Daunted by the thought of reading all 79,976 words in the Torah?

Of trying to divine the meaning of 5,844 often abstruse passages?

Or puzzling out messages that have befuddled the most learned for generations?

Is it worth all that effort? In their new book, It Takes Two to Torah, an Orthodox rabbi and a Reform journalist (the former president of Central Synagogue) provide a resounding YES to that question . . . and take readers of all religious proclivities on an often-irreverent tour of what you can discover.

The unlikely pair — Abigail Pogrebin, journalist and author, and Rabbi Dov Linzer, President and Rosh HaYeshiva (Rabbinic Head) of the Modern Orthodox Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical Seminary — have spent hours on their Tablet podcast discussing what the Torah teaches about loving the stranger, the miracle of Jewish survival and the complex relationship between humans and God. Now, those conversations have been collected into a unique volume.

They join us for a candid, instructive and challenging exchange – moderated by eminent author and essayist Rabbi David Wolpe – about our ancient text, solving the Torah’s riddles and what they have discovered in the process of teasing out Torah with an improbable partner.

A leading progressive voice in the Modern Orthodox community, Rabbi Dov Linzer serves as religious mentor to rabbinical students and his hundreds of graduates. He has written for The Forward, Tablet and The New York Times, published hundreds of scholarly articles and hosted highly popular Torah podcasts.

Author of My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew and Stars of David, Abigail Pogrebin has written for numerous magazines and moderated public conversations for The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center, the Shalom Hartman Institute, the JCC in Manhattan and the Jewish Broadcasting Service. She is past president of Manhattan’s Central Synagogue.

Rabbi David Wolpe is a 21st-century sage who is widely considered among the very best Jewish teachers in America. He has taught Torah to Hollywood stars, scandalized his colleagues by opining that the Exodus didn’t happen the way we’ve been taught, caused a major stir when he quit Harvard’s Antisemitism Advisory Group and wrote a best-selling book optioned for a movie by Warner Bros.