The Public Council authorized to choose the composition of the new Jewish Home party will convene for the first time on Sunday afternoon. The meeting will take place in N’vei Ilan, outside Jerusalem.

The parties that made up the National Religious Party and the National Union formally dissolved themselves in recent days, and their Knesset Members authorized the Council's 38 rabbis, professors and other public figures to choose the new party’s Knesset list.

Two main items will be on the session's agenda: Whether to accept the MKs’ recommendation to hold open primaries to choose the party leader, and the manner in which the Knesset list will be formed.

Ariel vs. Orlev vs. Elon

Four men have announced their candidacy for party leader: MK Uri Ariel, MK Zevulun Orlev, dark-horse Tzachi Fenton, and MK Benny Elon. 



Ariel, faction head of the NRP-NU party in the Knesset, represents the more anti-Disengagement and pro-Land of Israel sectors of the religious-Zionist public, while Orlev, the last head of the National Religious Party, is the leader of choice for those who wish to place education at the top of the new party’s agenda.

Elon announced his candidacy on Sunday afternoon, just before the party's Public Council decisive meeting. Elon headed the Moledet party, which was founded by the late assassinated Minister Rehavam "Gandhi" Ze'evi.

Which Law to Break?

The race between the two is a reflection of the simmering tensions in the religious-Zionist camp, which began around the time of the Disengagement when many rabbis called on soldiers to refuse to carry out expulsion-related orders. Council chairman Yaakov Amidror, a former IDF intelligence officer, recently stated that if it were up to him, he would not want to have “law-breakers” on the list of candidates. This prompted replies from the opposing camp to the effect that “breaking Jewish law is at least as bad,” referring both to those who disobeyed the rabbis’ above calls and to those who actively seek secular candidates to run with the new party.

New Blood

Names that have been mentioned as potential new candidates for the Jewish Home’s Knesset list include the following:

* Ethiopian-Jewish party leader Avraham Negosa

* Judea and Samaria Jewish-rights activist Orit Strook

* Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat

* Alon Davidi, former Sderot mayoral candidate

* social activist Chili Tropper

* Rabbi Rachamim Nisimi

* Yesha Council head Danny Dayan

* journalist Uri Orbach

* Col. (res.) Moti Yogev, former Paratroopers Brigade commander and former Bnei Akiva chairman

* Channel Two journalist Sivan Rahav-Meir.

The founding parties have recommended – and the Council agrees - that of the first ten names on the list of candidates, at least four of them be people who are not currently serving in the Knesset, including women and “traditional” Jews, i.e., those who are not outwardly religiously observant.

The current Knesset Members of the founding parties are:

* Nissan Slomiansky, Eli Gabbai, and Zevulun Orlev of the NRP;

* Tzvi Hendel and Uri Ariel of Tekumah;

* Benny Elon and Aryeh Eldad of Moledet;

* and Effie Eitam and Yitzchak Levy of the now-defunct Achi party.

Eitam and Eldad have already declared that they will not be members of the new party, though Eldad is still being wooed. In addition, Gabbai has objected to the new party, thus burning his chances at being chosen. Many calls have been heard to replace veteran MKs with new blood.

14 Rabbis, 6 Women on the Council

Among the 38 Council members are 14 rabbis, such as Rabbis Chaim Druckman, Tzefaniah Drori, Yehoshua Weitzman, Elisha Vishlitzky, Elyakim Levanon, Dov Lior, and Eli Sadan. This number includes both rabbis who supported Disengagement-refusal and those who did not.

In addition, the Council includes six women, including retired Justice Sarah Frisch and Rabbanit Bracha Kapach; ORT-Israel Director Tzvi Peleg; Paamonim chairman Uriel Lederberg; reservists’ protest leader Maj. (res.) Yakir Segev; Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika; Atty. Yitzchak Meron of the Land of Israel Legal Forum; and Law Prof. Eliav Shochetman.