Luzer Twersky | |
|---|---|
 Twersky in 2014 | |
| Born | July 26, 1985 New York City, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Actor |
Luzer Twersky (born July 26, 1985) is an American film and television actor. [1] He is best known for his role in the film Felix and Meira , for which he garnered a Jutra Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor at the 18th Jutra Awards [2] and won the Best Actor award at the Amiens International Film Festival [3] and the Torino International Film Festival. [4]
Born and raised in Brooklyn as a Hasidic Jew, Twersky left the community in 2008, after struggling with his faith. [5] He later met fashion designer Duncan Quinn, becoming a model and a retail manager for Quinn's store in Los Angeles, [1] until taking his first acting role in 2010. By 2012, he was cast in his first leading role, in the film Where Is Joel Baum? . [1]
In 2015, he also had a recurring role in the television series Transparent . [6] He appeared in the second season of the HBO show High Maintenance . [7]
In September 2017, he appeared as one of the main characters in the Netflix documentary One of Us , where directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady follow him years after he leaves his Hasidic community in Brooklyn, New York, and how he deals with his ostracization. [8]
In 2023, Twersky played the role of Hasidic Judaism founder, holy man Baal Shem Tov (the Besht) in Ukrainian film «Dovbush» [9] directed by Oles Sanin.
Twersky is mentioned in Penn Jillette's book "God, No!". [10]
Twersky is a cousin of rabbi and transgender activist Abby Stein. [11]
Monsey is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, north of Airmont, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of Spring Valley. The village of Kaser is surrounded by the hamlet of Monsey. The 2020 census listed the population at 26,954, a 46% increase since the 2010 census.
Satmar is a group in Hasidic Judaism founded in 1905 by Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum (1887–1979), in the city of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary. The group is a branch of the Sighet Hasidic dynasty. Following World War II, it was re-established in New York and has since grown to become one of the largest Hasidic dynasties in the world, comprising around 26,000 households.
Neo-Hasidism, Neochassidut, or Neo-Chassidus, is an approach to Judaism in which people learn beliefs and practices of Hasidic Judaism, and incorporate it into their own lives or prayer communities, yet without formally joining a Hasidic group. Over the 20th century neo-Hasidism was popularized by the works of writers such as Hillel Zeitlin, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Lawrence Kushner, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and Arthur Green.
Isadore Twersky was an Orthodox rabbi and Hasidic Rebbe, and university professor who held the position as Nathan Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University, a chair previously held by Harry Austryn Wolfson. Twersky was an internationally recognized authority on Rabbinic literature and Jewish philosophy. He was especially known as an international expert in the writings and influence of the 12th-century Jewish legalist and philosopher Maimonides, and Abraham ben David, the Rabad of Posquieres.
Rebbetzin or Rabbanit is the title used for the wife of a rabbi—typically among Orthodox, Haredi, and Hasidic Jews—or for a female Torah scholar or teacher.
Off the derech is a Yeshiva-English expression used to describe the state of a Jew who has left an Orthodox way of life or community, and whose new lifestyle is secular, non-Jewish, or of a non-Orthodox form of Judaism, as part of a contemporary social phenomenon tied to the digital, postmodern and post-postmodern eras. In its broadest sense it can also include those changing to a milder form of Orthodoxy. Despite the term's pejorative and controversially dichotomic and definitive nature, it has become popular in use among Orthodox people, is found in mainstream literature, and has also been reclaimed by some OTD individuals.
Allan L. Nadler is Wallerstein Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and Former Director of the Jewish Studies Program at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
Loving Leah is a 2009 American romantic drama television film that aired on CBS as a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie on January 25, 2009. The film is directed by Jeff Bleckner and stars Adam Kaufman as a non-observant Jewish bachelor who feels compelled to marry his rabbi brother's widow, Leah, to honor him via the ancient Jewish law of yibbum.
The first openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clergy in Judaism were ordained as rabbis and/or cantors in the second half of the 20th century.
Holy Rollers is a 2010 American independent crime drama film directed by Kevin Asch and written by Antonio Macia. It stars Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Ari Graynor, Danny A. Abeckaser and Q-Tip. The film is inspired by a true story of a young Hasidic man who was lured into the world of international drug trafficking in the late 90s.
Footsteps is a not-for-profit organization based in New York City that provides educational, vocational, and social support to people who have left or want to leave a Haredi or Hasidic Jewish community in the United States.
Felix and Meira is a 2014 Canadian drama film directed by Maxime Giroux, and starring Martin Dubreuil, Hadas Yaron, and Luzer Twersky. It is about an improbable affair between two Montreal residents - one a married woman from a devoutly Jewish family and community, and the other a single French Canadian man with his own family issues.
Nancy Grant is a French-Québécois Canadian film producer. She was born in the small village of Petit-Matane, on the Gaspé Peninsula in the north of Quebec, Canada. She is best known for producing multiple projects with several Quebec filmmakers including Maxime Giroux, Xavier Dolan, Denis Côté, and Anne Émond. Her recent productions include Tom at the Farm (2013), Mommy (2014), and Félix et Meira (2014), which have received numerous awards at institutions including the Toronto International Film Festival, Alfred Bauer Berlin International Film Festival, Academy Awards, and Cannes Film Festival.
Abby Chava Stein is an Israeli-American transgender author, rabbi, activist, blogger, model, and speaker. She is the first openly transgender woman raised in a Hasidic community, and is a direct descendant of Hasidic Judaism's founder, the Baal Shem Tov. In 2015, she founded one of the first support groups nationwide for trans people with an Orthodox Jewish background who have left Orthodox Judaism.
This is a timeline of LGBT Jewish history, which consists of events at the intersection of Judaism and queer people.
Pearl Gluck is an American filmmaker and professor. Her films, which explores themes of class, gender, and faith, have appeared as a part of the Sundance Lab, as well as played at Cannes Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and on PBS.
One of Us is a 2017 documentary feature film that chronicles the lives of three ex-Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn. The film was directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who also created the documentary Jesus Camp. One of Us opened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017, and was distributed the following month of October via Netflix, which also financed the film.
Chani Getter, LCSW (they/them) is a U.S. speaker, writer, therapist, and interfaith minister. Rev. Chani is also an award-winning activist and educator who supports a growing community of LGBTQ+ and non-binary people. Their life and work has been featured in two documentary films, DevOUT (2012) and One of Us (2017).
Mordechai Hager was the rebbe of the Hasidic sect of Vizhnitz for 46 years.
Unorthodox is a German drama television miniseries that debuted on Netflix on March 26, 2020. The first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish, it is inspired by Deborah Feldman's 2012 autobiography, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots. The four-part miniseries was created and written by Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, and directed by Maria Schrader.
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