An excellent online audio series for the questioning Jew

Da Ma Shetashiv - Series by Harav Aaron Lopiansky

Harav Aaron Lopiansky is Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva Gedola of Greater Washington. "Da Me Shetashiv" is a series of weekly shiurim aimed at helping the observant Jew address the numerous questions and challenges he is bound to face in the modern workplace.  The shiur focuses on hashkafa and delves into many of the fundamental concepts of Judaism that may have been glossed over in a traditional religious education. Rav Lopiansky's breadth of knowledge on the widest array of topics in both Limudei Kodesh and Limudei Chol, make this series all the more inspiring and fascinating.

 This can be found here http://www.torahdownloads.com/c-31-da-ma-shetashiv.html . Remarkably nuanced & intellectually honest, they explore fundamental Torah issues clearly and would be useful for questioning frum people.

Hat Tip: Ariel Segal

Moral problems in the Halacha: The status of non-Jews

Moral problems in the Halacha:

The status of non-Jews

Zeligman attacks Torah for its attitude regarding non Jews. These issues have been discussed many times over the past two centuries. I will attempt to point the reader in the right direction and demonstrate that the Torah, when properly understood and in context, is not immoral. 

Some websites that deal with these issues:
Gil Student’s: http://www.angelfire.com/mt/talmud/
Also: http://www.frum.org/talmud/index.aspx (It should be noted that not everything in the q&a section there is reliable, however it has many excellent points.) Also see the Artscroll Talmud’s introduction to Tractate Avodah Zara which sums up (with relevant sources) the Jewish attitude towards non Jews. 

Before we answer specific attacks

Archaeology

Archaeology

Special thanks to Yosef Back and Lisa Liel, both archaeological researchers with extensive experience and knowledge, for helping me with some of the approaches.

A word about archaeology

• “Good scholars, honest scholars, will continue to differ about the interpretation of archaeological remains simply because archaeology is not a science. It is an art. And sometimes it is not even a very good art.”

Source:

William Dever. 1996. in "Is this man a biblical archaeologist? BAR Interviews William Dever, Part 1. Biblical Archaeology Review 22(4):30-39ff.

There are many such quotes that demonstrate the limits of archaeology. ‘Archaeological evidence’ depends very much on the point of view that one is coming from. Therefore, I don’t believe that we can prove the truth of Torah through archaeology as there is evidence for and against the historicity of Torah. Much of archaeology depends

Could The Torah Have Been Written Down By Moses

Could The Torah Have Been Written Down By Moses

Question: The Torah, written before the Jews entered Israel, mentions the city of Dan, which was only settled years later.
Answer - http://www.aishdas.org/toratemet/en_vayera2.html
Additionally, Zeligman dismisses the explanation of many Rishonim (medieval bible commentaries) that the verse was stated in a prophetic sense and was referencing the city that would be eventually called Dan. Their explanation, however, is not

Zeligman’s Lower Bible Criticism - Contradictions in the Torah text

Zeligman’s Lower Bible Criticism - Contradictions in the Torah text

Zeligman attempts to disprove the Torah’s divine authorship by rehashing old and tired arguments which “seems to support the idea that it was written by different people in different time”.  

An excellent analysis of some of the problems of higher and lower bible criticism and how it has been refuted, can be found at http://www.aishdas.org/toratemet/en_cardozo.html
1. Zeligman starts with the well known problem of the two seemingly contradictory creation stories. This has been answered numerous times throughout Jewish literary history, but an approach can be found here: http://www.torah.org/advanced/mikra/5770/bereishis.html

2. Zeligman questions how Genesis 15:13 and Exodus 12:40 can state that the Hebrew exile lasted 400 or 430 years when according to Torah

Response to Naftali Zeligman Overview

The purpose of this paper:

I am writing this blog as a response to ‘Naftali Zeligman’ who posted a number of serious attacks and questions attempting to disprove the veracity of Torah. Zeligman takes his cues from ‘daatemet’, an Israeli chozer b’shaila who, after becoming fed up with the chareidi world, used his website to try to disprove the truth of Torah. Some rebuttals have been forthcoming on aishdas.org’s torat emet section. Thesanhedrin.org also countered some of daatemet’s attacks. Unfortunately, these sites have never responded to all of his attacks.
The purpose of this paper is not to convince Zeligman or any skeptic, but rather to point out the deep flaws and misunderstandings in the very questions Zeligman poses and provide approaches to questions to those earnestly seeking truth. I readily admit my bias as an observant Jew.