By Arutz Sheva
A Chabad Shliach reportedly played a key role in enabling a Brazilian policeman to name his child after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
According to the report by the haredi Kikar Hashabbat website, Rabbi Nissim Katri, who has served as the Chabad Shliach to the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte for decades, was approached by a fervently pro-Israel policeman who wished to name his child after the Israeli leader.
“Opposite the Chabad house that my family operates, there is a police station which maintains warm ties with us,” Rabbi Katri’s son Mendel Katri related.
“One of the policemen at the station has my personal number, and while I was in Israel for a short period, he sent me a message that he had a son and he wanted to name him Benjamin Netanyahu, as his first name,” continued Katri.
“The policeman, as an evangelical Christian, loves Israel so much, and Prime Minister Netanyahu and the position that he presents at the UN, that he wanted to connect the person he admired with his son.”
However, the policeman’s quest to name his child after Israel’s prime minister ran into bureaucratic trouble. As Netanyahu is a last name, the Brazilian Interior Ministry refused to allow the law enforcement officer to name his child after the figure he so admired.
After the cop was repeatedly stymied, he turned to Rabbi Katri and asked if he could intercede in an effort to convince the Interior Ministry to relax its opposition.
“My father himself got involved, and prepared a letter in which he explained to the population registry that the name ‘Netanyahu’ is also a first name, since it is based on the biblical name of Netanya,” recounted Mendel Katri.
“The effort was successful, and the ministry agreed to register the son of the Brazilian policeman as ‘Benjamin Netanyahu Rosa Santigo de Castro’.”
Signs of משיח times, may it be immediately.