Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/912649
:\P[PUN*HZ\HS,]LUPUN 4HKLPU5L^@VYR:PaLZ¶ 7UHDW\RXUVHOIRUVRPHRQHHOVH WKLVKROLGD\VHDVRQZLWKD 1LQD0F/HPRUHJLIWFHUWLðFDWH RIIDOOJLIWFHUWLƂFDWHV WRGD\WKUX'HFHPEHUWK 1LQD0F/HPRUH%RXWLTXH :6SK>VVK^HYK )PYTPUNOHT ULHY[OL)PYTPUNOHT;OLH[YL 4VU¶-YP¶:H[¶ (SZVI`HWWVPU[TLU[ 5L^@VYR(ZWLU([SHU[H*OL]`*OHZL4+ /V\Z[VU7HST+LZLY[:HU-YHUJPZJV :JV[[ZKHSL:LH[[SL=HPS*SL]LSHUK *OLZ[LY[V^U4+ ^^^UPUHTJSLTVYLJVT Photo: Dan Demetriad Alfreda Burke Rodrick Dixon Karen Marie Richardson Alvin Waddles *Limited quantities For Group Sales, call 313.237.3425 ONE SHOW ONLY! Saturday, December 16, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. At the Detroit Opera House TOO HOT TO HANDEL THE JAZZ-GOSPEL MESSIAH! A hand-clapping, soul-stirring holiday celebration! FOR TICKETS: 313.237.7464 or MichiganOpera.org FAMILY 4-PACK* $ 99 Presented by Rackham Choir and the Detroit Opera House Tickets start at just $20 "One of the 12 best ways to salute the holiday season!" -The Detroit News He has struggled with anger, resent- ment and substance abuse, and is now working to stay clean and make up for lost time. "I was robbed of my life," he says in the film. Luzer Twersky has his own painful story. After an abusive childhood, he married at 19, fathered two children, and then walked away from his life. "Depression is something I'll prob- ably deal with for the rest of my life," said Twersky, now 32. "There are issues that I deal with that have a lot more to do with how I was raised than religion." Describing himself as "genetically and psychologically Jewish," Twersky said that now, "I'm not religious at all — I'm not even culturally Jewish." He is in contact with his parents and some of his 11 siblings, but not with his ex-wife or children. Though Twersky misses the food, the music and the sense of com- munity, "I don't miss the rules or the dogma or any of that, not for a sec- ond," he said. He drives for Uber to pay the bills, but his acting career is pick- ing up. He often plays Jewish char- acters, as he did in three episodes of Transparent in 2015. Twersky recently shot an episode of HBO's High Maintenance, and is rehearsing for a stage production of Awake and Sing, among other projects. Hershkowitz is currently study- ing for his GED. Etty is planning to appeal the court's custody decision. "A woman in Etty's situation won on appeal," Grady said, "so there's a precedent now, a glimmer of hope." Grady and Ewing have stayed in touch with their subjects, especially as the film just began streaming in mid-October. "Our main concern is preparing them for what's coming at them," Ewing said — including both national exposure and the Chasidic community's potentially negative reaction. One of Us has played at a hand- ful of film festivals, before mostly New York secular Jewish audiences, who Ewing said were "outraged and offended by some of the things they saw." The filmmakers are currently developing several projects, includ- ing one about "fundamentalists, not necessarily religious" ones, Grady said. As for One of Us, the directors say the film is less about religion than the universal theme of individual- ity. "I feel that it's better to shine a light on a community that has been unchecked for so long," Ewing said, "and have a productive conversation among Jews about these issues." • December 7 • 2017 65 jn