(IsraelNN.com) Three incumbent MKs and five lesser-known figures are running for the position of Jewish Home party leader. The decision will be made on Thursday.

The Jewish Home was formed last month when the former religious-Zionist parties – the National Religious Party (NRP), Tekumah, Moledet and Achi – dissolved themselves and agreed to unite into one. A 39-member public committee was appointed to choose the candidates for Knesset.

The committee decided last week, in a controversial decision that ran contrary to the wishes of some of the party leaders, to choose the party leader itself, as opposed to via open primaries. In fact, MK Rabbi Yitzchak Levy, of the Achi party, said he would not seek a spot on the new party’s list of candidates – in protest of the decision (see below).

The most prominent candidates for party leader are MKs Benny Elon, Zevulun Orlev, and Uri Ariel. Each, however, has the “drawback” of being a leader of a former party, and as such represents a very specific ideology. Orlev, for instance, headed the NRP, and is associated with a more lukewarm approach to Land of Israel issues – and is likely to drive away voters from Judea and Samaria and their supporters. Ariel, on the other hand, of Tekumah, and Elon to a lesser extent, who headed Moledet, are not regarded as having the potential of attracting the more “modern” religious-Zionist camp.

The other option facing the Public Committee, therefore, is to choose a less well-known candidate – of which five are in the running. They are:

• David Be’eri, head of the City of David (Ir David) organization, which promotes and implements Jewish settlement in many areas of eastern Jerusalem;
• Avraham Lifshitz, former Secretary-General of Bnei Akiva and a very popular principal and educator;
• Prof. Daniel Hershkovitz, former Dean of the Technion's Mathematics Department and rabbi of Haifa’s Ahuza neighborhood (his Hebrew–language article on math problems in the Talmud appears here);
• Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, head of the Rabbinical Courts; and
• Rabbi Avi Vurtzman, head of the MiBreishit organization and Deputy Mayor-elect of Be’er Sheva.

MK Rabbi Levy Leaves Knesset
Meanwhile, MK Rabbi Yitzchak Levy has announced his resignation from the Knesset, to take effect at the end of the current term. He said that his position supporting primaries for party leader had not been accepted, and that “after 20 years in the Knesset, I am entitled to be choosy and be part of the framework that best matches my positions.”

“I felt that primaries would be the best choice,” Levy told Arutz-7’s Shimon Cohen, “in that it would ‘wake up’ the public, and that it was important to ask the public to be a part of the process. I think this was a mistake, but I wish the new party success.”

MK Aryeh Eldad of HaTikvah has already used Levy’s decision to attack the new party. Eldad, a non-observant right-wing Jew who refused to join the new party because he felt his ideology would not be manifest in its policies, praised Levy as a true leader and declared, “His resignation from the Jewish Home because of the lack of primaries reflects his sense that a party that does not want the public to choose its leadership will not be able to receive public support in the elections.”

Letter to Eldad: Join Us, Don't Attack
To counter this, Rabbi Hillel Horowitz of Hevron wrote an open letter to Eldad, asking him as “one friend to another” to join the Jewish Home. Rabbi Horowitz reminded Eldad that splitting up and attacking one another was not the way to strengthen the pro-Land of Israel camp.

“It is clear to us all,” Rabbi Horowitz wrote, “that our only chance of keeping our national home in the Land of Israel lies in unity among all the partners to this goal, thus showing the public that our motives are not personal… Aryeh, you know deep in your heart that your place is with us. True, there are difficulties, but the idea is bigger than both of us. Factionalism and division never brought us anything… Yes, the Jewish Home party is not perfect, but we are working within a specific reality; these are the givens and that’s that. I request of you, do not lend your hand to announcements that weaken our message of unity. We will not be helped by such things, but neither will you. We must direct our arrows against those who want to harm our national home. In addition, a charged atmosphere will make it harder for the natural thing to happen – namely, your return to the Jewish Home. I, and many others, view you as a true friend and partner in the path to our goal. Please, don’t tear the rope.”