Case of Cantor Howard Nevison
Temple Emanu-El
Reform synagogue in New York
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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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
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/2709430.htm
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.
Ralph Vigoda's e-mail address is rvigoda@phillynews.com.
Cantor At New York Synagogue Charged
In Molestation Case
New York-WABC, February 20, 2002
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/WABC_022002_cantor.html
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 Accused of Child Sex Crime Freed
on Bail
The Associated Press - February 20, 2002
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/02202002_nw_cantorreleased.html
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 charged with sex abuse freed from
jail
By Ralph Vigoda and Mark Stroh
Philadelphia Inquirer - Feb. 20, 2002
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/2709430.htm
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 at Temple Emanu-El Is Accused
of Molesting Nephew
By DANIEL J. WAKIN and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
New York Times - February 21, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/21/nyregion/21CANT.html
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."
NYC cantor arrested for sexually abusing
nephew
New York Jewish Week - Feburary 22, 2002
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=5798
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.
Court papers describe boy's
sex-abuse trauma
Lawyers say Cantor Howard Nevison will fight extradition to Montgomery County.
By Mark Stroh - Inquirer Suburban Staff strohma@phillynews.com
Philadelphia Inquirer - Fri, February 22, 2002
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/2723012.htm=20
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.
By Pete Bowles - STAFF WRITER
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.
Molestation Left Boy Suicidal —
Complaint
By MICHELE McPHEE in Norristown, Pa.and BARBARA ROSS and ROBERT INGRASSIA in New York - Daily News
New York Daily News - February 22, 2002
http://www.nydailynews.com/2002-02-22/News_and_Views/Crime_File/a-142288.asp
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.
Temple criticized over cantor sex
abuse case
March 1, 2002/Adar 17, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 24
DEBRA NUSSBAUM COHEN and ERIC J. GREENBERG
The New York Jewish Week
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=5815
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.
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."
A Higher Standard -
Editorials
The New York Jewish Times - March 1, 2002
http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editletcontent.php3?artid=1820
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.
New York Jewish Times - March 3, 2002
http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editletcontent.php3?artid=1852
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
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.
Cantor surrenders to authorities
on molestation charges
Associated Press - March 3, 2001
http://newstribune.com/stories/030902/wor_0309020052.asp
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.
Congregation Emanu-El: http://www.emanuelnyc.org
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.
Contact Kevin Dale at 610-313-8214 or kdale@phillynews.com
Nevison Defense, Prosecution
Spar
The New York Jewish Week - April 5, 2002
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=5973
Cantor Howard Nevison's 12-year-old nephew, allegedly abused as a child, now said to be "ready to testify in court," according to prosecutor.
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.
Debra Nussbaum Cohen - Staff Writer
The Jewish Week - April 5, 2002
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=5981
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."
By Susan Dominus
New York Magazine, Metro - April 15, 2002
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/crimelaw/features/5886/
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 yo