On Thin Ice 

There was only one reason that Frank Horowitz, who knew close to nothing about Judaism, went to Israel on Birthright in 2016 — to take advantage of an opportunity to snag cheap airline tickets to Europe, the destination he had his heart set on visiting over his summer break. But landing in Tel Aviv triggered a chain of events that forced the aspiring pro hockey player to ultimately redefine the word “goal”

AT21 months, the average toddler is learning how to run and walk up a staircase, but little Frank Horowitz was anything but average. While the local ice-skating rink near his Beverly Hills, California home only provided instruction to kids ages two and up, Horowitz had already started clamoring for ice time even before his second birthday, loudly demanding, “Give me skates!” After just two laps around the rink with a training walker, Horowitz was zipping around the ice on single-bladed skates like he was born to glide effortlessly over its slick surface.

Tall and soft-spoken, today Horowitz works in private equity real estate and gives a weekly chaburah in his Pico-Robertson apartment on the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. He is clearly a deep thinker and has an undeniable air of refinement, hardly the person you would expect to have been on track to play professional hockey, where body slamming and foul language both seem to be very much part of the game.

And yet, that was exactly the trajectory of Frank Horowitz’s life for many years, practically from when he hit the ice for the first time before his second birthday. Yet despite his promising future in the sport, he decided to swap his helmet for a black yarmulke and completely redefine his life.

Horowitz grew up in a Los Angeles that was obsessed with hockey, a love that blossomed when Wayne Gretzky, considered to be the best player of all time, joined the L.A. Kings in 1988. While Horowitz’s parents hadn’t been together from the time he was born, his father had grown up playing pond hockey in Boston, and he pushed to get his son on skates as early as possible. Clearly a natural on the ice, Horowitz had a stick in his hand by the time he was four, and it soon became clear that he didn’t just love hockey, he had real talent for the game.