It Takes Two to Torah: An Orthodox Rabbi and Reform Journalist Discuss and Debate Their Way Through the Five Books of Moses

It Takes Two to Torah is not just an education, it’s an invitation – to join the oldest Book Club in the world.

This book is a Torah conversation-starter for families on Shabbat, for religious school instructors with students of all ages, for individuals who have never found a way to read the entire Torah in bite-size, relatable nuggets, and for young clergy looking for some sermon ideas if they’re stuck! Most of all, it is a snapshot of what Torah study is meant to be: a real-time, candid, instructive, challenging exchange of responses to ancient text.For the first time, in a single volume, readers can take a tour of the entire Torah through the medium of one challenging, instructive, irreverent, animated conversation. Rabbi Dov Linzer, an Orthodox rabbi, and Abigail Pogrebin, a Reform journalist talk their way through the Five Books of Moses with candor, humor, emotion, personal revelation, and scholarship.

This book is the product of two people literally meeting in the middle to bring us their most honest intellectual and relevant understanding of the Torah. Pogrebin and Linzer engaged in short dialogues on a podcast forTablet Magazine, and they have now been collected and edited so that the full, fascinating exploration can be found in one place. 

Rabbi Linzer is President and Rabbinic Head of YCT Rabbinical School (a Modern Orthodox seminary,) and Abigail Pogrebin is a veteran journalist, author of My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew and former producer for 60 Minutes.

Dov is a renowned expert in Torah and Talmud, whose personal values run liberal and egalitarian, but who also has clear parameters about what is halachically correct and comfortable when it comes to Jewish law and tradition. Abby is our relatable every-Jew in America, deeply engaged in Jewish life, but less through strict observance and prayer as through study, reporting, synagogue, and community.

Abigail Pogrebin is the author of “Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish” and “My Jewish Year:18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew” which was published by Fig Tree Books LLC and was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award. She has written for The Atlantic, New York Magazine, Tablet, and The Forward, and moderated public conversations for The Streicker Center, the Shalom Hartman Institute, the JCC in Manhattan, and Jewish Broadcasting Service. She is a past president of Central Synagogue in New York. 

Rabbi Dov Linzer is the President and Rosh HaYeshiva (Rabbinic Head) of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT), an Orthodox rabbinical school and Torah center which promotes a more open and inclusive Orthodoxy.A leading Torah voice in the Modern Orthodox community, Rabbi Linzer serves as religious mentor to YCT’s students and its over 200 rabbis in the United States and Israel. He has written for The Forward, Tablet and The New York Times, has published hundreds of teshuvot (responsa) and scholarly Torah articles, and hosted a number of highly popular Torah podcasts.

Mayim Bialik, PhD, is perhaps best known for her lead role as Blossom Russo in the 1990s television sitcom Blossom, and she starred on the top-rated comedy The Big Bang Theory. Bialik earned a BS from UCLA in 2000 in neuroscience and Hebrew and Jewish studies, and a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA in 2007.