Yair Lapid on Thursday went to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem after the Knesset voted to dissolve and ahead of his formal ascension to the role of prime minister.
Breaking with tradition, Lapid visited the Holocaust museum instead of the Western Wall — a vestige of the ancient Jewish Temple — where newly minted Israeli leaders thank God and pray for guidance.
Lapid said he went to the memorial to promise his late father Yosef "Tommy" Lapid — a Serbian-born Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Israel and became a television presenter, playwright, journalist, politician and government minister — he will maintain Israel's strength.
"I came to promise dad that I would always preserve a strong Israel, able to defend itself and to defend its children," he said.
Lapid will attend a small handover ceremony in the Prime Minister's Office with outgoing premier, Naftali Bennett.
The modest ceremony is aimed at conveying that the workings of the outgoing cabinet will continue seamlessly under the Lapid-led caretaker government.
As part of the handover, Bennett and Lapid will hold a briefing on critical information. Bennett said the briefing will be done thoroughly unlike the short half-hour rundown he received from his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu last year after he had failed to form a coalition government.
At midnight, Lapid will officially receive his appointment from President Issac Herzog.
Lapid will head his first cabinet meeting on Sunday and is set to take his first overseas trip on Tuesday when he will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
He will also host U.S. President Joe Biden later in the month on his first official trip to Israel since taking office.
Lapid intends to reside in Jerusalem in a house neighboring the official Prime Minister's Residence which is undergoing renovations.
Bennett opted to remain in his home in Ra'anana during renovations, which were delayed due to a labor dispute, raising the condemnation of opponents who decried what they saw as a waste of public funds and a disruption of the lives of neighbors.
They also slammed the outgoing prime minister for failing to make Jerusalem his home and deemed it a sign of disrespect to its symbolic significance as the country's capital.
Lapid will become the first prime minister to take office in the midst of an election. This poses special challenges for the leader who will be bogged down with matters of the state alongside his efforts to win an election.
He said campaigning will take a back seat and his role at the helm of the government will receive the lion's share of his time and attention.
As he enters the Prime Minister's Office, Lapid will be followed by a close coterie of his advisors and aides but will not replace the cabinet secretary or any senior security staff appointed by Bennett.