Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski, founder of Gateway Rehab, dies from covid at 90
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, an international authority on addiction who founded Gateway Rehabilitation Center, died from covid-19 Sunday in Israel, according to several reports.
Dr. Twerski, 90, had been hospitalized after contracting covid last week, The Yeshiva World reported.
Twerski founded Gateway, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Center Township, Beaver County, in 1972 and was its medical director emeritus. He also served for 20 years as the clinical head of psychiatry at the now-defunct St. Francis Hospital in Lawrenceville.
Twerski authored more than 60 books addressing religious subjects and self-help topics. A fan of the comic strip “Peanuts,” he wrote two books with its creator, Charles Schultz, The Jerusalem Post noted in its report on his passing.
Twerski was born in Milwaukee, where his father, a Hasidic rabbi, immigrated in the 1920s. He was the middle child of five boys.
In a 2005 interview, he remembered seeing people flow in and out of his father’s study for counseling at all hours of the day. His father chose him to be his successor as rabbi.
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He enrolled in the Hebrew Theological College of Chicago and was ordained a rabbi in 1951, according to ColLive.
Twerski entered Marquette University in 1953 and became a psychiatrist. He moved to Pittsburgh after graduating from medical school in 1960.
He completed his residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Western Psychiatric Institute, where he developed an interest in treating alcoholism.
Twerski was a proponent of Alcoholics Anonymous, whose 12 steps he found in agreement with Jewish teachings despite its origins in Christianity, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Twerski’s work in addiction was not limited to drugs and alcohol. In 2006, Twerski spoke on Internet addiction at Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill.
Twerski is survived by his second wife, Dr. Gail Bessler-Twerski; three sons, Isaac, Ben and Shlomo; and a daughter, Sarah.
His first wife of 43 years, Goldie, died from breast cancer in 1995.
Brian C. Rittmeyer, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University's Schreyer Honors College, has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com.
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