other mental illness. But the cantorate stands greater than any single individual."
Cantor Nevison's brother, Lawrence Nevison, was convicted of sexually abusing the boy in 1990 and is now serving a sentence of five to 15 years in a Pennsylvania state prison. So is Stewart, who pleaded guilty during his father's trial to having abused the boy and his sister. Stewart served his sentence and was released but is now back in custody, said Ferman, for having violated his probation.
Cantor Nevison said "I don't believe either one of them is guilty. Pennsylvania is archaic, almost like going back to the witch trials," he said. "That's how they deal with these cases."
When asked how he feels about the possibility of going to prison, Cantor Nevison said, "it could happen, but we have a lot of proof that none of this happened, and that will come out.
"We feel the time to strike is when we have the sentencing hearing."
Cantor Nevison's former supporters at Emanu-El had little to say after his guilty plea.
Long-time temple member Vicky Weiner, a public relations professional who for a time after his arrest represented the congregation on the matter, said, "I'm surprised. I haven't been following this recently but I knew the cantor for all those years and thought he was a very fine man."
And Henry Fruhauf, a close friend of Cantor Nevison who retired as the temple's administrator and after the arrest created a Howard Nevison Legal Defense Fund, said "I know what you're calling about and I have absolutely no comment" before hanging up the phone.
Until his sentencing, Cantor Nevison remains free on bail, living with his wife in their Manhattan home.
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Ex-Manhattan cantor placed on probation in assaults on young boyThe Associated Press - September 19, 2006
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The former cantor of a New York City synagogue was placed on probation in connection with sexual assaults on a young boy during the 1990s in Lower Merion Township.
Montgomery County Court Judge Paul W. Tressler, however, on Tuesday ordered Howard Nevison to visit a New York prison to get a clear understanding of what awaits him should he violate his 12-year probation.
Nevison, 65, the popular cantor at the 10,000-member Temple Emanu-El on Manhattan's Upper East Side, was ordered to have no contact with children under 12.
The judge said probation was a standard sentence for a person without a prior criminal offense. He said Nevison had been "a perfect citizen" before the criminal case and posed little threat to the community.
After four years of fighting the charges, Nevison entered an Alford plea in June to five misdemeanor charges, meaning he did not admit any wrongdoing but acknowledged that prosecutors would likely win conviction at trial.
He entered the plea to charges of indecent assault, simple assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of a child. A felony charge of aggravated indecent sexual intercourse was dropped by prosecutors as part of the plea agreement.
The courtroom was packed with supporters of the cantor, including the temple's senior rabbi, Ronald Sobel. Nevison was put on leave from the Reform synagogue in 2003.
Authorities said the attacks began when the boy was 3 and continued until he was 7 years old. Two other men have served time for sexual assaults on the boy.
The youth, now 17, called Nevison "a coward" who robbed him of his trust and happiness as a child.
"As a cantor in the Jewish religion, you should know that what you did will not sit well with God," he testified.
Nevison said he had "compassion" for the boy but did not apologize in court.
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Cantor Sentenced in Child Abuse CaseABC Action News 6 - September 19, 2006
NORRISTOWN, Pa. - September 19, 2006 - Cantor Howard Nevison was sentenced to probation on Tuesday after earlier pleading guilty to child abuse charges.
Two sharply different views of Nevison emerged at the hearing. To his 16-year-old nephew , Nevison is " a pathetic old man who hurt me long ago...I think what he did was disgusting."
In June, Nevison pleaded guilty to sexually abusing the then 3-year-old boy at the boy's home in Lower Merion in the 1990's.
Nevison's was a well respected staffer at one of Manhattans best know synagogues. Congregants traveled to Norristown to repeatedly praise the cantor as gentle and kind at Tuesday's hearing.
Fearing appeals could go on for years, the victim's family earlier agreed to a deal dropping felony charges with Nevison pleading guilty to lesser misdemeanor counts.
Before the cantor could return to New York on Tuesday, the judge directed him to first take a tour of the county prison.
The apparent reason behind the unusual field trip to make clear to the 65-year-old convicted molester should he get in trouble again prison will be where he will likely end up.
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Breaking News
Cantor sentenced for abuse
JTA - September 20, 2006
The former cantor of a New York City synagogue was sentenced to 12 years' probation for sexually abusing his nephew.
The judge on Tuesday also ordered Howard Nevison, 65, former cantor at Temple Emanu-El, to refrain from all contact with children under age 12.
The attacks took place from 1993 to 1997, while the boy in question was 3 to 7 years old.
Two other family members were previously convicted of molesting the boy.
At the sentencing, the nephew, now 17, called Nevison a "coward" who had robbed him of his trust and happiness. "As a cantor in the Jewish religion, you should know that what you did will not sit well with God," he said.
___________________________________________________________________________________Ex-Manhattan cantor placed on probation in assaults on young boyThe Associated Press - September 19, 2006
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The former cantor of a New York City synagogue was placed on probation in connection with sexual assaults on a young boy during the 1990s in Lower Merion Township.
Montgomery County Court Judge Paul W. Tressler, however, on Tuesday ordered Howard Nevison to visit a New York prison to get a clear understanding of what awaits him should he violate his 12-year probation.
Nevison, 65, the popular cantor at the 10,000-member Temple Emanu-El on Manhattan's Upper East Side, was ordered to have no contact with children under 12.
The judge said probation was a standard sentence for a person without a prior criminal offense. He said Nevison had been "a perfect citizen" before the criminal case and posed little threat to the community.
After four years of fighting the charges, Nevison entered an Alford plea in June to five misdemeanor charges, meaning he did not admit any wrongdoing but acknowledged that prosecutors would likely win conviction at trial.
He entered the plea to charges of indecent assault, simple assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of a child. A felony charge of aggravated indecent sexual intercourse was dropped by prosecutors as part of the plea agreement.
The courtroom was packed with supporters of the cantor, including the temple's senior rabbi, Ronald Sobel. Nevison was put on leave from the Reform synagogue in 2003.
Authorities said the attacks began when the boy was 3 and continued until he was 7 years old. Two other men have served time for sexual assaults on the boy.
The youth, now 17, called Nevison "a coward" who robbed him of his trust and happiness as a child.
"As a cantor in the Jewish religion, you should know that what you did will not sit well with God," he testified.
Nevison said he had "compassion" for the boy but did not apologize in court.
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Cantor Sentenced in Child Abuse CaseABC Action News 6 - September 19, 2006
NORRISTOWN, Pa. - September 19, 2006 - Cantor Howard Nevison was sentenced to probation on Tuesday after earlier pleading guilty to child abuse charges.
Two sharply different views of Nevison emerged at the hearing. To his 16-year-old nephew , Nevison is " a pathetic old man who hurt me long ago...I think what he did was disgusting."
In June, Nevison pleaded guilty to sexually abusing the then 3-year-old boy at the boy's home in Lower Merion in the 1990's.
Nevison's was a well respected staffer at one of Manhattans best know synagogues. Congregants traveled to Norristown to repeatedly praise the cantor as gentle and kind at Tuesday's hearing.
Fearing appeals could go on for years, the victim's family earlier agreed to a deal dropping felony charges with Nevison pleading guilty to lesser misdemeanor counts.
Before the cantor could return to New York on Tuesday, the judge directed him to first take a tour of the county prison.
The apparent reason behind the unusual field trip to make clear to the 65-year-old convicted molester should he get in trouble again prison will be where he will likely end up.
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Breaking News
Cantor sentenced for abuse
JTA - September 20, 2006
The former cantor of a New York City synagogue was sentenced to 12 years' probation for sexually abusing his nephew.
The judge on Tuesday also ordered Howard Nevison, 65, former cantor at Temple Emanu-El, to refrain from all contact with children under age 12.
The attacks took place from 1993 to 1997, while the boy in question was 3 to 7 years old.
Two other family members were previously convicted of molesting the boy.
At the sentencing, the nephew, now 17, called Nevison a "coward" who had robbed him of his trust and happiness. "As a cantor in the Jewish religion, you should know that what you did will not sit well with God," he said.
Probation for molestor
Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer - September 20, 2006
The former cantor of a New York City synagogue was placed on probation in connection with sexual assaults on a young boy during the 1990s in Lower Merion Township.
Yesterday, however, Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler ordered Howard Nevison to visit a New York prison to get a clear understanding of what awaits him should he violate his 12-year probation.
Nevison, 65, the popular cantor at the 10,000-member Temple Emanu-El on Manhattan's Upper East Side, was ordered to have no contact with children under 12.
The judge said probation was a standard sentence for a person without a prior criminal offense. He said Nevison had been "a perfect citizen" before the criminal case and posed little threat to the community.
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N.Y. cantor avoids prison term for sexual assaults on nephewBy Keith Herbert
Philadelphia Inquirer - September 20, 2006
New York City cantor Howard Nevison avoided a prison sentence yesterday for sexually assaulting his young nephew during the 1990s in Lower Merion.
Montgomery County Court Judge Paul W. Tressler made certain, however, that Nevison realize how fortunate he was to avoid jail. To drive home his point, Tressler ordered Nevison to visit a New York prison yesterday so that he understands what lies ahead should he violate probation.
Nevison, the popular cantor at the 10,000-member Temple Emanu-El on Manhattan's Upper East Side, will be on probation for the next 12 years.
Tressler also ordered that Nevison have no contact with children under 12. Probation was a standard sentence under the state's sentencing guidelines for a person without a prior criminal offense, Tressler said.
Nevison, 65, had been "a perfect citizen" before the criminal case and posed little threat to the community, Tressler said.
The cantor had entered an "Alford plea" to five misdemeanor charges in June, meaning he admitted no guilt but acknowledged that prosecutors would likely win conviction at trial. He pleaded to charges of indecent assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of a child.
The more serious charge of aggravated indecent sexual intercourse, a felony, was dropped by prosecutors as part of the plea agreement.
Nevison's nephew, now 17, testified that his uncle was "a coward" who robbed him of his childhood trust and happiness.
"As a cantor in the Jewish religion, you should know that what you did will not sit well with God," the victim said to his uncle in court.
Nevison said that he had "compassion" for his nephew but never apologized in court for committing an assault.
Howard Nevison's brother Lawrence and another nephew, Stewart Nevison, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the victim. Lawrence Nevison was sentenced in 2000 to five to 15 years in state prison. Stewart Nevison was sentenced in 2002 to 111/2 to 23 months in prison.
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Cantor gets 12-year probation for sexually assaulting his nephew
By MARGARET GIBBONS
Main Line Times - September 21, 2006
COURTHOUSE - A renowned New York City cantor, who once sang for the pope, Tuesday received a probationary sentence for sexually assaulting his young Lower Merion nephew in the mid-1990s.
But as an unusual condition of his probation, 65-year-old Howard Nevison first had to tour the Montgomery County prison in Lower Providence Tuesday afternoon before returning home.
"If you ever come back on a violation, that is exactly where you are going to go," said Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler.
Explaining he was limited by the law and justice and not guided by either mercy or revenge, the judge sentenced the unapologetic Nevison to 12 years of probation and fined him $4,500.
Another condition of his probation is that Nevison is to have no contact with or be involved in teaching children under the age of 12.
Nevison in June entered an Alford plea to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, corruption of a minor and endangering the welfare of a child.
Under an Alford plea, Nevison admitted that the prosecution could prove the case against him but that he disputed the factual allegations on which the charges were based.
In return for that guilty plea, the prosecution dropped the two more serious felony charges of involuntarily deviate sexual intercourse that initially had been filed against Nevison, the former long-time cantor at New York's Temple Emanu-El synagogue.
The fact that Nevison had only pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and had been a "perfect citizen" other than for his arrest on these sexual misconduct charges call for a probationary sentence under state sentencing guidelines, the judge explained.
Nevison, who in the sentencing hearing said he had "compassion" for his nephew but never apologized, declined comment on his sentence.
Instead, a crowd of some 40 family members and supporters who had traveled from New York and New Jersey surrounded Nevison as he left the courtroom, swearing at reporters who tried to ask him questions.
"We are gratified Mr. Nevison is walking out of here today with a sentence of probation," said defense attorney Ralph Jacobs.
First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, who had requested some type of prison sentence, admitted that the guilty plea to misdemeanor charges ties the judge's hands. Her office agreed to the guilty plea to spare the nephew, who is now 17, from having to testify at trial to incidents that began when he was just 3 years old, she explained. At that time, the family was informed that Nevison might never serve any jail time for the offenses, she said.
After meeting with the family after the sentencing, Ferman said that the family asked her to relate to reporters that they were "thrilled that they can finally put this behind them."
"The young man has lived with this for 14 years," she said.
"What the family views as a victory is that, no matter how Howard Nevison tries to disguise it, he pleaded guilty to being a child molester," said Ferman. "He can dance around it and try and save face as much as possible but Howard Nevison is a convicted child molester."
Two different views of Nevison emerged during the hearing.
The 10 supporters and family members who testified in Nevison's behalf described him as a kind, gentle, decent man.
"His voice stirred the soul in worship," testified Rabbi Ronald Sobel, the former pastor of the Temple Emanu-El synagogue.
The victim had a different recollection of that voice.
"He told me in his deep voice that if I told anyone, he would kill me," the youth recalled.
Initially, the boy said, he had contemplated suicide but ultimately decided he had too much to live for.
"I fought the beast and I won," the victim testified. "I exposed him for the monster he is. Uncle Howard is a coward on every level."
The charges against Nevison stem from alleged incidents of sexual abuse of his nephew when Nevison visited the home of the boy's family for holidays and other family functions between 1993 and 1997 when the boy was between the ages of 4 and 8.
County and township law enforcement officers first learned of the alleged abuse in November 1998 but no charges were brought at that time because the boy was terrified to testify against his uncle, said county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. when announcing Nevison's arrest.
Since that time, the boy has received psychiatric counseling and, in the fall of 2001, the boy's parents and psychiatrist advised authorities that the boy was prepared to testify against Nevison. He subsequently testified against Nevison at the preliminary hearing in April 2002 before District Justice Henry Schireson. Schireson ruled that there was sufficient evidence to hold Nevison for trial.
The trial was delayed as a result of pre-trial skirmishes, particularly concerning the issue as to whether Nevison's two brothers would be allowed to testify at the trial that Nevison allegedly sexually abused them when they were boys although no criminal charges were filed against Nevison.
Tressler in June 2003 ruled that the pair's testimony would be permitted. Nevison's defense lawyers appealed that ruling to the state Superior Court, which overturned Tressler's decision. The state Supreme Court declined the prosecution's request to hear the issue.
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Judge has cantor tour jail after getting probation
By Margaret Gibbons
Main Line Life - September 21, 2006
A renowned New York City cantor, who once sang for the Pope, Tuesday received a probationary sentence for sexually assaulting his young Lower Merion nephew in the mid-1990s.
But as an unusual condition of his probation, 65-year-old Howard Nevison first had to tour the Montgomery County prison in Lower Providence Tuesday afternoon before returning home.
"If you ever come back on a violation, that is exactly where you are going to go," said Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler.
Explaining he was limited by the law and justice and not guided by either mercy or revenge, the judge sentenced the unapologetic Nevison to 12 years of probation and fined him $4,500.
Another condition of his probation is that Nevison is to have no contact with or be involved in teaching children under the age of 12.
Nevison in June entered an Alford plea to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, corruption of a minor and endangering the welfare of a child.
Under an Alford plea, Nevison admitted that the prosecution could prove the case against him but that he disputed the factual allegations on which the charges were based.
In return for that guilty plea, the prosecution dropped the two more serious felony charges of involuntarily deviate sexual intercourse that initially had been filed against Nevison, the former long-time cantor at New York's Temple Emanu-El synagogue.
The fact that Nevison had only pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and had been a "perfect citizen" other than for his arrest on these sexual misconduct charges call for a probationary sentence under state sentencing guidelines, the judge explained.
Nevison, who in the sentencing hearing said he had "compassion" for his nephew but never apologized, declined comment on his sentence.
Instead, a crowd of some 40 family members and supporters who had traveled from New York and New Jersey surrounded Nevison as he left the courtroom, swearing at reporters who tried to ask him questions.
"We are gratified Mr. Nevison is walking out of here today with a sentence of probation," said defense attorney Ralph Jacobs.
First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, who had requested some type of prison sentence, admitted that the guilty plea to misdemeanor charges ties the judge's hands. Her office agreed to the guilty plea to spare the nephew, who is now 17, from having to testify at trial to incidents that began when he was just three years old, she explained. At that time, the family was informed that Nevison might never serve any jail time for the offenses, she said.
After meeting with the family after the sentencing, Ferman said that the family asked her to relate to reporters that they were "thrilled that they can finally put this behind them."
"The young man has lived with this for 14 years," she said.
"What the family views as a victory is that, no matter how Howard Nevison tries to disguise it, he pleaded guilty to being a child molester," said Ferman. "He can dance around it and try and save face as much as possible but Howard Nevison is a convicted child molester."
Two different views of Nevison emerged during the hearing.
The 10 supporters and family members who testified in Nevison's behalf described him as a kind, gentle, decent man.
"His voice stirred the soul in worship," testified Rabbi Ronald Sobel, the former pastor of the Temple Emanu-El synagogue.
The victim had a different recollection of that voice.
"He told me in his deep voice that if I told anyone, he would kill me," the youth recalled.
Initially, the boy said, he had contemplated suicide but ultimately decided he had too much to live for.
"I fought the beast and I won," the victim testified. "I exposed him for the monster he is. Uncle Howard is a coward on every level."
The charges against Nevison stem from alleged incidents of sexual abuse of his nephew when Nevison visited the home of the boy's family for holidays and other family functions between 1993 and 1997 when the boy was between the ages of four and eight.
County and township law enforcement officers first learned of the alleged abuse in November 1998 but no charges were brought at that time because the boy was terrified to testify against his uncle, said county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. when announcing Nevison's arrest.
Since that time, the boy has received psychiatric counseling and, in the fall of 2001, the boy's parents and psychiatrist advised authorities that the boy was now prepared to testify against Nevison.
The boy subsequently testified against Nevison at Nevison's preliminary hearing in April 2002 before District Justice Henry Schireson. Schireson ruled that there was sufficient evidence to hold Nevison for trial.
The trial was delayed as a result of pre-trial skirmishes, particularly concerning the issue as to whether Nevison's two brothers would be allowed to testify at the trial that Nevison allegedly sexually abused them when they were boys although no criminal charges were filed against Nevison.
The purpose of having Nevison's two brothers testify, according to an initial filing by the prosecution, was to show that Nevison has a pattern of "violent, forceful and intimidating sodomy of young relatives" under the age of 10.
Tressler in June 2003 ruled that the pair's testimony would be permitted.
Nevison's defense lawyers appealed that ruling to the state Superior Court, which overturned Tressler's decision. The state Supreme Court declined the prosecution's request to hear the issue.
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No Jail For Nevison - Cantor gets probation in plea deal over molestation charges involving nephew.
By Adam Dickter - Staff Writer
New York Jewish Week - September 22, 2006
Howard Nevison insisted he accepted a plea agreement only because he feared he couldn
The Manhattan cantor convicted of five misdemeanor charges of sexually molesting his nephew will serve 12 years of supervised probation for his crimes, a Pennsylvania judge ruled on Tuesday.
Howard Nevison, 65, could have faced more than 25 years in jail if convicted of the most serious charges brought against him. But the cantor, who was placed on leave from the prominent Reform Temple Emanu-El on the East Side when the allegations surfaced in February 2002, was offered a plea deal in June when the victim's family asked prosecutors to avoid a trial, citing concern for the young man's well-being. The felony charges, which included involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault, were then dropped.
Nevison's brother, Lawrence, had already been convicted of abusing the same boy in 1990 and is serving five to 15 years in a Pennsylvania prison. Lawrence's son, Stewart, pleaded guilty to abusing the same boy, whose identity is being protected by authorities. The abuse took place when the boy was between 3 and 7 years old.
The victim, now almost 17, had testified against the other perpetrators but, according to court documents, had been too afraid to testify against Howard Nevison until the other cases were completed.
Prosecutors on Tuesday asked for the toughest penalty for the remaining charges against Howard Nevison, citing comments he made in June to The Jewish Week in which he insisted he did nothing wrong. "I'm not accepting responsibility for it at all," Nevison said then.
At the time, Nevison said he accepted a plea deal because, "I was destroyed by the D.A. in the press, and you can't get a decent jury when they put those lies in the newspapers."
Risa Vetri Ferman, the assistant district attorney in Montgomery County, a Philadelphia suburb where the victim lives, said the remarks "were a true reflection of his lack of remorse for what he did and the judge duly noted them." She added: "While we believed and still do that the actions of defendant Nevison warrant a jail sentence we also understand that the judge is bound by law to look at the offenses he admitted to, not just the actions alleged."
Ferman said she was satisfied with the outcome. "Howard Nevison was been exposed for what he truly is," she said. "People in the past revered this man and put him on a pedestal, and that's where he lived for 40 years. But this young man, the victim, knew him as a monster. ... The veil has been lifted and he has been exposed to the world."
Under the terms of Nevison's probation, he must remain under the supervision of New York correction authorities as well as pay fines and legal costs associated with the case. Following the sentencing, Judge Paul W. Tressler ordered that he be escorted to a jail "so he could see what the facility looks like, should he ever violate the terms of supervision," Ferman said.
A call to Temple Emanu-El's rabbis, David Posner and Amy Erlich, was not immediately returned Tuesday, nor was a request for comment from Nevison's lawyer, Ralph Jacobs.
In April 2002, a group of the cantor's friends, including Temple members and a former administrator of the congregation, started a legal defense fund for Nevison, mailing a letter to more than 2,000 recipients. The synagogue has been criticized by experts on clergy abuse for keeping Nevison on the payroll after he informed temple officials of the charges against him.
In a statement after his arrest, Temple leaders said, "We considered and reviewed the matter with respect to the Cantor's relationship to the congregation and found nothing untoward."
___________________________________________________________________________________
How the child-abusing cantor avoided time in prison
An appeal that gutted the case and the victim's reluctance to press on were key, a judge says.By Keith Herbert
Philadelphia Inquirer - September 27, 2006
A Republican former prosecutor, Montgomery County Court Judge Paul W. Tressler doesn't have a reputation for being soft on criminals.
But in a high-profile case that concluded last week, Tressler gave probation, not jail, to a New York City cantor who pleaded to charges of sexually abusing his nephew for years.
The judge and the District Attorney's Office say the sentence was the culmination of an earlier appellate court ruling, which gutted the prosecutor's case, and the desire of the victim to end the legal ordeal, which had dragged on for years.
"I have no doubt that I followed the law, which is the job of the judge, and not to let emotion become part of the equation," Tressler said yesterday.
Tressler sentenced Cantor Howard Nevison to 12 years of probation but spared him a prison term. Nevison was charged with abusing his nephew during a four-year period in the 1990s at the boy's Main Line home. The assaults occurred when the child was between 3 and 7 years old.
In June, Nevison pleaded guilty to indecent assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, corruption of minors and endangering children. The charges are misdemeanors.
Yesterday, Tressler spoke about the Nevison case in his empty, fifth-floor courtroom.
When Nevison, 65, was in the same courtroom last week, it was packed with dozens of Nevison's supporters, including the elder rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, the Manhattan synagogue where Nevison was cantor.
A felony charge of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse had been dropped by prosecutors as part of a plea agreement with Nevison, Tressler said. Punishable by up to 20 years in prison, the most serious charge against Nevison was not before him at time of sentencing, the judge said.
An earlier appeals court ruling had prevented prosecutors from using the testimony of Nevison's two brothers, who alleged that Nevison molested them 40 years ago. Prosecutors had wanted to introduce the evidence from the brothers to show "a common scheme" by Nevison to molest family members.
Tressler agreed with prosecutors that the brothers' testimony should have been allowed as prosecution evidence, but was overruled by the higher court.
"There was a pivotal ruling in the case that made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the D.A. to prosecute the felony," Tressler said.
While First Assistant District Attorney Risa V. Ferman acknowledged this week that the Superior Court ruling weakened the prosecution's case, her office was prepared to go to trial.
But then the victim in the case, Nevison's nephew, now 17, wanted to end the case, which meant no more testifying in open court about what his uncle did to him, Ferman said.
"I know it's something the District Attorney thought about for a long time and was not completely comfortable with," Ferman said. The plea agreement "didn't give a child molester a pass, but it allows the 17-year-old man to get on with his life."
Nevison entered an Alford plea, in which defendants do not admit to the prosecution's allegations but acknowledge the likelihood of a conviction at trial.
Tressler's sentence of probation was in the low end of the state's sentencing guidelines, which give judges ranges of penalties depending on a defendant's prior record and gravity of the offense. The standard-range sentence could have included up to six months in jail.
But Tressler said he was reluctant to give Nevison jail because the cantor is 65, suffers from diabetes, and had a "spotless" record. Also, Tressler said, psychiatrists for both the defense and prosecution found that Nevison was not a pedophile.
"I think the D.A.'s office prosecuted the case as well as it could in light of the appellate ruling," Tressler said.
Victims in child sexual abuse cases are often reluctant to testify in open court, with an abuser sitting only a few feet away, said Chris Kirchner, executive director of Children's Alliance of Philadelphia, an advocacy group dedicated to improving child-abuse investigations.
"We put a heavy, heavy burden on children when it comes to allegations of sexual abuse," Kirchner said. "I understand the criminal justice system, but I think as a society we minimize the effects of sexual abuse and it shows up in our courts."
No one wants to talk about sexual abuse of children, and because of that, "We're not outraged," Kirchner said.
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Howard Nevison - Linkedin
Linkedin - December 9, 2012
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FAIR USE NOTICE
Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.N.Y. cantor avoids prison term for sexual assaults on nephewBy Keith Herbert
Philadelphia Inquirer - September 20, 2006
New York City cantor Howard Nevison avoided a prison sentence yesterday for sexually assaulting his young nephew during the 1990s in Lower Merion.
Montgomery County Court Judge Paul W. Tressler made certain, however, that Nevison realize how fortunate he was to avoid jail. To drive home his point, Tressler ordered Nevison to visit a New York prison yesterday so that he understands what lies ahead should he violate probation.
Nevison, the popular cantor at the 10,000-member Temple Emanu-El on Manhattan's Upper East Side, will be on probation for the next 12 years.
Tressler also ordered that Nevison have no contact with children under 12. Probation was a standard sentence under the state's sentencing guidelines for a person without a prior criminal offense, Tressler said.
Nevison, 65, had been "a perfect citizen" before the criminal case and posed little threat to the community, Tressler said.
The cantor had entered an "Alford plea" to five misdemeanor charges in June, meaning he admitted no guilt but acknowledged that prosecutors would likely win conviction at trial. He pleaded to charges of indecent assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of a child.
The more serious charge of aggravated indecent sexual intercourse, a felony, was dropped by prosecutors as part of the plea agreement.
Nevison's nephew, now 17, testified that his uncle was "a coward" who robbed him of his childhood trust and happiness.
"As a cantor in the Jewish religion, you should know that what you did will not sit well with God," the victim said to his uncle in court.
Nevison said that he had "compassion" for his nephew but never apologized in court for committing an assault.
Howard Nevison's brother Lawrence and another nephew, Stewart Nevison, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the victim. Lawrence Nevison was sentenced in 2000 to five to 15 years in state prison. Stewart Nevison was sentenced in 2002 to 111/2 to 23 months in prison.
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Cantor gets 12-year probation for sexually assaulting his nephew
By MARGARET GIBBONS
Main Line Times - September 21, 2006
COURTHOUSE - A renowned New York City cantor, who once sang for the pope, Tuesday received a probationary sentence for sexually assaulting his young Lower Merion nephew in the mid-1990s.
But as an unusual condition of his probation, 65-year-old Howard Nevison first had to tour the Montgomery County prison in Lower Providence Tuesday afternoon before returning home.
"If you ever come back on a violation, that is exactly where you are going to go," said Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler.
Explaining he was limited by the law and justice and not guided by either mercy or revenge, the judge sentenced the unapologetic Nevison to 12 years of probation and fined him $4,500.
Another condition of his probation is that Nevison is to have no contact with or be involved in teaching children under the age of 12.
Nevison in June entered an Alford plea to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, corruption of a minor and endangering the welfare of a child.
Under an Alford plea, Nevison admitted that the prosecution could prove the case against him but that he disputed the factual allegations on which the charges were based.
In return for that guilty plea, the prosecution dropped the two more serious felony charges of involuntarily deviate sexual intercourse that initially had been filed against Nevison, the former long-time cantor at New York's Temple Emanu-El synagogue.
The fact that Nevison had only pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and had been a "perfect citizen" other than for his arrest on these sexual misconduct charges call for a probationary sentence under state sentencing guidelines, the judge explained.
Nevison, who in the sentencing hearing said he had "compassion" for his nephew but never apologized, declined comment on his sentence.
Instead, a crowd of some 40 family members and supporters who had traveled from New York and New Jersey surrounded Nevison as he left the courtroom, swearing at reporters who tried to ask him questions.
"We are gratified Mr. Nevison is walking out of here today with a sentence of probation," said defense attorney Ralph Jacobs.
First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, who had requested some type of prison sentence, admitted that the guilty plea to misdemeanor charges ties the judge's hands. Her office agreed to the guilty plea to spare the nephew, who is now 17, from having to testify at trial to incidents that began when he was just 3 years old, she explained. At that time, the family was informed that Nevison might never serve any jail time for the offenses, she said.
After meeting with the family after the sentencing, Ferman said that the family asked her to relate to reporters that they were "thrilled that they can finally put this behind them."
"The young man has lived with this for 14 years," she said.
"What the family views as a victory is that, no matter how Howard Nevison tries to disguise it, he pleaded guilty to being a child molester," said Ferman. "He can dance around it and try and save face as much as possible but Howard Nevison is a convicted child molester."
Two different views of Nevison emerged during the hearing.
The 10 supporters and family members who testified in Nevison's behalf described him as a kind, gentle, decent man.
"His voice stirred the soul in worship," testified Rabbi Ronald Sobel, the former pastor of the Temple Emanu-El synagogue.
The victim had a different recollection of that voice.
"He told me in his deep voice that if I told anyone, he would kill me," the youth recalled.
Initially, the boy said, he had contemplated suicide but ultimately decided he had too much to live for.
"I fought the beast and I won," the victim testified. "I exposed him for the monster he is. Uncle Howard is a coward on every level."
The charges against Nevison stem from alleged incidents of sexual abuse of his nephew when Nevison visited the home of the boy's family for holidays and other family functions between 1993 and 1997 when the boy was between the ages of 4 and 8.
County and township law enforcement officers first learned of the alleged abuse in November 1998 but no charges were brought at that time because the boy was terrified to testify against his uncle, said county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. when announcing Nevison's arrest.
Since that time, the boy has received psychiatric counseling and, in the fall of 2001, the boy's parents and psychiatrist advised authorities that the boy was prepared to testify against Nevison. He subsequently testified against Nevison at the preliminary hearing in April 2002 before District Justice Henry Schireson. Schireson ruled that there was sufficient evidence to hold Nevison for trial.
The trial was delayed as a result of pre-trial skirmishes, particularly concerning the issue as to whether Nevison's two brothers would be allowed to testify at the trial that Nevison allegedly sexually abused them when they were boys although no criminal charges were filed against Nevison.
Tressler in June 2003 ruled that the pair's testimony would be permitted. Nevison's defense lawyers appealed that ruling to the state Superior Court, which overturned Tressler's decision. The state Supreme Court declined the prosecution's request to hear the issue.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Judge has cantor tour jail after getting probation
By Margaret Gibbons
Main Line Life - September 21, 2006
A renowned New York City cantor, who once sang for the Pope, Tuesday received a probationary sentence for sexually assaulting his young Lower Merion nephew in the mid-1990s.
But as an unusual condition of his probation, 65-year-old Howard Nevison first had to tour the Montgomery County prison in Lower Providence Tuesday afternoon before returning home.
"If you ever come back on a violation, that is exactly where you are going to go," said Montgomery County Judge Paul W. Tressler.
Explaining he was limited by the law and justice and not guided by either mercy or revenge, the judge sentenced the unapologetic Nevison to 12 years of probation and fined him $4,500.
Another condition of his probation is that Nevison is to have no contact with or be involved in teaching children under the age of 12.
Nevison in June entered an Alford plea to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, corruption of a minor and endangering the welfare of a child.
Under an Alford plea, Nevison admitted that the prosecution could prove the case against him but that he disputed the factual allegations on which the charges were based.
In return for that guilty plea, the prosecution dropped the two more serious felony charges of involuntarily deviate sexual intercourse that initially had been filed against Nevison, the former long-time cantor at New York's Temple Emanu-El synagogue.
The fact that Nevison had only pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and had been a "perfect citizen" other than for his arrest on these sexual misconduct charges call for a probationary sentence under state sentencing guidelines, the judge explained.
Nevison, who in the sentencing hearing said he had "compassion" for his nephew but never apologized, declined comment on his sentence.
Instead, a crowd of some 40 family members and supporters who had traveled from New York and New Jersey surrounded Nevison as he left the courtroom, swearing at reporters who tried to ask him questions.
"We are gratified Mr. Nevison is walking out of here today with a sentence of probation," said defense attorney Ralph Jacobs.
First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, who had requested some type of prison sentence, admitted that the guilty plea to misdemeanor charges ties the judge's hands. Her office agreed to the guilty plea to spare the nephew, who is now 17, from having to testify at trial to incidents that began when he was just three years old, she explained. At that time, the family was informed that Nevison might never serve any jail time for the offenses, she said.
After meeting with the family after the sentencing, Ferman said that the family asked her to relate to reporters that they were "thrilled that they can finally put this behind them."
"The young man has lived with this for 14 years," she said.
"What the family views as a victory is that, no matter how Howard Nevison tries to disguise it, he pleaded guilty to being a child molester," said Ferman. "He can dance around it and try and save face as much as possible but Howard Nevison is a convicted child molester."
Two different views of Nevison emerged during the hearing.
The 10 supporters and family members who testified in Nevison's behalf described him as a kind, gentle, decent man.
"His voice stirred the soul in worship," testified Rabbi Ronald Sobel, the former pastor of the Temple Emanu-El synagogue.
The victim had a different recollection of that voice.
"He told me in his deep voice that if I told anyone, he would kill me," the youth recalled.
Initially, the boy said, he had contemplated suicide but ultimately decided he had too much to live for.
"I fought the beast and I won," the victim testified. "I exposed him for the monster he is. Uncle Howard is a coward on every level."
The charges against Nevison stem from alleged incidents of sexual abuse of his nephew when Nevison visited the home of the boy's family for holidays and other family functions between 1993 and 1997 when the boy was between the ages of four and eight.
County and township law enforcement officers first learned of the alleged abuse in November 1998 but no charges were brought at that time because the boy was terrified to testify against his uncle, said county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. when announcing Nevison's arrest.
Since that time, the boy has received psychiatric counseling and, in the fall of 2001, the boy's parents and psychiatrist advised authorities that the boy was now prepared to testify against Nevison.
The boy subsequently testified against Nevison at Nevison's preliminary hearing in April 2002 before District Justice Henry Schireson. Schireson ruled that there was sufficient evidence to hold Nevison for trial.
The trial was delayed as a result of pre-trial skirmishes, particularly concerning the issue as to whether Nevison's two brothers would be allowed to testify at the trial that Nevison allegedly sexually abused them when they were boys although no criminal charges were filed against Nevison.
The purpose of having Nevison's two brothers testify, according to an initial filing by the prosecution, was to show that Nevison has a pattern of "violent, forceful and intimidating sodomy of young relatives" under the age of 10.
Tressler in June 2003 ruled that the pair's testimony would be permitted.
Nevison's defense lawyers appealed that ruling to the state Superior Court, which overturned Tressler's decision. The state Supreme Court declined the prosecution's request to hear the issue.
___________________________________________________________________________________
No Jail For Nevison - Cantor gets probation in plea deal over molestation charges involving nephew.
By Adam Dickter - Staff Writer
New York Jewish Week - September 22, 2006
Howard Nevison insisted he accepted a plea agreement only because he feared he couldn
The Manhattan cantor convicted of five misdemeanor charges of sexually molesting his nephew will serve 12 years of supervised probation for his crimes, a Pennsylvania judge ruled on Tuesday.
Howard Nevison, 65, could have faced more than 25 years in jail if convicted of the most serious charges brought against him. But the cantor, who was placed on leave from the prominent Reform Temple Emanu-El on the East Side when the allegations surfaced in February 2002, was offered a plea deal in June when the victim's family asked prosecutors to avoid a trial, citing concern for the young man's well-being. The felony charges, which included involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault, were then dropped.
Nevison's brother, Lawrence, had already been convicted of abusing the same boy in 1990 and is serving five to 15 years in a Pennsylvania prison. Lawrence's son, Stewart, pleaded guilty to abusing the same boy, whose identity is being protected by authorities. The abuse took place when the boy was between 3 and 7 years old.
The victim, now almost 17, had testified against the other perpetrators but, according to court documents, had been too afraid to testify against Howard Nevison until the other cases were completed.
Prosecutors on Tuesday asked for the toughest penalty for the remaining charges against Howard Nevison, citing comments he made in June to The Jewish Week in which he insisted he did nothing wrong. "I'm not accepting responsibility for it at all," Nevison said then.
At the time, Nevison said he accepted a plea deal because, "I was destroyed by the D.A. in the press, and you can't get a decent jury when they put those lies in the newspapers."
Risa Vetri Ferman, the assistant district attorney in Montgomery County, a Philadelphia suburb where the victim lives, said the remarks "were a true reflection of his lack of remorse for what he did and the judge duly noted them." She added: "While we believed and still do that the actions of defendant Nevison warrant a jail sentence we also understand that the judge is bound by law to look at the offenses he admitted to, not just the actions alleged."
Ferman said she was satisfied with the outcome. "Howard Nevison was been exposed for what he truly is," she said. "People in the past revered this man and put him on a pedestal, and that's where he lived for 40 years. But this young man, the victim, knew him as a monster. ... The veil has been lifted and he has been exposed to the world."
Under the terms of Nevison's probation, he must remain under the supervision of New York correction authorities as well as pay fines and legal costs associated with the case. Following the sentencing, Judge Paul W. Tressler ordered that he be escorted to a jail "so he could see what the facility looks like, should he ever violate the terms of supervision," Ferman said.
A call to Temple Emanu-El's rabbis, David Posner and Amy Erlich, was not immediately returned Tuesday, nor was a request for comment from Nevison's lawyer, Ralph Jacobs.
In April 2002, a group of the cantor's friends, including Temple members and a former administrator of the congregation, started a legal defense fund for Nevison, mailing a letter to more than 2,000 recipients. The synagogue has been criticized by experts on clergy abuse for keeping Nevison on the payroll after he informed temple officials of the charges against him.
In a statement after his arrest, Temple leaders said, "We considered and reviewed the matter with respect to the Cantor's relationship to the congregation and found nothing untoward."
___________________________________________________________________________________
How the child-abusing cantor avoided time in prison
An appeal that gutted the case and the victim's reluctance to press on were key, a judge says.By Keith Herbert
Philadelphia Inquirer - September 27, 2006
A Republican former prosecutor, Montgomery County Court Judge Paul W. Tressler doesn't have a reputation for being soft on criminals.
But in a high-profile case that concluded last week, Tressler gave probation, not jail, to a New York City cantor who pleaded to charges of sexually abusing his nephew for years.
The judge and the District Attorney's Office say the sentence was the culmination of an earlier appellate court ruling, which gutted the prosecutor's case, and the desire of the victim to end the legal ordeal, which had dragged on for years.
"I have no doubt that I followed the law, which is the job of the judge, and not to let emotion become part of the equation," Tressler said yesterday.
Tressler sentenced Cantor Howard Nevison to 12 years of probation but spared him a prison term. Nevison was charged with abusing his nephew during a four-year period in the 1990s at the boy's Main Line home. The assaults occurred when the child was between 3 and 7 years old.
In June, Nevison pleaded guilty to indecent assault, simple assault, terroristic threats, corruption of minors and endangering children. The charges are misdemeanors.
Yesterday, Tressler spoke about the Nevison case in his empty, fifth-floor courtroom.
When Nevison, 65, was in the same courtroom last week, it was packed with dozens of Nevison's supporters, including the elder rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, the Manhattan synagogue where Nevison was cantor.
A felony charge of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse had been dropped by prosecutors as part of a plea agreement with Nevison, Tressler said. Punishable by up to 20 years in prison, the most serious charge against Nevison was not before him at time of sentencing, the judge said.
An earlier appeals court ruling had prevented prosecutors from using the testimony of Nevison's two brothers, who alleged that Nevison molested them 40 years ago. Prosecutors had wanted to introduce the evidence from the brothers to show "a common scheme" by Nevison to molest family members.
Tressler agreed with prosecutors that the brothers' testimony should have been allowed as prosecution evidence, but was overruled by the higher court.
"There was a pivotal ruling in the case that made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the D.A. to prosecute the felony," Tressler said.
While First Assistant District Attorney Risa V. Ferman acknowledged this week that the Superior Court ruling weakened the prosecution's case, her office was prepared to go to trial.
But then the victim in the case, Nevison's nephew, now 17, wanted to end the case, which meant no more testifying in open court about what his uncle did to him, Ferman said.
"I know it's something the District Attorney thought about for a long time and was not completely comfortable with," Ferman said. The plea agreement "didn't give a child molester a pass, but it allows the 17-year-old man to get on with his life."
Nevison entered an Alford plea, in which defendants do not admit to the prosecution's allegations but acknowledge the likelihood of a conviction at trial.
Tressler's sentence of probation was in the low end of the state's sentencing guidelines, which give judges ranges of penalties depending on a defendant's prior record and gravity of the offense. The standard-range sentence could have included up to six months in jail.
But Tressler said he was reluctant to give Nevison jail because the cantor is 65, suffers from diabetes, and had a "spotless" record. Also, Tressler said, psychiatrists for both the defense and prosecution found that Nevison was not a pedophile.
"I think the D.A.'s office prosecuted the case as well as it could in light of the appellate ruling," Tressler said.
Victims in child sexual abuse cases are often reluctant to testify in open court, with an abuser sitting only a few feet away, said Chris Kirchner, executive director of Children's Alliance of Philadelphia, an advocacy group dedicated to improving child-abuse investigations.
"We put a heavy, heavy burden on children when it comes to allegations of sexual abuse," Kirchner said. "I understand the criminal justice system, but I think as a society we minimize the effects of sexual abuse and it shows up in our courts."
No one wants to talk about sexual abuse of children, and because of that, "We're not outraged," Kirchner said.
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Howard Nevison - Linkedin
Linkedin - December 9, 2012
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