This Hasidic Lawyer Helped End The Poll Tax

“I was their star teaching fellow but I couldn’t get a teaching job,” said Aaron Twerski. Looking the way he looked — like a Hasidic Jew — made it difficult for Twerski to attain a professor appointment at Harvard Law School, despite glowing reviews. Twerski went onto a pivotal role at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in 1965, just after the Voting Rights Act was passed. He helped bring a case to the courts that declared poll taxes unconstitutional due to intense discriminatory practices against Black people. Hear from Professor Aaron Twerski, former Dean of Hofstra Law School, who received an All Star Award, for proud observant Jews in leading professions at JITC’s 2nd Jewish Media Awards at Lincoln Center on November 12, 2024.

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