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.