ר׳ אברהם יהושע העשיל טברסקי

ר׳ אברהם יהושע העשיל טברסקי (6 October 1930–31 January 2021), commonly known as Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski, was an American Hasidic rabbi, psychiatrist, addiction specialist and prolific author. Born in Milwaukee, he was a son of ר׳ יעקב ישראל טברסקי of Hornosteipel and Devorah Leah Halberstam, linking the Chernobyl and Bobov dynasties. He graduated from Hebrew Theological College and received semikhah in 1951, then served beside his father at Congregation Beth Jehudah. Concluding that effective pastoral counseling required professional training, he entered Marquette University and completed medical school in 1960. He moved to Pittsburgh, where he became clinical director of psychiatry at St. Francis Hospital and an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In 1972 he opened Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Beaver County, developing a treatment model that joined medicine, Twelve-Step recovery, spirituality and restoration of self-worth. He later helped establish Shaar Hatikvah for released prisoners in Israel. Across more than sixty books—clinical, self-help, Jewish ethical, autobiographical and Torah works—he repeatedly addressed addiction, shame, self-esteem, family relationships, domestic abuse and spiritual growth. He moved to Jerusalem in 2015 and died there from complications of COVID-19. His work made addiction treatment and previously hidden family problems subjects of sustained discussion within Orthodox Jewish communities.