Background
Twerksy was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, where he grew up in the left-leaning Sholem Aleichem cooperative housing project
Twerksy was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, where he grew up in the left-leaning Sholem Aleichem cooperative housing project
He attended the Ramaz School in Manhattan and was active in the Labor Zionist youth movement Habonim. He attended City College of New New York
He was an editor for The Jewish Daily Forward and The New York Sun and a leader of the American Jewish Congress. In 1974, Twersky made aliyah (emigrated to Israel) and helped to re-establish Kibbutz Gezer. Twersky served in an artillery unit during the 1982 Lebanon War.
Twersky returned to the United States. in 1986 and became a full-time journalist.
When the Yiddish Forverts started an English-language edition in 1990, he became deputy editor and Washington bureau chief During his seven years at The Forward, Twersky was responsible for breaking many news stories.
After leaving The Forward, Twersky became editor of the New Jersey Jewish News. Later he joined The New York Sun as foreign editor and columnist.
Twersky also worked as director of international affairs for the American Jewish Congress.
In Israel, Twersky worked for the Labor Party"s international affairs department, where he dealt with the Socialist International. He edited Shdemot, the literary journal of the kibbutz movement, and Spectrum, an English-language political monthly. Another of Twersky"s stories brought to light some views of Lani Guinier, a law professor whom Clinton had nominated to be Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
Those opinions were considered controversial and her nomination was withdrawn.