Join us for an engaging conversation with journalist Abigail Pogrebin and Rabbi Dov Linzer, co-authors of It Takes Two to Torah: An Orthodox Rabbi and Reform Journalist Discuss and Debate Their Way Through the Five Books of Moses, as they bring their dynamic and thought-provoking approach to Torah study to life.
Born out of a lively podcast series for Tablet Magazine, this book presents a unique, candid, and animated exchange between Pogrebin, a Reform journalist, and Linzer, an Orthodox rabbi, as they navigate the Five Books of Moses together. With humor, insight, and personal reflection, they model how Torah can be a source of conversation across perspectives—whether in families on Shabbat, classrooms of all ages, or for anyone seeking a fresh, accessible, and deeply relevant way to engage with Jewish tradition.
In this special event, Pogrebin and Linzer will share their experience of meeting in the middle—intellectually, theologically, and personally—to explore the richness of Torah in a way that is both irreverent and instructive. Come ready for a fascinating discussion that invites you to join “the oldest Book Club in the world.”
Rabbi Dov Linzer is the President and Rabbinic Head of YCT Rabbinical School of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT), whose curriculum and pedagogy he helped shape with its founder, Rabbi Avi Weiss and in his former capacity as the seminary’s Rosh HaYeshiva. He has written for The Forward, Tablet and The New York Times, has published over 100 teshuvot (responsa) and scholarly Torah articles, and hosted a number of highly popular Torah podcasts.
Abigail Pogrebin is the author of 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. Her other books are, Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish and One and the Same. She has written for The Atlantic, New York Magazine, Tablet, and The Forward, and she moderates 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.