National Religious Party Chairman and former Education Minister Rabbi Yitzhak Levy, who is also a member of the Jewish Home party Chairman Search Committee and Hemdat HaDarom College board Chairman welcomes the selection of Rabbi Rafi Peretz as Jewish Home Chairman in an interview with Arutz Sheva.

"We feel we're returning to the track," says Rabbi Levy. "We found an excellent candidate after many days of examining and vetting the various candidates; we heard and we chose."

Rabbi Levy does not deny that Rabbi Peretz did not want to enter politics, "It should be said in his praise that he didn't want the job and needed to be convinced. Rabbi Rafi Peretz is an exemplary model of religious Zionism. A boy from a family of immigrants from Morocco who grew up in a ma'abara transit camp and went and bettered himself; learned in Nativ Meir at Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, went to pilot's training school, and besides that he grew up in Torah and received important positions. He set up a military preparatory academy and served as Military Chief Rabbi, and then returned to the preparatory program, which isn't something to be taken for granted."

He says Rabbi Peretz will return those who strayed to the New Right and the Likud back home: "He brings with him a different color; he's very connected to the youth in central Israel, his school is a preparatory program for the people of Ra'anana, Givat Shmuel, and Kfar Saba. He knows people from all over the country and knows how to talk to everyone, young and old. He has military background as a pilot and an important brigadier general. I hope a large part of our public will see the Jewish Home as their home and those who strayed to the New Right and Likud will come back home. Rabbi Rafi Peretz will bring the people home."

Rabbi Levy is not deterred by the lack of political experience: "I too came to politics after I was head of Kfar Maimon yeshiva. You come with have an open mind and you study; he'll have loyal assistants, and obviously he's now entering a different track of work."

Rabbi Levy says Rabbi Rafi Peretz should head a joint list, "There's no doubt that Smotrich will be the first or the second, or they'll sit and agree on the ways of connecting and establish the order. In my opinion, Rabbi Rafi Peretz should be first because Jewish Home is the most rooted and oldest party, but we're not mixing in. The screening committee has completed its job, except for the placement of a woman if she isn't chosen by the central committee."

Toward the end of the interview, Rabbi Levy noted that he does not accept Prime Minister Netanyahu's recommendation to connect with Otzma L'Yisrael: "In my opinion, Jewish Home and the National Union are the recommended connection and I hope they'll one day become one party. If Jewish Home and the National Union run together, I'm not worried about the vote threshold, and with Eli Yishai as a third party, I'm even less afraid."