In the Interests of Truth

1 Adar II 5771
It's been said that those who accuse others are guilty of the same. Those who pronounce "navi sheker" on anything that rocks them out of their comfort zone should be more careful not to lie.

I'm not a psychic, but I recognize intellectual dishonesty when I read it.

In regard to the messages from Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi, someone has written, and I quote: "...According to Rabbi Avi Matmon..., a prophet must state an exact date, and he must be correct, and if he makes even a tiny mistake, then he is a false prophet and we shouldn't listen to him."

This applies only if a date is given and only if the person claims that he is speaking as a navi. Neither is the case with Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi. He has not claimed to be giving prophecy, nor has he given any dates, (nor has he claimed to be Mashiach), contrary to the accusations of those who groundlessly wish to discredit him.

So this is a specious argument, as is the one that says Rabbi Ben Artzi is asking Jews to violate a mitzvah d'oraita when he calls on them to send all the Sifrei Hatorah to Eretz Yisrael since the Jews in chu"l need them to fulfill the mitzvah to read Zachor. It is understood from the context of all of Rabbi Ben Artzi's messages that the Jews are meant to come and bring the Torah scrolls with them, leaving everything else behind.

I mean, that is wanting very badly to find something with which to denigrate the rabbi when one must go to such convoluted lengths. It's practically erev ravian.
Another quote: "There is no reason to be feeling guilty or anxious because a psychic rabbi in Israel is saying that the world is about to end and everyone outside of the Land will die."

A red line has been crossed here from lying by implication and innuendo to outright lying. Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi has never, ever said "everyone outside of the Land will die."

On the contrary, he has said specifically that if Jews will come now, they will come with honor, but if they wait, they will come in shame. According to Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi, every Jew will come, even against his will if need be.
(Maybe the shame will come from having falsely accused Hashem's eved and shaliach and then having to face him.)

The writer continues, "Did he specify a date? No he didn't. Therefore, following the info given in Rabbi Matmon's shiur, he is not a prophet."

This constitutes lying, also, albeit by misrepresentation of this rabbi's words. Rabbi Matmon does not say that to be a prophecy a date is required, but that if a date is given, it must be 100% correct, as with any and every detail of a prophecy. But, again, Rabbi Nir ben Artzi is not claiming to be a prophet and again, he has not given any dates.

So, what about the charge that he falsely uses the title "rabbi?" The so-called smicha that is given today is not true smicha handed down from rabbi to student since Moshe Rabeinu. That was lost in antiquity. All it means today is that the person who uses it has passed a test qualifying him to answer halachic questions in a given subject. And not every rabbi is qualified in every subject, regardless of the title.

But, there is another situation in which rabbi is very commonly used, especially in Israel. Students very commonly call their teacher "rabbi" whether he has smicha or not. Now, Rabbi Ben Artzi has a large following of students and to date, I have not heard him discourse on halacha or pretend that he is capable of discoursing on halacha. His students are within accepted bounds to refer to their teacher as their rabbi.

Rabbi Ben Artzi has been accused of other spurious things which I will not dignify with a defense here. Consider the source, as they say, which has already thoroughly discredited itself.

I deeply regret that it has become necessary to break the link between this blog and the source of these false allegations against Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi. How ironic that a man who has only called for "good" and "mercy" and "unity" for Am Yisrael has become the subject of such sinat chinam.