Hazzan G. Michael Horwitz joined Agudath Achim Congregation as the new Spiritual Leader in September 2007. Hazzan Horwitz has had a passion for Jewish music and Jewish liturgy since he was a young boy growing up in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended the H. F. Epstein Hebrew Academy, an orthodox Hebrew day school. Throughout all of his schooling and college at Indiana University in Bloomington, He was active in various plays, musicals, and choirs, including a show choir which performed in Washington D.C. for the inauguration ceremonies of President Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Hazzan Horwitz spent a year studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem where he met his wife Heidi. Hazzan Horwitz graduated from Indiana University and the H. L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City. He is an active member of the Cantors Assembly and a past member of the Executive Council. He has spent several summers working at Camp Ramah.

Hazzan Horwitz has a vast background working with synagogue choirs, developing community events and innovative programs including interfaith activities. He has taught in various hebrew schools and classes to adults on Jewish prayer, liturgy and the trop systems of cantillation. He has prepared hundreds of Bnai Mitzvah students and produced successful tot shabbat and family services. He is the recipient of various awards including the H. L. Miller Fellowship and the St. Louis Circle of Jewish Music scholarship. He is a life member of Friends of Na'Amat USA and has served on several boards including the Jewish Community Center or Wilmington, DE and Boys Hope Girls Hope.

Hazzan Horwitz has over twenty five years of experience working with children, teens, families and seniors in Jewish Community Centers, summer camps, and synagogues throughout the United States. Hazzan Horwitz comes to Altoona after serving as Cantor for the past 6 years at Congregation Beth Shalom in Wilmington, DE and working in Texas, Florida, New Jersey and Nebraska. As an accomplished distance runner and finisher of 28 marathons, including 4 New York City Marathons, he enjoys running with the family dog, P'nukie, a labrador mutt. You may spot them running together throughout town.

Hazzan Horwitz is married to Heidi Horwitz, an Occupational Therapist. Heidi and Hazzan Michael are the proud parents of two boys, Elliott and Quinn. Stop by Hazzan Horwitz's office to introduce yourself and sing a few notes.

Click here to visit the Cantors Assembly website