Abraham Joshua Heshel Twerski (אברהם יהושע העשיל טווערסקי, Hebrew & Yiddish; ) was an Israeli-American Hasidic rabbi, a scion of the Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty, and a psychiatrist specializing in substance abuse.
Early life and education
Abraham Joshua Twerski was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His parents were Devorah Leah (née Halberstam; 1900–1995), daughter of the second Rebbe of Bobov, and Rabbi Jacob Israel Twerski (1898–1973), who was the rabbi of Beth Jehudah synagogue in Milwaukee. The elder Rabbi Twerski immigrated to America in 1927, and was a descendant of Rabbi Menachem Nachum Twerski, the founder of the Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty, and a student of the Baal Shem Tov. Twerski was the third of five brothers. His two older brothers were Shloime and Motel, and his two younger brothers were twins, Aaron and Michel.
He attended public high school in Milwaukee, and graduated at age 16. He enrolled in the Hebrew Theological College of Chicago (now located in Skokie, Illinois) and was ordained a rabbi in 1951. He worked with his father as assistant rabbi. In 1952 he married Goldie Flusberg. In 1953 Twerski enrolled at Milwaukee's Marquette University, and subsequently graduated from its medical school in 1959. He received his psychiatric training at the University of Pittsburgh, and spent an additional two years on the staff of a state hospital in Pennsylvania. He was then asked to become the department head of psychiatry at Pittsburgh's St. Francis Hospital.
Career
Medicine
Rabbi Twerski's medical career includes Gateway Rehabilitation Center, Pittsburgh, which he founded and served as medical director emeritus, clinical director of the Department of Psychiatry at St. Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine, and founder of the Shaar Hatikvah rehabilitation center for prisoners in Israel.
Rabbinic career
In his rabbinic career Rabbi Twerski was a prolific writer of Jewish books and of shiurim (Torah-themed lectures). He was co-spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Jehudah with his father from ordination until 1959. During this time he composed a melody for the Hebrew verse Psalms 28:9 "Hoshea es Amecha," which became popular in Jewish circles. The song became especially popular in the Lubavitch community, after the Lubavitcher Rebbe sang it at a farbrengen.
Rabbi Twerski on Twelve Steps and Jewish ethics
Rabbi Twerski's clinical career specialized in alcoholism and addiction. Much of his popular writing concerned self-improvement and ethical behavior. He merged mussar (Jewish ethics and morality movement) with the Twelve-Step Program and ideas from clinical psychology.