Abigail Pogrebin

ABIGAIL POGREBIN is the author of My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays; One Wondering Jew – a finalist for the 2018 National Jewish Book Awards and featured on The Today Show. Her 2024 book, co-authored with Rabbi Dov Linzer — President of YCT — is It Takes Two to Torah: An Orthodox Rabbi and Reform Journalist Discuss and Debate Their Way Through the Five Books of Moses. Her first book — Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk about Being Jewish, for which she interviewed 60 major public figures (from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Steven Spielberg) – went into eight hardcover printings and was later adapted for the Off-Broadway stage, produced by Daryl Roth and featuring original songs by Sheldon Harnick, Marvin Hamlisch, Tom Kitt, Jeanine Tesori, among others. Pogrebin's book, One and the Same, delved into every aspect of growing up as a twin, (her identical twin, Robin Pogrebin, covers culture for the New York Times). Abby’s bestselling Amazon Kindle Single was Showstopper — a chronicle of her teenage adventures in the original Broadway cast of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along.” Abby is prominently featured in the acclaimed documentary about that musical, Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, directed by Lonny Price. Abby was an Emmy-nominated broadcast producer for CBS News’ 60 Minutes — for Ed Bradley and Mike Wallace — and before that at PBS for Fred W. Friendly, Charlie Rose and Bill Moyers. She has written for the Atlantic Magazine, Newsweek, Tablet, the Forward, Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar. She has moderated public conversations at The Streicker Center, the JCC in Manhattan and for her show, “In the Spotlight” on JBS Television. Abby is a past president of Central Synagogue and a current board member of The Shalom Hartman Institute. She received The Impact Award from The Marlene Meyerson JCC in Manhattan in 2019, was honored by The Jewish Week in 2017 for contributions to Jewish communal life, and was asked to deliver the plenary address at Hillel International Conference in 2014. She was Director of Jewish Outreach for the Bloomberg Presidential Campaign in 2020.