Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Case of Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz - Should the author of this article be a rabbi?

ohr somayach learning and torah
Should the author of this article be a rabbi?
© (2007) The Awareness Center, Inc.
(Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault)


Dr.
Alan Horowitz became a rabbi after he became a convicted sex offender. As part of child psychitrist, Alan Horowitz's rehabilitation and while on probation -- Horowitz was court ordered to attended classes at Ohr Somayach Yeshiva in Monsey, NY. It is not known at this time if Horowitz received his rabbinic ordination while in Monsey (1983-1985) or after he fled the United States in violation of his parole and made aliyah to Israel.

If you have any information relating to Rabbi Horowitz's rabbinic ordination please contact The Awareness Center at: 443-857-5560.

During Alan Horowitz's reign of terror (against children) he wrote the following article for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association). The article is being provided by T
he Awareness Center in hopes that rabbis around the world will see the importance of finding a way to revoke Alan J. Horowitz's rabbinic ordination.

The Awareness Center is also asking that all rabbinical organization publicly denounce Rabbi Alan Horowitz's criminal behavior.

Please read and respond to the call for action posted after the NAMBLA article!
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WARNING: This article was published in NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association). It is quite disturbing, yet offers the public an opportunity to look inside the mind of a convicted sex offender.




T
he Prison Experience: Some Psychosocial Comments
By A. Shneur Horowitz (AKA: Dr. Rabbi Alan Horowitz)

After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard College, A. Shneur Horowitz received the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Duke University, and is an orthodox rabbi. After twenty years of following these professional interests, Horowitz is now a political prisoner in the United States.

Did you ever have a dream where everything seemed quite logical, and yet even at the time a part of your mind knew that when you awoke, the sense would be completely lost? Not only would you be unable to make a reasonable recounting to anyone else, but even to yourself the dream-events would appear disconnected and the logic bizarre. Talking about prison to those who have not been there, and for whom incarceration is not part of their culture, is very much like that. Both dreaming and imprisonment are alternate realities in which the usual checks and controls have been removed and replaced with other rules for which our normal experiences have left us unprepared.

This severe culture shock applies to all prisoners who have lived their lives in the middle class or mainstream society. We child-lovers, however, suffer a more profound and pervasive psychosocial disintegration because of circumstances relatively specific to us. Personal accounts serve an important purpose, helping those who are not here to appreciate our experiences. However, I would like to use this space to comment on just what it is that makes incarceration different, and worse, for child-lovers than for virtually anyone else. The first section discusses the psychosocial impact of imprisonment with reference to child-lovers. The second deals with special factors which impede our adjustment to incarceration. The third section introduces ideas relating to the possibilities for growth and positive outcome.

It should be noted that much of the material in this article is not relevant to all persons jailed for participating in intergenerational sex. Four exclusionary criteria are evident:
1. short sentence - "Short" is subjective, but many individuals with sentences of five years or less engage in what I call a "count-down" technique. They handle their imprisonment by maintaining and emphasizing a psychological continuity between a remembered Before and an anticipated After. The incarceration can then be endured as an unpleasant interim/interruption/interregnum within an ongoing life.

2. strong outside support - Those who have frequent visits, telephone calls, and exchange of letters with family and continuing friends who encourage and support them may be spared the crises described here. Their psychic reality remains Outside, even over a long period of time, and their personal identity is stabilized and reinforced.

3. prior economic/social poverty - For some, prison represents only slight decrement, or even actual improvement in living conditions and/or social opportunities. For such persons, the culture shock mentioned above is minimal or absent.

4. low intelligence - Some of the processes discussed below entail ability to introspect and conceptualize that may be poorly elaborated in persons of very low intelligence.
Being Imprisoned
How we perceive and react to imprisonment derives from our previous self-image and lifestyle. For almost all of us, being "outted" is a concomitant of our arrest and prosecution. This in itself precipitates a personal crisis of the greatest magnitude. We must face, perhaps for the first time, our identity as pedophiles. It may seem strange to say that a person who has lived many years as an active lover of children can suddenly realize that he is a pedophile, and I don't mean that he has been exactly lying to himself up to now. Nevertheless, there is a strong tendency to wall off or encapsulate the child-lover part of our identity, except when we actually are engaged with children. After all, it sadly cannot quite be integrated into a typical home or professional life in this society. This type of ignoring, or "selective inattention" is a common means of handling perceptions, about ourselves or others, that don't fit into overall conceptions of who and what we are. It is so much easier to think of oneself as "teacher," "carpenter," or "executive," than to label oneself with the most hated characterization in the culture. Parenthetically, I think this may contribute to why we are now being "caught" in such prodigious numbers. Because we have assigned "child-lover" a subsidiary place in our own self-image, compared with "husband," "coach," "doctor," and so on, we assume unconsciously that others view us the same way. Actually, our loving manner and ability to bond with children is as obvious to our enemies, when they choose to attune themselves, as it is to the kids themselves.(1) Being a lover of children is the defining characteristic of our identities, whatever we previously may have thought. It is a beacon which shines from us, for better or for worse, and by which the responses of others to us are illuminated.(2) What has changed in recent years is the motivation of our enemies to tune in to us, and the threshold for their turning suspicion into persecutory behavior.

If the positive part of our internal crisis is confronting and integrating our child-lover identity, then the negative side is facing the realization that we have "lived a lie" for all or most of our adult lives. We built a house of cards right there on Main Street, and then moved in lock, stock, and barrel, papering the inside walls with hypocrisy and the outside with deceptions. We did this so we could live in comfort and ease, so we could "pass," so we could eat our cake and have it too. We did not hold sit-ins or vigils or freedom rides. We did not engage in letter-writing campaigns or in civil disobedience. We attended PTA meetings where our brothers and sisters were vilified, and perhaps even made "appropriate" comments to our neighbors about the danger of "child molesters." We lied to our parents and spouses. We were cowards.

So what goes on internally is a major re-alignment, in today's terms re-formatting, of our whole personality structure. This includes not only re-arrangement of our hierarchy of self-definitions, but also acceptance of some stark and not very favorable truths about our character. This tidal wave of realizations is even more devastating than that during puberty, because the identity crisis of adolescence brings with it the unveiling of seemingly unlimited potentials and possibilities for the future, whereas the identity crisis of outing implies the closing off of possibilities and a confrontation with what we already are.

A third aspect of imprisonment is its interpersonal/social impact. The concurrence of incarceration and outing often triggers abrupt and total disappearance of our support system. Well socialized, middle class individuals build strong social linkages, and depend on them not only for self-validation, but for the communication and clarification of emotions. Nowadays, even males are adapted to "sharing feelings" rather than suppressing or denying them. While there are exceptions, it is not at all unusual for a child-lover to lose all of his significant relationships simultaneously when he is outted and arrested. Of course, for us, our most significant and invigorating relationships are those we have with children, be they overtly intimate or not. These are annihilated, with traumatic and tragic consequences both for us and for our young friends. We confront the knowledge that not only have our tenderest bonds been torn cruelly asunder, but that, using modern psycho-technology, even our partners' memories of us will likely be revised, perverted, and turned into their opposites. This loss not only of the present and future, but of the past as well, defies description. Furthermore, we find that families of orientation and of procreation, colleagues, confidants and lifelong friends either turn on us, or turn from us. We have become non-persons, anathema. Distinct from other middle class prisoners, who often are sustained by their successful social networks, we, in our time of greatest need, find ourselves utterly alone.

A flowing river can appear quite serene, but if all its effluent channels were blocked at once, the weight and force of water turned back from its natural outlets would convert it quickly to a churning maelstrom. Thus it is with our psychological energy when all our relationships are suddenly cut off-- a cataclysmic emotional implosion, flooding back against the damaged bulwarks of our much-weakened selves. The effect is overwhelming, and depression is very severe at this time; the risk of suicide is proportionately great.(3) Depression and identity dissolution combine to make us vulnerable also to the manipulations of prosecutors, unscrupulous "defense" lawyers,(4) and soon-to-be ex-spouses, among others. It is well known that mid-adolescents, whose identities are in flux, are susceptible to the lure of demagoguery and fanaticism. Likewise, after outing and prosecution, many of us leap into the clutches of therapists and re-programmers, who offer a shred of substitute identity, even be it that of "interminably recovering pervert."

Being In Prison
Having passed through the transition to incarceration, there continue to operate factors which make our physical and emotional survival particularly difficult in our new status and environment. The most widely known of these is that we are social pariahs within the prison population. A child-lover is known politely as a "molester," but more frequently and pointedly as a "baby raper," or "tree jumper."(5) In an environment where violence is never far from the surface, this appellation hangs like Damocles' sword over the child-lover's head. Chronic anxiety interferes with concentration and judgment, and probably contributes to physical stress-related disorders over the long run. Because of the danger, most "brothers" whose identity as child-lovers is not generally known, go to great lengths to avoid being "re-outted" within the prison population. While one hardly can blame them for wanting to protect themselves, this results in there never being a mutually supportive network Inside to substitute even partially for the lost relationships Outside. While some states have special facilities, units, or "treatment" programs, most of these are generally for "sex offenders." Ironically, there child-lovers, more often than not the gentlest of souls, find themselves sequestered with brutal rapists and sex-murderers, who may be even more dangerous to them than run-of-the-mill prison inmates.

A second factor, less immediately apparent, is that we are the only prisoners not to utilize two of the three primary mediators of group formation within the prison social system, viz. sexual orientation and type of conviction. (The third is ethnicity, and we frequently will be in a small minority there too, or be excluded on the basis of middle class traits of speech, manners, etc.) Talking about sex, real or imagined, is an immediate common ground for both heterosexuals and homosexuals everywhere. In prison, where many individuals' social development is that of delinquent early adolescents, it forms the stock-in-trade of most conversation. Both ambivalence and fear contribute to child-lovers being unable or unwilling to seek each other out on the basis of our common orientation. Aside from sexuality, there often is affiliation among those with similar reasons for their incarceration, e.g. drug dealers, murderers, or those involved in organized crime. For us, of course, our "crime" and our sexual orientation are one and the same.

Faced with the absence of our own group, many of us choose to lie, i.e. to create an ersatz sexual or criminal history. Not only does this run the risk of violent or even fatal consequences if discovered, but it also feeds into and exacerbates the "living a lie" problem discussed earlier. The other choice readily available is to remain a permanent loner. Loners are not all that uncommon in prison, and generally fall into two categories. There are those with fairly short sentences who are putting up with incarceration while remaining basically aloof and as untarnished by it as possible. We seldom fall into that category, and do so less and less as sentences for child-lovers become increasingly outrageous. Then there are those individuals whose self-imposed isolation causes them to drift ever further into idiosyncratic and impoverished mental states. Appearing far older than their years, they resemble patients with chronic schizophrenia or organic brain syndromes. This is not an attractive prospect.

Aggravating our sense of isolation is the fact that we are the only prisoners denied access to what might be called "non-interpersonal" reinforcers of our identity. Inmates have the opportunity to view television, individually or communally, and most facilities show movies weekly or more often. Heterosexual bonded relationships are displayed frequently, and homosexual ones occasionally. Murder, assault, fraud, drug use and sale, theft, espionage, exploitative sex and rape all are common entertainment fare. Moreover, the perpetrators of these crimes often are portrayed in a sympathetic if not approving manner. There is ample opportunity to watch men or women scantily dressed and in erotic situations. Also, on prison staffs, both male and female adults are present "in the flesh" and have at least superficial real relationships with prisoners, as well as supplying a framework for their fantasies. Over and above this, one may obtain books and magazines dealing with crime and/or with sexual behavior. In many places, one may post even erotically stimulating nude pictures on the walls of one's cell or cubicle. All of that applies to everyone except us. All forms of visual or literary art dealing with adult-child intimacy either are unavailable or are specifically and systematically censored. Even depictions of children which are neither erotic nor intimate could be risky to display or even to possess. Thus, the child-lover, now in a state where he should, and must, develop a newly honest, mature, and profound self-concept, finds himself totally lacking in "props," cues, test-objects, and feedback to use as tools in this monumental task.

A fourth, and perhaps ultimately the most important factor that militates against both our adjustment in prison and our making positive use of our prison time, is that we are unacknowledged political prisoners. Our enemies assert that because physical expressions of love between an adult and a child are defined as illegal, we are criminals. Further, they would rebut that political prisoners are only those incarcerated for speech and writing, not for behavior. Historically, both of these arguments are incorrect. One hundred fifty years ago, an African-American who fled the site of his involuntary servitude was defined by law as a criminal. We, however, view his behavior, correctly I believe, as a political act. Eighteen hundred years earlier, a Judean who circumcised his son was defined by Roman law as having committed an act of bloody child abuse. We, however, term his act religious and political (whether or not we agree with the practice). I aver that a political prisoner is one who is incarcerated for an act which he, in good conscience, believes to be right and good. Moreover, his belief is not idiosyncratic, but is shared by a number of other persons who consider themselves united in part by this belief. This still is short of civil disobedience, as that would require conscious political intent. Most political prisoners, here and elsewhere, are those whose "crime" is no more than living their lives as persons of conscience, according to their best judgment of what is right and good, and without necessarily intending their behavior as a political statement or even considering themselves as politically "involved."(6)

Political prisoners differ fundamentally from other prisoners in being, not only well-socialized, but in fact extraordinarily ethical. At the very least, this is because as members of a persecuted political minority, they have been forced to consider matters of right and wrong more consciously than the average citizen. Such persons tend intrinsically to be rule-followers because, although they think certain rules should be different, they believe in the concept of rules, i.e. that there are aspects of right and wrong, good and bad, which override one's personal desires. Contrariwise, the great majority of prisoners at the penitentiary level, are "antisocial," or "sociopathic." Studies indicate that as many as 80-90% of inmates are intrinsic rule-breakers and lack either an ethic that transcends their own needs and impulses, or the ability to modify their behavior in conformity with such an ethic. The child-lover placed in such a milieu faces a dilemma: to be honest and forthright and persistently exploited, or to compromise his own values in order to make his way in prison.(7)

In some societies, political prisoners have been segregated from criminals, and this ofttimes meant that they received harsher treatment. However, two advantages that almost always accrued are solidarity and support. Even where they were termed criminals, and even where they were confined along with criminals, they were acknowledged as political, both inside and outside of the prison system. Although their handling might be severe, they were accorded a certain respect as being prisoners of conscience. Further, they had automatic alliance with their fellows in the penal system, and received support from unimprisoned members of their group or movement, even when such communication was officially interdicted. Thus, while not minimizing their suffering, their basic identities, both personal and political, were not weakened. In fact there could be a buttressing and encouraging sense of furthering The Cause by one's very presence in prison. Recent examples could be drawn from among incarcerated dissidents in South Africa, the former Soviet Union, and at this very moment in China.

As imprisoned child-lovers, we experience the worst of both worlds. North American and some other governments go to great lengths to define the love of children as a serious felony. In doing so, they have created and financed the development of an entire pseudo-science, "victimology," which has co-opted and corrupted the mental health professions to a degree unimaginable twenty-five years ago.(8) Once arrested, we, like political prisoners everywhere, are subjected to a travesty of the criminal justice system. Usual guarantees are explicitly or implicitly suspended, e.g. the right to confront one's accuser, the inadmissibility of hearsay evidence, and the presumption of innocence. As mentioned elsewhere, the "defense" counsel often supports and surreptitiously cooperates with the State to produce a "show-trial," the outcome of which is indisputably pre-determined.

Once incarcerated, the child-lover is told that he is "just like any other inmate," and that "no one cares why you're here." As far as not receiving special privileges, or any attention to the special needs engendered by total lack of experience with a criminal sub-culture, that is true indeed. However, one may soon find that in order to gain parole, one must complete a "treatment" program, and be certified as being "in recovery," as I have discussed elsewhere.(9) This sounds quite a bit like the "political re-education" programs of other oppressive societies. Then, one finds that access to writings, even scholarly literature, on the subject of intergenerational love, is forbidden; this in an environment saturated with stories of murder and mayhem, and where racist publications advocating hatred and violence are freely available. One may find that requests for inmate-to-inmate correspondence are routinely denied-- only when both parties are child-lovers.

So it seems that while labeled as felons, child-lovers are in fact treated in very significant ways as political prisoners. That in itself is not unique. It is characteristic of regimes dependent upon fanatical elements to criminalize the essential behaviors or rituals of groups whose philosophy and lifestyle are perceived as potentially subversive to the existing order.(10) What is different here is that child-lovers themselves appear to accept and internalize the cultural opprobrium, at least to the extent of deep ambivalence, and frequently to the extent of denial and self-hatred. No unbiased test can demonstrate intergenerational love to be anything worse than politically incorrect, and yet the widespread emotional reaction to it is as though it really were the violent crime it arbitrarily is labeled. In an horrific extension of this phenomenon, child-lovers, who are in the best position to know the reality of adult-child bonded relationships, begin to view themselves through the eyes of the professional "victimologists."(11) This ambivalence also explains the failure of unimprisoned child-lovers to form an effective support network for their incarcerated brethren and "sistren." The analogy comes to mind of a boy, perhaps a generation or two past, whose brother gets caught masturbating. He wants to say, "Leave him alone, there's nothing wrong with it-- even scientists say so!" However, he says nothing, not only because he fears that he will be found out himself, but also because there lurks still at the back of his mind the nagging thought that maybe it really is dirty and nasty and makes you go blind.(12) Surely, "un-outted" members of other movements for social reform also have feared for their own security and safety. However, they always found means to help imprisoned colleagues locate each other; if necessary to smuggle food, literature and encouragement to them; and to re-integrate them upon release, or arrange for them to continue their work in exile.

Being
The abrupt collapse of one's personal psychological identity, all or most of one's interpersonal relationships, and all of one's social and cultural roles, precipitates a state of inner chaos that some will not survive. It is akin to traumatic amputation of all four limbs; the bleeding and shock will be fatal to many. Beyond the acute phase, however, living or dying becomes a process in which we may participate. We are confronted, for the first time in most cases, with having only ourselves for company. What kind of companions do we make for ourselves? To what extent can we take over the complementary functions which others, particularly children, have performed for us? How well do we know ourselves? The substitution will always be poor and incomplete. You can't tickle yourself. You can't be your own sex partner. However, that is not really the point. The question is whether or not we can provide ourselves with the bare minimum requisites for making the decision to live and remain sane.

Possibly the most important task in working through our relationship with our self is resolving the negative aspects of our self-image. First, we must understand and eliminate traces of self-hatred caused by identification with the culture's rejection of us. This already has been discussed. Second is coming to terms with negative events in our own psychosexual history. Many if not most people have sexual fantasies and experiences, especially during adolescence and young adulthood, which they later regret. That is normal. All adolescents are dealing with greatly heightened sexual and aggressive drives, and doing so with the handicaps of neuropsychological immaturity and social inexperience. It is no wonder that they often blunder, injuring their own feelings, and sometimes bodies, and those of their partners. Most people eventually forgive themselves their youthful mistakes, or just forget about them. For child-lovers, however, the part of us that is prone to accept society's labels can seize on these shameful memories to "prove" that we really are despicable. Instead of self-acceptance, we wind up with self-loathing. Now that all outward channels are closed, can we focus the tremendous love and compassion we have poured into others on ourselves? Can we regard our past and present selves with the lavish forbearance and instant forgiveness we once bestowed upon the children we cared for? Can we come to see the essential goodness of our nature, and the essential falsehood of our enemies' calumnies? If so, then we will accept ourselves as less than perfect. We will be able finally to integrate and move beyond the memories of those times when, for whatever reasons, we hurt the ones we loved.

If one gets to this point, one has survived the catastrophic centripetal reversal of energy flow, i.e. one has avoided psychic meltdown. The quadruple amputee who has not died from shock can now begin to figure out how it might be possible to control a computer, or a paintbrush. For us, part of our energy should continue to go into self-exploration and development. Many of us are so "other-oriented," such great givers, that we have not sufficiently come to know ourselves. Working toward knowledge of ourselves and our place in the universe, through religion, meditation, or other means, is a lifelong task. Planning for the future after release also can play a role in the process of renewal. However, we must guard against excessive preoccupation with fantasy, and there is a tragically large number of us who cannot count on release in this lifetime. Substantial progress in personal development may be necessary before one can achieve sufficient equanimity to emerge from the contracted or imploded state mentioned earlier.

Concomitant with increased self-acceptance, there develops a desire to re-establish communication with others. One basic fulfillment of this is through correspondence and visitation. Some individuals may be able to re-contact family members or friends. With the passage of time, and finding the prisoner "sadder but wiser," one or more of these may choose to renew their support. Other prisoners may find new associations through their religious or philosophical alignments. However, there is no doubt that the most important contacts for the incarcerated child-lover are with others of his orientation. Only these can provide opportunities not only for relating with our evolving self, but for corroboration and validation of our most essential identity. This of course requires that there be numbers of child-lovers outside of prison who also are working on development of their own positive identities and resolution of their own ambivalences.

Another mode of communication is through creative expression. For some, it may take considerable effort and re-training to direct the love energy we previously have expressed in our thoughts, words and actions directly with children, into "media." Words that we write, images that we paint or carve, cannot become real children, but they can provide us with an outlet for our caring and passion, as well as our yearning and grief. Creative media include fiction and non-fiction such as this article (I hope).

This leads to a third means of establishing relationship between the revised self and the outside world, viz. working for The Cause. Engagement in such work requires further solidification of a positive personal identity and also firm commitment to the role of political prisoner. Can we resist all systematic attempts to brainwash us and break our spirits? Can we, in the absence of internal network or external support, come to view ourselves as members of a persecuted minority? Well, we can, but as the old song says, "Don'cha know it ain' easy." Our success, and indeed our survival, depends not only upon our own work, but also upon parallel maturational work, both individually and organizationally, of child-lovers on the Outside.

Impediments to survival of outting and incarceration alive and sane are daunting. Subsequently, obstacles to continued personal growth and re-emergence as productive human beings are formidable. As in any popularly sanctioned and governmentally executed genocide, there will be countless direct and indirect casualties. History will not ask us why we died, but it will ask us why we died cowering. It will not question why our enemies did not help us, but it will demand to know why we did not help each other.

Notes:
1. Recently, I showed a friend a photograph of myself and a twelve-year-old boy with whom I was bonded years ago. We are standing side by side with my arm around his shoulder, in what I would consider a typical adult-child pose. My friend took one look at the picture and said, "You were lovers." To my surprise, he pointed out that there was absolutely no space between us. The boy had molded his body so that he was in continuous contact with me from his ankle to where his shoulder fit into my armpit.

2. This is true in the same manner that being Jewish was the defining characteristic of European Jews during the Nazi reign, whether or not they themselves previously had thought about it that way.

3. One can see here clearly the confluence of various models of suicide, including Durkheim's original anomie, the psychodynamic rage turned against the self, and the cognitive psychologists' helplessness/hopelessness paradigm.

4. I have heard so many accounts, besides my own, of defense attorneys cooperating, either actively or passively, with the prosecution, that I must conclude there is some truth to them beyond "sour grapes." The hatred of child-lovers in this culture is so deeply ingrained, and so irrational, that it operates substantially at a subconscious level, and biases the actions even of professionals who have trained themselves ordinarily to separate their personal feelings from their work.

5. I'm not really sure of the origin of this term, but assume it is some obscure reference to hiding in trees or bushes and then jumping out to attack hapless children.

6. I know that I have defined at least some Nazis and other war criminals as "political prisoners." Fortunately, I am not the first to have done so. Although their politics may be abhorrent to me, I believe that if they acted subjectively in good conscience and their values were shared by their group, then the definition must stand.

7. The "sociopathic society" of prison includes both staff and inmates and is beyond the scope of this article. I ask the reader to "take my word for it" that any adjustment to prison life demands at least some degree of lying, stealing, and other behaviors which on the Outside we would reject as unethical.

8. The author is classified as a violent felon, and so housed and treated, because the law defines sexual contact with a child less than eleven as a violent crime. The irony is profound. The child in question once had to go find his brother to help him remove a bothersome loose tooth because the author couldn't bear to cause him even momentary pain.

9. [Horowitz, A.] Shneur. "And If The Twig Be Broken...," in Gayme, Vol. 1 No. 2 (January 1994), pp. 20-28.

10. The question of why pedophilia is perceived as subversive in contemporary "Western" societies is beyond the scope of this article. Let it be said that this culture is both child-hating and erotophobic. Consequently those who love children receive the proverbial double whammy.

11. Psychologically, this is the mechanism of identification with the aggressor described in classic works by Anna Freud and Bruno Bettelheim.

12. The reasons for Americans being especially susceptible to this kind of pernicious double-think are beyond the scope of this article. Briefly, however, I believe they stem significantly from early and persistent conditioning by the mass media to place conventional, externally imposed labels on experiences, overruling individual instincts, perceptions, and judgments.
This article appears in NAMBLA's Criminal Justice, whose editor estimates there are 25,000 to 30,000 boy-lovers caught up in the American criminal justice system. Criminal Justice? contains other writings by prisoners about their prison experiences, another article by A. Shneur Horowitz about the growing numbers of adolescent boys imprisoned for loving other boys (many housed in a special unit of the New York State prison system), an article from the NAMBLA Bulletin about the Crime Bill of 1994, and a short story by Russell Kinkade.

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CALL TO ACTION:
"Defrock" Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz - Convicted Sex Offender


The Awareness Center, Inc. is demanding that the Orthodox Union (OU), the Rabbinic Council of America (RCA) and Agudath Israel of America make a public statements denouncing the actions and behavior of Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz. By not doing so is condoning this serial child molesters criminal behavior.

The Awareness Center, Inc. is also demanding that rabbis around the world find a way to remove Alan Horowitz's rabbinical ordination and that of other known sexual predators (who are ordained rabbis).

After Rabbi Alan Horowitz's 1983 conviction for child molestation he was placed on probation. Arrangements were made for him to live on the Ohr Somayach campus in Monsey, NY. Ohr Somayach is a Yeshiva serving young male students. Horowitz was treated by Dr. Joseph F. Chambers MD (Maryland) and Dr. Yitzhak Twersky (Monsey, NY).

At this time we are unaware where Rabbi Horowitz received his rabbinic ordination, yet it is known that it was from an orthodox source. The only way to revoke an ordination is for the rabbi who granted the title to revoke it. In some circles they see ordination as a degree that can never be taken away. According to Jewish tradition once an individual becomes a rabbi, halachicly he/she can ordain another individual.

In the past both the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America), Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America have stated that there is nothing they could do regarding Rabbi Horowitz since was he not a member of their organization.

Rabbi Horowitz is a convicted sex offender. Be aware that it takes a village to raise a sex offender and to enable them to continue molesting children or raping adults. Rabbi Horowitz is everyone's responsibility, including all rabbinical organizations, rabbis and Jewish communities.

It is time for all of us to stop passing the buck. Do the right thing, publicly denounce this man and remove his rabbinic ordination!

Contact Information:
Rabbinical Council of America (RCA)
Rabbi Marc Dratch - Chairman of the RCA's Task Force on Rabbinic Improprieties
Phone: 203-858-9691
info@jsafe.org

Rabbi Basil Herring, Executive Vice President
Phone: 212-807-7888 x 5
bherring@rabbis.org
_____________________________
Orthodox Union
Rabbi Hershy (Tzvi) Weinreb
execthw@ou.org
_____________________________
Agudath Israel of America
Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, Executive Vice President
Rabbi Avi Shafran,
(212) 797-9000
shafran@agudathisrael.org
_____________________________

Background Information

© (2007) The Awareness Center, Inc.

Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz, MD, is a convicted sex offender who is also an ordained Orthodox rabbi. As a psychiatrist, Horowitz specialized in working with adolescents. His resume also includes volunteering time as a Boy Scout leader and being a writer for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) publications. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University; and received his Ph.D. and medical degree from Duke University.

Alan Horowitz was married with one child of his own and seven stepchildren.

In the past Horowitz was licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina and Maryland. He never obtained a license to practice in the state of New York.

Horowitz was an assistant professor of child dismissed from the UI in 1978, a university official told The Daily Gazette newspaper of Schenectady in a 1992 story, because he was not productive in research.

Alan Horowitz was first convicted back in 1983 in Maryland of performing an unnatural sexual act on the 12-year-old boy who was his patient and his eight year-old little brother. At the time Horowitz was sentenced to five-year probation.

The probation agreement included allowing Alan Horowitz to move to New York so that he could live study Torah at Ohr Somayach, Monsey, NY. He was court ordered to live on campus. Ohr Somayach is a Yeshiva serving young male students.

Dr. Horowitz was also court ordered to be in counseling under the care of Dr. Joseph F. Chambers (Maryland) and Dr. Issac Twersky (Monsey, NY). As like many others who thirst in learning Torah, Alan Horowitz ultimately ending up studying abroad in Israel.

Alan Horowitz twice violated his probation from the sentencing in 1983. There is no documentation of how he violated it the first time, yet the second time was in November 1985, was when he made aliyah and moved to Israel. He returned to the United States in November, 1990 when he learned new charges were being investigated relating to him allegedly molesting children in the West Bank (Israel).

Past newspaper accounts stated Rabbi Alan Horowitz picked Schenectady in hopes of securing a rabbinical appointment. Apparently each time Horowitz moved he changed his name, using the alias Shneor Altar in Israel, Alan Horowitz in New York and Mike Sonkin in Iowa.

Not much time pasted for there to be new allegations made of child sexual abuse. In 1991, allegations were made that Horowitz molested three boys under the age of fourteen and a 14-year-old girl in Eastern Parkway and Niskayuna, New York. It was around this time that authorities in New York contacted Interpol and learned that the investigation in the West Bank (Israel) was still being investigated.

Upon Horowitz learning that new charges in the US were being made against him, he attempted to elude the authorities by moving. This time to Woodward, Iowa. Once located he was extradited back to New York.

During the new police investigation, the New York officials found a trail of sexual abuse of patients dating back to the late 1960s when Horowitz worked for a community organization that helped impoverished, inner-city children.

On August 27, 1991, Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz, MD was charged in the Supreme Court in the state of New York on 34 counts of sodomy in the 1st degree. He was also charged with two counts of Sodomy in the 2nd degree, one count of sexual abuse in the 3rd degree, and 4 counts of endangering the welfare of a child. During these court procedures a North Carolina man showed up during the court proceedings claiming he was sexually abused by Horowitz as a child. It is also mentioned that Horowitz molested children in the state of Arizona, yet no more information about those allegations is known.

On June 29, 1992 , Rabbi Alan Jay Horowitz, MD pled guilty to one count of 1st degree sodomy.

In a county Probation Department report Horowitz admitted that he was a pedophile, but a "normal pedophile," which Horowitz defined as someone who has consensual sex with children.

During August, 1992, Alan Horowitz made the news one more time. This time was regarding a complaint that the county jail diet did not provide for his religious needs. He asked a state Supreme Court judge to direct the sheriff to provide more kosher food.

There were many attempts to stop Rabbi Horowitz being released on conditional parole on November 1, 2004 (Oneida Prison, NY), yet these attempts failed. At the time of his release he was Designation: Sexually Violent Offender and Predicate Sex Offender level three sex offender). Horowitz served a little more than 13 years before New York officials said they were forced to release him after he served two-thirds of his maximum sentence.His parole was to last until 2011.

In 2006, Horowitz illegally left the United States violating his probation. At first it was believed he was in Israel, yet instead flew to Japan and on to Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India -- leaving a trail of newly sexually victimized children along the way.

In India he used his title of "rabbi" in his attempt to give himself credibility This is one of the reasons why The Awareness Center implemented it's "CALL TO ACTION" to have his rabbinic ordination revoked.

On May 22, 2007, Rabbi Alan Horowitz was caught in India. Horowitz was in violation of his parole since June, 2006. He will be extradited back to the US soon.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Sexual Abuse and Parental Alienation Syndrom in Israel

For those of you who know Hebrew, please read this page. If anyone has time to translate please send the translation to: The Awareness Center:

Dear Hatikvah friends,
For those of you interested in learning more about the Israeli authorities sometimes deal with sexual abuse, Parental Alienation Syndrome etceteras, which the following program, Uvda, which has broadcasted on Israel TV last week.

Let me warn you - the report is shocking
click here: http://www.keshet-tv.com/UvdaVideoPage.aspx?MediaID=17111

Sunday, May 27, 2007

To the Jewish Community of Baltimore - Love, Rav Moshe Heinemann

http://www.brianarens.com/blog/pics/454px-Golda_Meir,_bw_photo_portrait,_head_and_shoulders,_facing_right,_March_1,_1973.jpg

The day that rabbi Moshe Heinemann cares more about the children in Baltimore then he does about his own image -- will be the day we have a chance of ending child sexual abuse in the Baltimore Jewish community! -- Jewish Survivor.

I was asked by a friend to verify if the following letter is authentic.


Did rabbi Heinemann really write this letter and post it in his shul (under glass) back on May 9th?

If the letter is authentic then it is another response to Phil Jacobs (Baltimore Jewish Times) series on Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro.
  1. Rabbi's Abuse Victims Suffer Years Later - April 13, 2007
  2. Rabbi Also Molested Girls - May 4, 2007
A friend joked with me and stated that if the letter is authentic, that Rabbi Heinemann must have written it as a publicity stunt.

I guess rav Heinemann isn't getting enough attention? So if you have the time give him a call. Let him know what you think of his letters!
Rabbi Moshe Heinemann:
Phone: 410-484-4110
Fax:
410-653-9294
Once again it appears that Rabbi Heinemann cares more about a dead alleged sexual predator then he does about the long term ramifications his criminal behavior had on hundreds of his survivors and their families.

Don't forget to help support the Jewish Times by purchasing at least one copy of their paper, also don't forget to make a donation to The Awareness Center. They can't function without your continued financial support!

FYI: I was told that the Hebrew in his letter translates to:
"The verse in Mishlei 26:11, which states, 'As a dog returns to its vomit, so does a fool return to his folly,' see Ibn Ezra there."
http://theawarenesscenter.org/HeinemannLetter_5-9-2007.jpg

Where in the World is Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov?


This convicted sex offender has been in violation of registration requirements since 03/21/2003.

WARNING: Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov, is in violation of sex offender registration requirements in California for past 2 years. If you know his whereabout please notify the California authorities at: (916) 227-4974.

Rabbi Yomtov taught Hebrew at Chedar Menachem School in Hollywood, CA where he molested three of his students. Yomtov plead guilty to sexual abuse and committing lewd acts against three boys (ages 8 - 10) back in 2002.

In addition to the jail time and probation, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer ordered that Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov not associate with minors or seek any jobs teaching minors.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

US Marshals Service on Rabbi Alan Horowitz

Don't forget about the CALL FOR ACTION on this case
USMS News Banner
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
May 25, 2007 Deputy U.S. Marshal Gary Mattison (518) 365-9690;
U.S. State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security
Kendal Smith (571) 345-3146;
U.S. Marshals Office of Public Affairs (202) 307-9065


Child Molester/Fugitive Rabbi Alan Horowitz
Is Second Major International Arrest for U.S. Marshals This Month

New York/Washington - When convicted child molester Rabbi Alan Horowitz was arrested on May 22, at a seaside resort in southern India, it concluded the most far-flung and exotic fugitive investigation ever conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service. Like former lawman Kenneth Freeman - who had fled to China to avoid charges of raping his young daughter and posting the scenes on the internet - Horowitz now sits in a foreign jail cell awaiting return to the U.S. to face justice.

Both men were tracked down by investigators at the U.S. Marshals Service and the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

Horowitz, an ordained Orthodox Rabbi and ivy league-educated child psychologist, was convicted of 34 counts of child molestation in Schenectady County, New York. He may have imported illegal materials into the prison where he was serving time – extending his sentence, and previously he had been convicted of “perverted sexual practices” in Maryland. During the 1980s, while living in Israel, police launched an investigation into charges that Horowitz was sexually abusing some of his second wife’s children. He fled back to the United States. Even earlier in his life, he faced a similar investigation while living in North Carolina.

Most recently, he fled New York state parole in 2006, but continued to use internet communications while hiding in India. “To locate him we used a network of tipsters and some of the most extensive electronic surveillance techniques we’ve ever employed,” said Deputy U.S. Marshal Gary Mattison (Northern District of New York). Mattison was the case Deputy assigned to work alongside New York authorities.

When it came time for the actual arrest, special agents of the State Department stepped in. “Diplomatic Security’s regional offices in India maintain an excellent working relationship with local law enforcement,” said Greg Starr, Director of State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service. “That type of close, worldwide capability gave us an unparalleled ability to help apprehend this fugitive.”

Horowitz was on the run from authorities for 11-months in a global manhunt. He was arrested by local police in Mahabalipuram, India. Authorities now are determining the most effective approach for returning him to law enforcement in the U.S. Last year, U.S. Marshals completed almost 500 fugitive extraditions and deportations. The federal charge against Horowitz, “unlawful flight to avoid prosecution,” was based on state parole violation warrants related to his 13-year imprisonment for sexual molestation of minors.

Earlier this month, the successful working relationship between U.S. Marshals, Diplomatic Security, and other federal agencies was credited with the arrest of Kenneth Freeman at a Hong Kong bus station. Freeman, one of the Marshals “15 Most Wanted Fugitives,” was accused of child pornography and rape. He was an avid competitive bodybuilder, computer expert, and former reserve sheriff’s deputy.

Information about other fugitives - such as accused murderer and child molester Daniel William Hiers, Jr. - may be obtained at www.usmarshals.gov. For more information about the international law enforcement work of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, please see www.state.gov/m/ds.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

CALL TO ACTION: "Defrocking" of Rabbi Alan Horowitz

Rabbi Alan Jay Horowitz
(AKA: Shneor Altar, Mike Sonkin, Alan Horowitz, Alan J. Horowitz, Shneur Horowitz, Elisha Horowitz, The NAMBLA Rabbi)

Rabbi Alan Horowitz
From: The Awareness Center, Inc.
(The Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault)

CALL TO ACTION:
Calling for the "Defrocking" of Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz - Convicted Sex Offender

The Awareness Center, Inc. is demanding that the Orthodox Union (OU), the Rabbinic Council of America (RCA) and Agudath Israel of America make a public statements denouncing the actions and behavior of Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz. By not doing so is condoning this serial child molesters criminal behavior.

The Awareness Center, Inc. is also demanding that rabbis around the world find a way to remove Alan Horowitz's rabbinical ordination and that of other known sexual predators (who are ordained rabbis).

After Rabbi Alan Horwitz's 1983 conviction for child molestation he was placed on probation. Arrangements were made for him to live on the Ohr Somayach campus in Monsey, NY. Ohr Somayach is a Yeshiva serving young male students. Horowitz was treated by Dr. Joseph F. Chambers MD (Maryland) and Dr. Yitzhak Twersky (Monsey, NY).

At this time we are unaware where Rabbi Horowitz received his rabbinic ordination, yet it is known that it was from an orthodox source. The only way to revoke an ordination is for the rabbi who granted the title to revoke it. In some circles they see ordination as a degree that can never be taken away. According to Jewish tradition once an individual becomes a rabbi, halachicly he/she can ordain another individual.

In the past both the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America), Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America have stated that there is nothing they could do regarding Rabbi Horowitz since was he not a member of their organization.

Rabbi Horowitz is a convicted sex offender. Be aware that it takes a village to raise a sex offender and to enable them to continue molesting children or raping adults. Rabbi Horowitz is everyone's responsibility, including all rabbinical organizations, rabbis and Jewish communities.

It is time for all of us to stop passing the buck. Do the right thing, publicly denounce this man and remove his rabbinic ordination!


Contact Information:
Rabbinical Council of America (RCA)
Rabbi Marc Dratch - Chairman of the RCA's Task Force on Rabbinic Improprieties
Phone: 203-858-9691
info@jsafe.org

Rabbi Basil Herring, Executive Vice President
Phone: 212-807-7888 x 5
bherring@rabbis.org
_____________________________

Orthodox Union
Rabbi Hershy (Tzvi) Weinreb
execthw@ou.org
_____________________________
Agudath Israel of America
Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, Executive Vice President
Rabbi Avi Shafran,
(212) 797-9000
shafran@agudathisrael.org

Photo of Rabbi Avi ShafranThe image “http://www.jsafe.org/images/photo_msdratch.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.The image “http://www.ou.org/oupr/2003/rherring.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.The image “http://www.613.org/cd3/wein-ab.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
Avi Shafran /Mark Dratch /Basil Herring/Hershy Weinreb
_____________________________
Updated Background Information on Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz
© (2007) The Awareness Center
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/horowitz_alan.html

Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz, MD, is a convicted sex offender who is also an ordained Orthodox rabbi. As a psychiatrist, Horowitz specialized in working with adolescents. His resume also includes volunteering time as a Boy Scout leader and being a writer for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) publications. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University; and received his Ph.D. and medical degree from Duke University.

Alan Horowitz was married with one child of his own and seven stepchildren.

In the past Horowitz was licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina and Maryland. He never obtained a license to practice in the state of New York.

Alan Horowitz was first convicted back in 1983 in Maryland of performing an unnatural sexual act on the 12-year-old boy who was his patient and his eight year-old little brother. At the time Horowitz was sentenced to five-year probation.

The probation agreement included allowing Alan Horowitz to move to New York so that he could live study Torah at Ohr Somayach, Monsey, NY. He was court ordered to live on campus. Ohr Somayach is a Yeshiva serving young male students.

Dr. Horowitz was also court ordered to be in counseling under the care of Dr. Joseph F. Chambers (Maryland) and Dr. Issac Twersky (Monsey, NY). As like many others who thirst in learning Torah, Alan Horowitz ultimately ending up studying abroad in Israel.

Alan Horowitz twice violated his probation from the sentencing in 1983. There is no documentation of how he violated it the first time, yet the second time was in November 1985, was when he made aliyah and moved to Israel. He returned to the United States in November, 1990 when he learned new charges were being investigated relating to him allegedly molesting children in the West Bank (Israel).

Past newspaper accounts stated Rabbi Alan Horowitz picked Schenectady in hopes of securing a rabbinical appointment. Apparently each time Horowitz moved he changed his name, using the alias Shneor Altar in Israel, Alan Horowitz in New York and Mike Sonkin in Iowa.

Not much time pasted for there to be new allegations made of child sexual abuse. In 1991, allegations were made that Horowitz molested three boys under the age of fourteen and a 14-year-old girl in Eastern Parkway and Niskayuna, New York. It was around this time that authorities in New York contacted Interpol and learned that the investigation in the West Bank (Israel) was still being investigated.

Upon Horowitz learning that new charges in the US were being made against him, he attempted to elude the authorities by moving. This time to Woodward, Iowa. Once located he was extradited back to New York.

During the new police investigation, the New York officials found a trail of sexual abuse of patients dating back to the late 1960s when Horowitz worked for a community organization that helped impoverished, inner-city children.

On August 27, 1991, Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz, MD was charged in the Supreme Court in the state of New York on 34 counts of sodomy in the 1st degree. He was also charged with two counts of Sodomy in the 2nd degree, one count of sexual abuse in the 3rd degree, and 4 counts of endangering the welfare of a child. During these court procedures a North Carolina man showed up during the court proceedings claiming he was sexually abused by Horowitz as a child. It is also mentioned that Horowitz molested children in the state of Arizona, yet no more information about those allegations is known.

On June 29, 1992 , Rabbi Alan Jay Horowitz, MD pled guilty to one count of 1st degree sodomy.

In a county Probation Department report Horowitz admitted that he was a pedophile, but a "normal pedophile," which Horowitz defined as someone who has consensual sex with children.

During August, 1992, Alan Horowitz made the news one more time. This time was regarding a complaint that the county jail diet did not provide for his religious needs. He asked a state Supreme Court judge to direct the sheriff to provide more kosher food.

There were many attempts to stop Rabbi Horowitz being released on conditional parole on November 1, 2004 (Oneida Prison, NY), yet these attempts failed. At the time of his release he was Designation: Sexually Violent Offender and Predicate Sex Offender level three sex offender).

In 2006, Horowitz illegally left the United States violating his probation. At first it was believed he was in Israel, yet instead flew to Japan and on to Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India -- leaving a trail of newly sexually victimized children along the way.

In India he used his title of "rabbi" in his attempt to give himself credibility This is one of the reasons why The Awareness Center implemented it's "CALL TO ACTION" to have his rabbinic ordination revoked.

On May 22, 2007, Rabbi Alan Horowitz was caught in India. Horowitz was in violation of his parole since June, 2006. He will be extradited back to the US soon.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

BREAKING NEWS: Rabbi Alan Horowitz (NAMBLA Rabbi) Has Been Captured

(AKA: Shneor Alter, Mike Sonkin, Shneur Horowitz, Alan J. Horowitz)

For many years Rabbi Alan Horowitz has been associated with a pedophile group called NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association). He is originally from Hagerstown, Maryland.

Former Rabbi Arrested
Fox News
May 22, 2007

A fugitive from Schenectady County has been captured overseas in Asia.

60 year old Alan Horowitz, a level three sex offender and parole jumper, was arrested earlier today in India after an 11 month manhunt.

Horowitz is a former Rabbi and Psychiatrist convicted of sexually abusing a number of children under the age of 17.

He was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison before he fled the country.

Horowitz will now be extradited back to America

**************************************************
Global manhunt ends child molester's flight
Alan Horowitz, 60, arrested in India after jumping parole last June

By Jordan Carleo-Evangelist
Times Union
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Alan Horowitz, the notorious child molester who boldly dispatched a good-bye letter of sorts to his parole officer last year after bolting abroad, has been arrested in India, authorities said.

The arrest -- made Tuesday in India at 3:48 p.m., which was early Tuesday here -- ends a remarkable 11-month global manhunt for a man authorities describe as a remorseless predator with a brilliant mind.

A tip e-mailed to the "America's Most Wanted" television program steered authorities toward
Horowitz -- one of New York's 100 most-wanted fugitives -- in Mahabalipuram, a city of about 12,000 on India's southeastern coast, parole officials said.

The U.S. Marshals Service, which joined the hunt for the Harvard-educated Level 3 sex offender in November, confirmed that
Horowitz, 60, a trained rabbi, had been taken into custody.

Citing the sensitivity of the process of having
Horowitz returned to the United States, the federal agency declined further comment.

Horowitz is being held on a U.S. warrant and is not accused of additional crimes in India, said Mark Johnson, a spokesman for the state Division of Parole.

Johnson said local authorities are examining
Horowitz' travel documents, which included U.S. and Israeli passports. It could be days or weeks, he said, before Horowitz is returned to the United States, where he would face at least a parole violation, if not more charges.

The former psychiatrist who specialized in adolescents has dual citizenship in the United States and Israel. But he had no permission to leave the country, parole officials have said.

Retired Schenectady Police Investigator Peter McGrath, who tracked Horowitz across the country while trying to build a case against him more than a decade ago, said Tuesday he never doubted authorities would eventually find the man, who he counts among the most cunning predators he ever encountered.

"I knew they would (get him). I know the guys working on the case, and I knew they would," a pleased McGrath said after he was told of
Horowitz' apprehension. "That's great."

In 1991,
Horowitz was charged in Schenectady with more than 35 counts of sexual abuse and sodomy against three boys and a girl, all younger than 17. He later pleaded guilty and served more than 13 years in prison before he was paroled in 2004 as a highest-level sex offender.

Horowitz' documented criminal past dates to at least 1982 in Maryland, where he received five years' probation for "perverted sex practices," according to parole officials. But McGrath has said he believes there were more victims elsewhere who never came forward.

Once he was paroled in New York,
Horowitz abided by the strict conditions of his release for about two years before apparently hopping a plane from New Jersey to Tokyo last June 8, just 24 hours after meeting with his parole officer, authorities have said.

Later that month,
Horowitz' parole officer received a letter from him postmarked in Israel saying he'd never return to the United States -- a clear-cut violation of his parole, which lasts until 2011.

bout the same time
Horowitz jumped parole, he informed another branch of state law enforcement -- the Division of Criminal Justice Services, which runs the sex offender registry -- that he was supposedly living in a Tel Aviv apartment complex. Whether he ever did, and where else he may have visited while on the run, was not clear Tuesday.

Jon Leiberman, a correspondent for "America's Most Wanted," which aired a segment on
Horowitz in February, said the tip that turned the case came early this month.

"Obviously he thought he could go to India and blend in," Leiberman said.

CAPTURED - Richard Steve Goldberg

Richard Goldberg
Feds Nail Another Top Tenner
America's Most Wanted
May 12, 2007

The fall of this top tenner began in mid-April 2007 when a friend of Richard "Steve" Goldberg's received a call from the fugitive himself. The friend instantly alerted the authorities, telling them that Goldberg was hiding out in Montreal. Unfortunately, that's all the information they had.

Then, on May 11th, an anonymous tipster in Montreal heard an interesting story from a friend. That friend worked as a non-profit counselor who had a very intriguing client. That client, who went by the name Terry Wayne Kearns, admitted that he was a fugitive from justice from the United States but said the charges against him were trumped up.

The counselor told the friend who went to the internet for more information. She logged on the the FBI's website and found who she thought Terry Wayne Kearns really was: Richard Goldberg. The tipster told the counselor of her findings and the next time the counselor met with Kearns, the question was posed: "Are you Richard Goldberg?" Kearns said he was.

A Multi-Jurisdictional Takedown

This tipster alerted the authorities who knew, based on earlier information, that this tip sounded strong. The FBI agent in Ottawa contacted Interpol Ottowa, as well as the Montreal Police SWAT team and the Canadian Border Services Agency to descend on Richard Goldberg. At 1 a.m. EST, authorities found Goldberg who readily admitted his true identity. Fingerprints later confirmed that they had, in fact, nabbed the FBI top tenner.

Richard Goldberg is now being held on a provisional warrant and US authorities are anxious to get him back to the states. But it could take several days. Goldberg had a hearing on May 14, 2007. The Canadian court system gives Goldberg seven days to make an appeal. However, there's no doubt he'll be heading back to the states eventually and the FBI says they'll travel to Canada to secure Goldberg in an effort to make sure his extradition goes as smoothly as possible.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Why did you leave Orthodoxy?

I am occasionally asked, usually by total strangers whom I've just met and my background is apparent, "Why did you leave Orthodoxy?" Since my catalyst for leaving Orthodoxy was being sexually abused by a rabbi, my response to this question up until now has been that this is something personal which I don't want to discuss.

On Friday night, I was at a Shabbat dinner, where I met a young man in the process of converting to Judaism. He, too, asked me this question. He said, "I've met many people who have embraced Orthodoxy, but very few who have left it. Why did you leave?" This time, my answer was, "Beyond the problem of sexual abuse, which happens in all communities, the response of the leadership is unacceptable."

That sums it up for me. The rabbi's abuse was my catalyst for evaluating the assuptions I grew up with, and the response of the leadership, who I approached with my story in hopes that they would take steps to prevent this rabbi from hurting another young woman, was the straw that broke the camel's back. How could I be a part of a community that turns their back to the pleas of those hurt and helpless?

What do you say when asked this question?

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Case of Sabbetai Tzvi - Shrine of False Messiah in Turkey May Be Razed


Shrine of False Messiah in Turkey May Be Razed
By Jay Michaelson
Forward
Friday May 18, 2007

Far away from the eyes of the Jewish mainstream, in modern-day Turkey there live hundreds, if not thousands, of crypto-Jews — and today, one of their most sacred shrines is in danger.


This is the hidden, fascinating tale of the doenmeh, descendants of the faithful followers of the 17th-century false messiah Sabbetai Tzvi, who converted to Islam in 1666. Tzvi’s own conversion came under duress: The Ottoman sultan demanded that he don the turban or die after nearly one-third of European Jewry had come to believe he was the messiah and had begun swarming into Turkey, expecting the long-awaited triumph of the Jews.

Tzvi chose to convert, and most of his followers lost hope — but not all of them. Many saw the conversion as a heroic act of
tikkun, or repair, and followed their messiah’s lead by outwardly becoming Muslims while secretly maintaining their messianic Jewish faith. They were called doenmeh, meaning “turncoats”— a pejorative term not unlike marrano (“pig.”) Among themselves, they were called ma’aminim, “believers.” Sabbateanism did not die out in 1666, or even 10 years later when Tzvi himself died. There were subsequent messiahs — largely forgotten men like Baruchiah Russo and Jacob Frank — and, as recent scholarship has shown, Sabbateanism greatly influenced the 18th-century emergence of Hasidism. And then there are the doenmeh, who live on until the present day, in secretive communities, at first primarily in Salonika and today almost entirely in present-day Turkey.

A move to tear down the Turkish home where Tzvi is said to have lived, however, may now disturb the balance the community has cultivated for centuries.

Over the years, most of the
doenmeh assimilated into Islam; many more were annihilated during the Holocaust, and still more have, in modern-day Turkey, come to see their background as a curious but largely irrelevant heritage. But even those who did assimilate usually maintained some knowledge of their ancestry, and doenmeh were among the founders of the secular Turkish republic. Today, many doenmeh are among Turkey’s elite, though it is taboo to speak their names; since doenmeh are regarded as traitors by both Muslims and Jews, it is scandalous to accuse a person of being one of them, even if his or her identity is an open, unspoken secret. (Recently-deceased Turkish foreign minister Ismail Cem, for example, was “outed” by several Turkish newspapers, but he denied being a Sabbatean, and Iglaz Zorlu’s best-selling 1999 memoir, “Yes, I am a Salonikan,” stirred controversy throughout the country.) But the secret is open, like the doenmeh cemeteries outside of Istanbul, with their distinctively unadorned gravestones, and the mosques where doenmeh are known to pray.

Barry Kapandji is one of the few
doenmeh descendants willing to openly acknowledge his ancestry — and even he wouldn’t use his real name (“totally out of the question,” he said). Kapandji, 33, was told by his father that he was a doenmeh when he was nine years old. Since then, he has been fascinated by his heritage. Kapandji first contacted me a few months ago, when he learned that the house in Izmir (formerly Smyrna) in which Tzvi is believed to have lived was slated for demolition by the municipality to make way for a park. No one would help him: The doenmeh he knew were afraid of going public, and the Jewish community wanted nothing to do with this sect of heretics.

“This is a crime against culture, history and my heritage,” Kapandji told me. “The Jewish community elders do not want the house turned into a museum.… They would like Sabbetai’s name to be eradicated from history.”

The Forward was not able to obtain a comment from the Izmir Jewish community, but it is true that in traditional Jewish circles it is customary to add the epithet “
Yemach shemo,” “May his name be blotted out,” to the names of Sabbetai Tzvi and other heretics. Usually, the epithet works: Few know their names today. Yet, Kapandji said, “Sabbetai Tzvi, for better or for worse, helped shape the history of the Jewish people, and we should acknowledge him for that.”

But is the house at 920 Agora Girisi, half-ruined and barely distinguishable from others in the old Jewish neighborhood (now mostly destroyed), really the birthplace of Sabbatai Tzvi, the “mystical messiah”?

Yes, according to Dr. Cengiz Sisman, an expert on Sabbateanism who received his doctorate from Harvard University. Sizman cited a wealth of evidence, including 1925 and 1940 newspaper reports of the house (the architecture of which is clearly described) being used as a “visiting site by believers,” a 1935 book by noted historian Abraham Galante, and a 1961 account by writer John Freely of a group of believers lighting candles and performing a ritual on the third floor of the building.

By the 1990s, however, few
doenmeh were maintaining the old rituals, and the house, like the rest of the area, had fallen into disrepair. It appeared briefly in a French-language documentary on the doenmeh by filmmaker Michel Grosman, but only a few interested parties, like Sisman and Kapandji, were even aware that it had been slated for demolition. Last month, Kapandji interceded with the Izmir municipality and, on the basis of testimony by elders from the Sabbatean and Jewish communities, temporarily halted the destruction of the house — or at least what remains of it.

Today, Sisman said, “neither the Jewish nor the Sabbatean groups are particularly keen to utilize the house for any kind of Sabbatean or Jewish purpose.” For the Jews, it is the home of a heretic best forgotten; and the few
doenmeh still aware of their ancestry fear being branded as traitors if they are exposed.

Surely, though, if this house is what Sisman and Kapandji believe it to be, it is an important relic of a key episode in Jewish history. Of course, as shown by Israel’s many Crusader tombs doubling as the supposed burial places of prophets and rabbis, the fact that a place is venerated by believers does not mean that it is what they believe it to be. Then again, there are reasons to think that this instance might be different. The
doenmeh, after all, have lived in the same place, continuously, since the time of Tzvi himself, and have maintained a secret tradition of belief, liturgy, ritual, even recipes. Kabbalah scholar Avraham Elqayam recently published an article describing the mystical significance of a newly unearthed doenmeh cookbook, and Zeek, an online journal of which I am an editor, is publishing translations of Sabbatean hymns and first-person accounts of Tzvi at prayer, compiled by David Halperin, professor emeritus of religion at the University of North Carolina.

So perhaps it’s not as much of a stretch to suppose that a secret community, living continuously in one place, might preserve historical memory more accurately than, say, Jews returning to the Land of Israel after centuries away — or, for that matter, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, who is supposed to have identified most of the Christian holy sites in Israel while on a pilgrimage of her own. “I come from a family of academics,” Kapandji said. “We aren’t accustomed to claiming things without any evidence.”

Kapandji wants to see the house as some kind of museum, though he acknowledged that openly discussing Tzvi himself is still taboo in Turkish society. Sisman thinks the house should be preserved for Turkish reasons, as a testament to that country’s “multicultural heritage.”

Perhaps the house is of significance to Jews, as well. Sabbateanism was a dynamic, mystical and progressive movement — it was the first to put women in positions of leadership and to question the authority of normative Judaism — that was, according to many, an antecedent of Zionism. (Israeli presidents Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and Zalman Shazar were both scholars of the movement, and Theodor Herzl’s opponents labeled him a “new Sabbetai Tzvi.”) In an age in which many people are seeking alternative forms of Jewish expression, perhaps it is worth remembering those that did not survive.
Or rather, those that still, secretly, endure.

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