One of the things people get excited about with Pesach approaching, and then on Pesach, is the "KaElah" experience.

Not too many people can become a Lord, and the only human to ever do so (in some people's eyes) was Jewish (Jesus joke, sorry), but Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom Rabbi Mirvis came close. And maybe it is even still in his future.

Ami Popper is a convicted murderer. Popper was convicted of stealing an assault rifle and murdering 7 Arabs.

Somehow he has bene adopted by the Right, by the Religious, and even by the Haredi communities. Whenever there has been a prisoner release of Palestinians, the calls have gone out calling for Popper's release.

I have no problem with calling for his release. Part of the prison system includes parole and early release and pardons and commuting sentences. If this or that group or political party wants to put forth efforts to work for Popper's release, that is their prerogative.

What is interesting is something I saw in Mishpacha newspaper over Shabbos. They ran an article detailing the various candidates for the upcoming elections for the position of President of the State of Israel. They mentioned all the candidates and the haredi politicians positions regarding them.

They then also ran a small article in which they said that while the haredi community does not really have much direct interest in the position of the president or regarding who holds that position, as it doesn't really affect the haredi community, there is no reason why the haredi community should not demand of the president things that affect it, such as the pardoning of Ami Popper.

What was interesting is that Mishpacha did not just say "Ami Popper". They called him "Reb Ami Popper".

I am not quite sure how connected Popper is to the Haredi community, though it seems that in jail he became more torani (and was even cellmates with Shlomo Benizri)), and from his more recent pictures (at least from the last few years) he looks more Haredi with a black kippa, white shirt and long beard, If they want to adopt him and call for his release, that is fine by me... but does he really need the honorific of "reb"?

I already don't like that every person who gets married wearing a black hat and grows a beard is called "HoRav" or "Rav".. I find it to be a slight to real rabbonim. But if they want to call people rav or reb or horav, no harm no foul (or not much, at least)... but to call a convicted murdered with the honorific? What's wrong with just calling him by his name? Why does he need the title?

Perhaps one can debate regarding the people who went into jail already bearing the title - do they still deserve top be called by the honorific they earned prior to incarceration or not.. but somebody who is not deserving of the title even regardless of the crime he committed, why append the title to his name?

Does the title really engender such a small amount of respect that it can be given to anybody, even convicted murderers?

The City of Jerusalem has been running a "survey" of sorts. The survey was regarding which person should be memorialized by having their name turned into the name of a street.

With 2,222 questionnaires having been distributed among Jerusalem residents, we have a winner, and one by a large majority.

The results of the poll indicate that people wish to memorialize Dr. David Applebaum, hy"d, the emergency room doctor killed in a terrorist attack when having coffee with his daughter who was about to get married, by naming a street after him.

Dr. Applebaum beat out Teddy Kollek and Rehavam "Gandhi" Zeevi. Applebaum won with 87% of the votes.

The truth is that both Kollek and Gandhi are deserving of having streets named after them as well. Kollek, despite all his faults, built the beautiful modern city of Jerusalem. Gandhi is an Israeli hero, a war hero and a man and politician of tremendous caliber.

The system of having residents participate in such decisions is great. And, the results of such surveys should be honored. However, a way must be found to name future streets, or other ways to memorialize them, after these other great builders of the State as well.

Perhaps the poll should not have included names of people that should by their very nature be honored. Just like there is a law that any city naming streets after people must have streets named after certain people, like Herzl, Jabotinsky and others, certain people should automatically be given such honor, with or without being added to the law, and not be honored only via a survey.

As I mentioned previously, I am being co-honored with my daf yomi shiur by the annual shul dinner coming up in February.
I am going to schnorr now because it is for a good cause.

You can make jblogger history by downloading the order form to buy and place an ad in the dinner journal in my honor. I do not need to know your name, and you can keep your anonymity. Maybe a few of you fellow bloggers can get together and share an ad at minimal cost. You can use the ad to advertise your own blogs, such as saying "Mazel tov to Rafi G from http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com from your friends at aaa.blogspot.com bbb.blogspot.com ccc.blogspot.com, etc."

If you wish to take out an ad, download the form and fill it out and mail it in to the address on the form.

I will leave this as a sticky post for a couple of weeks. The deadline for ads is the end of January.