Abigail Pogrebin, IT TAKES TWO TO TORAH: An Orthodox Rabbi and Reform Journalist Discuss and Debate Their Way Through the Five Books of Moses
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.5 • 643 Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Zibby welcomes journalist and award-winning author Abigail Pogrebin to discuss her celebrated body of work, from MY JEWISH YEAR and STARS OF DAVID to her memoir on twinhood, ONE AND THE SAME. Abigail reflects on her path from Emmy-nominated TV producer to writer, moderator, and thoughtful chronicler of Jewish life. She and Zibby dive into Jewish rituals, identity, modern observance, the meaning of tradition in an asynchronous world, and the intimacy and complexity of being an identical twin.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Zibi Owens, and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby. Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest, best-selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators, whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive |
| 0:24.0 | look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't |
| 0:29.3 | have to. |
| 0:30.3 | Stay in the know, get insider insights, and connect with guests like I do every single day. |
| 0:36.2 | For more information, go to zibbimedia.com and follow me on Instagram |
| 0:40.2 | at Zibby Owens. |
| 0:44.8 | Abigail Poggerbin is the author of My Jewish Year, 18 holidays, one wandering Jew, which was a |
| 0:51.6 | finalist for the 2018 National Jewish Book Award. |
| 0:54.8 | She is also the author of Stars of David, Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish, |
| 0:58.9 | for which she interviewed 62 famous American Jews, |
| 1:02.2 | from Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Steven Spielberg about their religious identity. |
| 1:05.7 | Her 2024 book, It Takes Two to Torah, an Orthodox rabbi, and reformed journalists, |
| 1:10.3 | discuss and debate their way |
| 1:11.4 | through the five books of Moses, was co-authored with Rabbi Dove Linser, president of YCT Rabbinical |
| 1:17.5 | School, and won the 2025 Independent Press Award for Religion Nonfiction. Her book, one in the same, |
| 1:24.5 | delved into every aspect of growing up as a twin, of which Abby is one, |
| 1:28.4 | the identical kind. Her best-selling Kindle single, Showstopper, chronicled her teenage |
| 1:33.2 | adventures on Broadway in the original production of Steven Sondheim's Marely We Roll Along. |
| 1:38.7 | She was an Emmy-nominated producer for Mike Wallace at 60 Minutes, and before that, for Bill |
| 1:43.1 | Moyers and Charlie Rose at PBS. |
| 1:45.2 | She has moderated conversations at the Stryker Center, the JCC in Manhattan, UJA Federation, |
| 1:50.5 | and the Shalom Hartman Institute. |
... |
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