![Rabbi Amihai Eliyahu with MK Itamar Ben-Gvir](https://a7.org/files/pictures/781x439/1084265.jpg)
On Sunday, the Otzma Yehudit party announced the identity of the person in fourth position on its slate: Rabbi Amihai Eliyahu, the head of the Union of Community Rabbis, the grandson of former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, and the son of Tzfat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu.
Announcing the placing, Otzma Yehudit head MK Itamar Ben-Gvir said, "This is an historic moment for Religious-Zionism. Rabbi Amihai Eliyahu is the authentic representative of the community of knitted kippah wearers and also of those whose head coverings are transparent [i.e. those who are traditional or secular]. He will wage the battle for Jewish identity and further the traditions of our fathers and grandfathers with his love of his fellow Jews and genuine connection to the Jewish People."
"I am delighted to be given the privilege of being a faithful representative of the Jewish People in joining Otzma Yehudit," Rabbi Eliyahu responded, "the party headed by MK Itamar Ben-Gvir. This is good news for those who want to see connections forged between the different communities and streams who will all join together under the emblem of love of Torah, love of the Jewish People, and love of the Land of Israel."
Rabbi Eliyahu is 43 years old and is married with six children. He lives in the community of Rimonim, not far from Jerusalem. He established the Union of Community Rabbis with 350 members, and was also one of the founders of a special rabbinical court created in order to investigate sexual abuse crimes committed by authority figures. In years past he was a key activist in the National Union party which since morphed into today's Religious Zionism party, headed by MK Bezalel Smotrich.
As a young man, Rabbi Eliyahu learned in Tel Aviv, Tzfat, and Har Hamor yeshivas. During his mandatory army service he was recruited to a paratroopers unit and he fought in the Second Lebanon War. Following his discharge he was appointed as a senior teacher in the Chispin yeshiva, and in later years he established a Torah core community in the city of Migdal Ha'emek.
Rabbi Eliyahu also founded the Shadarim organization which promotes connections between Jews living outside Israel's borders and Israeli Jews, and seeks to ease integration of foreign-born Jews into Israeli society after they immigrate. He also established the Tzav Echad organization which protects the rights of traditionally observant Jews in the IDF.
Otzma Yehudit's list is now shaping up, with MK Itamar Ben-Gvir at its head, the party's south Tel Aviv director Yitzhak Wasserlauf in second place, and Almog Cohen, the party's representative of peripheral regions in third place.