Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who chairs the Religious Zionism party, on Sunday evening met with Rabbi Meir Kahane, who has been chosen as a candidate for the position of Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi by the rabbinical committee headed by Rabbi Yaakov Ariel.
Smotrich, who had preferred a different candidate, congratulated Rabbi Kahane on his candidacy and expressed his absolute support for it.
The two spoke about the continuation of the process until elections for the positions of Chief Rabbis are held, and agreed to work in full coordination in order to bring about Rabbi Kahane's election for the position.
"The special unity among all stripes of the Religious Zionist community at the rabbinical conference was moving, and when there is unity there is Divine intervention and good results," Smotrich told Rabbi Kahane. "With G-d's help we will continue to work together to strengthen the Chief Rabbinate and the State's Jewish identity."
Rabbi Kahane is 54 years old, and serves as the head of the Ashkelon Rabbinical Court and the National Representation of Rabbinical Judges.
A father of five, Rabbi Kahane was born in Bat Yam and grew up in Bnei Brak. He studied in the Netiv Meir high school yeshiva in Jerusalem, and in the Kiryat Shmona hesder yeshiva, where he studied for seven years. After his marriage, Rabbi Kahane studied for certification as a rabbinical judge at the Eretz Hemdah yeshiva in Jerusalem. At the end of this period of study, which lasted seven years, he received his certification.