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JoshuaZ comments on Find yourself a Worthy Opponent: a Chavruta - Less Wrong
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And indeed, the example given is its use in defending Judaism. This should raise red flags!
I've recently had a couple conversations with someone who does this a lot (in the context of Judaism). He appears to be quite smart and instrumentally rational in general, but his epistemology is so horrible as to make communication about theory selection just about impossible. The worst part is that his epistemology is heavily fortified, and there ain't nothin' you can do to talk some sense in- and I'm talking about non religious topics. It seems to be at least another level past that of the average Christian.
The system is very rarely used to defend Judaism per se. Chavrutas will only very rarely debate or argue over those fundamental premises.
As to your friend- I'm pretty sure he's the exception rather than the rule. Having interacted with a large number of Orthodox Jews (both when I was Orthodox and after), they aren't any better at apologetics than the average Christian. Epistemological issues exist, but they exist as they do in essentially all religious frameworks (I'm actually beginning to think that common epistemological flaws are one of the unifying features of religion). Judaism has some epistemological problems that many forms of Christianity do not have, such as heavy emphasis on tradition and ancestral belief as extremely strong valid evidence, but these problems seem to be divorced from the chavruta system.