Aryeh Stern was born in 1944 in Tel Aviv, and studied at the HaYishuv HaChadash yeshiva, led by Rabbi Yehuda Kolodetsky.

[6] He faced motions in the Supreme Court to disqualify him from running due to an expired rabbinical certificate, and an attempt to postpone the elections until after his seventieth birthday when he would become ineligible to submit his candidacy.

[citation needed] Stern's election was backed by Bennett, leader of the Bayit Yehudi party, and by Jerusalem mayor, Nir Barkat.

[citation needed] Upon his election, Stern said, "It is in my intention to serve as the rabbi of all Jerusalemites: secular, modern-orthodox and charedi alike.

[7] On 28 December 2014, Stern was appointed by President Reuven Rivlin as a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel.