Hillel and Shammai did it. So did Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, Rashi and the Tosafists, and other rabbinic rivals stretching back centuries and reaching into the present. Walk past a traditional beis midrash (study hall) today and you’ll hear animated, even heated exchanges on interpretations of biblical passages and applications of halacha (Jewish law). In genuine Jewish  tradition, everywhere there is machlokes, reasoned disputes aimed at spiritual growth. Reform-oriented author and journalist Abigail Pogrebin and Orthodox-minded Yeshiva Headmaster Rabbi Dov Linzer are thus in good company with their new book It Takes Two To Torah, where they “Discuss and Debate Their Way Through the Five Books of Moses.”

“This unlikely, inspired pairing of an esteemed Torah scholar (Orthodox) and brilliant journalist (Reform) leads to some of the most spontaneous, moving exchanges about our tradition’s foundational text.” (Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Senior Rabbi, Central Synagogue, New York City)

"It takes two to study, two to explain, two—especially these two—to enchant the reader. Here is Torah both profound and accessible, touching our everyday experience. Read, be delighted, and learn.” (Rabbi David Wolpe, Rabbi Emeritus of Sinai Temple, Los Angeles)

• Rabbi Dov Linzer is the President and Rabbinic Head of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT), an Orthodox rabbinical school and Torah center which promotes an open, inclusive Orthodoxy. A leading Torah voice in the Modern Orthodox community, Rabbi Linzer mentors YCT’s students and its over 200 rabbis in the US and Israel. He has written for The Forward, Tablet and The New York Times, has published hundreds of responsa and scholarly Torah articles, and hosted several popular Torah podcasts.
• Abigail Pogrebin, a former Producer of the TV show Sixty Minutes (for Mike Wallace), is the author of Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish (Random House, 2005) and My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew (Fig Tree Books LLC, 2017), which was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award. She has written for, among other periodicals, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, Tablet, and The Forward.

Co-sponsered by Congregation B'nai B'rith and the Jewish Book Council.

Copies available for purchase at Chaucer's Books website.