Chief Rabbi David Lau has sent a harshly-worked letter to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett protesting plans to promote a reformed system of conversion to Judaism in Israel and remove Rabbi Moshe Weller as head of the Conversion Authority in the Prime Minister's Office.

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In the letter, Lau writes, "The role of the head of Conversion Authority is to implement the halachacic instructions of the president of the Great Rabbinical Court. And the head of the Conversion Authority has an obligation to ensure that the halachic instructions are followed."

The reforms to Israel's conversion system, initiated by Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana, would among other things allow city rabbis to operate conversion courts in the hope of helping tens if not hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens of Jewish heritage who are not recognized as Jewish to convert. The conversion reform bill is due to be presented to the Knesset plenum for a first reading on Wednesday.

In his letter to Bennett, Lau also writes, "Removing from office the person who is in charge of implementing halachic instructions cuts off the connection between the conversion system and the Chief Rabbinate, and will lead to a disconnection and lack of halachic responsibility for what happens during conversions."

In addition, Lau warns, "Unfortunately, this step is part of a dangerous trend to promote a system of conversion that is currently being discussed. I once again state that the proposed conversion reforms will cause a massive rift in the Jewish people that cannot be healed."

According to Lau, "If the conversion reforms are implemented, it will split the Jewish people, who in the future will have to grapple with the question 'Who is Jewish?', whom they can marry or – heaven forbid – not marry, a terrible situation of two states for two peoples, a split Judaism rather than a united one."

Lau concludes by informing Bennett "with great regret" that if the reforms are passed and Weller is removed as head of the Conversion Authority, "I will be forced to remove myself from any responsibility for conversions, and will immediately stop approving any conversion certificates issued under [the new system]."

Responding to Lau's letter, Kahana said, "It's painful to see that the chief rabbi intends to stop conversion in Israel just because a functionary's job has not been extended. The move will hurt new immigrants from Ethiopia, IDF soldiers seeing to convert, and thousands of other potential converts."

Kahana said that in an attempt to reach as broad a consensus as possible, the government was promoting a conversion reform bill that would allow Israelis to want to convert to do so in accordance with Jewish law.

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Kahana urged Lau to reconsider his intention of stopping conversions and continue the dialogue, so all sides concerned could reach better agreements about government-run conversion that follows Jewish law.

Associates of Kahana accused Lau of going "out of bounds."

"Stopping all conversions is the 'nuclear option,' and the strongest tool against converts. It's an immoral, unjustified act," they said

Associates of Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata said that she would "not allow the rights of immigrants to be violated."

Later Tuesday, people close to Lau said that claims he intended to stop all conversions were "a complete lie."

A statement put out in the chief rabbi's name said: "The chief rabbi is defined by law as head of the Jewish people and signs off on every conversion to the Jewish religion. As part of this, the rabbi has the head of the Conversion Authority, whom he appoints to ensure that conversions take place in accordance with the rules of Jewish law.

"The moment that person is dismissed and the rabbi has no way of knowing according to what rules conversions were carried out, the chief rabbi will by no means sign off on any conversion, regardless of the identity of the convert and what country they come from, without knowing with certainty that it was conducted according to Jewish law, as detailed in the rabbi's letter to the prime minister," the statement read.

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A number of leading religious Zionist rabbis have signed an open letter calling for a boycott of Reform Judaism.

The rabbis' letter, published last week, said that "Recently, we regret to say that barriers are being broken down and some rabbis are holding meetings and discussions about the Torah with representatives of the Reform Movement, as we supposedly have a 'shared rabbinical discourse' with them."

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According to the signatories of the letter, "One may certainly love every Jewish person, but that does not mean, heaven forbid, allowing cooperation with representatives of the Reform movement that has taken away the Torah and is even now fighting against everything that is sacred in our country: conversion, the Western Wall, Jewish marriage, and more."

The open letter was published on the heels of a call last week by Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who attacked Rabbi Eliezer Melamed for his ties to the Reform community.

Yosef said that Reform Jews "faked" the Torah and "destroyed everything that was good in the Jewish people," and that "they must be kept at a distance so that not even a single person will listen to them in these meetings and follow their path."

Head of the Reform Movement in Israel, Rabbi Gilad Kariv, said in response to the rabbis' letter: "In the midst of a public health, social and economic crisis, prominent rabbis are choosing to spread hate and discord in Israeli society and among the Jewish people, rather than encouraging dialogue, moderation, and tolerance.

"The fact that some of them hold public office only worsens the ramifications of their inappropriate behavior," Kariv said.

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"More people tend to define themselves using the 'extreme' categories [of] religious or secular, and fewer categories in the middle," Dr. Yochi Fischer tells Israel Hayom.

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Fischer, a senior researcher at the Van Leer Institute, says that in 2002, 28.4% of Israelis defined themselves as "traditional but not religious," whereas in 2015 23.8% of respondents picked that category to describe their level of religious observance. Fischer attributes this shift to a cultural change that took place within the group that formerly defined itself as "traditional."

"We claim that they're doing this became they want to assign themselves to one of the camps, kind of close ranks, and adjust themselves to discourse that is very polarizing, not to say belligerent"

Polls by the Central Bureau of Statistics, the IDI, the Pew Institute, and other research bodies conducted from 2009-2017 presents a picture of increasing polarization between the "religious" and "secular" groups. But the Van Leer Institute, whose work focuses on social tensions in Israeli society, draws a different conclusion from the data.

One of the data points Fischer uses to make her argument is taken from the CBS' social survey, in which 18% of Jewish respondents said that they were more religious than they had been in the past, whereas 16% said they were less religious than they had been. This would appear to indicate that the two groups were moving further to each extreme, but Fischer says it shows that most of the public is holding steady when it comes to their way of life.

"There is a very large discrepancy between the polarized discourse about religification and secularization and what is actually happening. The numbers contradict the reality, because society is much more complex and more in the center of the spectrum than it has ever been," Fischer says.

Q: But that contradicts some of the polls published in the same time period, some of which you [the Van Leer Intitute] also analyzed.

"Much of the polls are conducted in the context of the present day, when discourse is highly factionalized and people are being asked to place themselves on one side or another and assign themselves a clear identity. But the differences between the two sides aren't dramatic. For example, given the discourse, we would expect to see a large jump in the number of religious people, because of the supposed religification. In fact, other than the increase in the haredi population, which is nothing more than the result of demography [the sector's high birth rate], the past few years haven't seen any major rise, not on the religious side or on the secular side, and certainly not because of cultural and religious changes."

Q: On what do you base your assumption that the talk about religification does not reflect the reality?

"If you look at various sectors of Israeli society, you'll see that there are processes that express secularization alongside religification, and they don't necessarily contradict one another," Fischer says.

This week, Fischer is slated to take part in a panel that is part of a series of events the institute is holding in various bars throughout Tel Aviv to discuss the issues of "Israeli secularism." The panel is titled, "Thank God, Israeli is becoming secular." Fischer has a number of explanations and examples to back up the name: "There are more marriages and possibilities for burial outside the rabbinate. There is private kashruth certification and public transportation on Shabbat. Along with that, there are also more blatant expressions of religious observance, such as gender-separated events, which did not used to exist."

Q: How do those not contradict one another?

"Take the issue of gender-segregated public events. 30 years ago, the haredi public never went to public concerts – today, they take part in events that are considered part of secular culture, but they do so while trying to preserve their lifestyle in a manner that might be even more stringently religious than in the past. They are undergoing a process of secularization, but not in the sense of abandoning their religious lifestyle or the religious commandments.

"Another example is segregation in academia. We can see that segregation as increased religiousness or religification, but when we look at the big picture, this is a conservative population that is opening itself up and going to institutions that are essentially secular, like universities, and using a secular product, like education.

"Some people see that as religification, and some see it as secularization. The haredi public has internalized secular, liberal values like the right to self-fulfillment and to integrate into society. In the name of those values, they're asking for gender segregation. They are undergoing a process of secularization and within the secular sphere they want to do ti in a way that is comfortable for them."

Q: So why is there so much fear of religious coercion and religification?

"Here we have the difficulty and the paradox of the secular word. It isn't confused because it is being made more religious, but because its liberal boundaries are being tested. Generally speaking, secularism has been very successful and now it has to accept a lot more religiousness by individuals who are coming under its umbrella," Fischer says.

Fischer says that today, there is more flexibility and a bigger scale when it comes to religious observance.

"There is a spectrum of religious people and a spectrum of traditional people and a spectrum of 'believers.' There are important, bilateral processes taking place in Israeli society, both toward religion and toward secularism, and not necessarily toward extremism on either side. The wars over religification and secularization are shallow, and that discourse is part of the problem."

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The booklet, issued in early October, included instructions for religious soldiers on how to avoid interaction with women. The IDF prides itself on including women in nearly all units, including combat units, and while it makes allowances for religious soldiers who seek to avoid serving in mixed combat units, it often has to ward off attacks by religious figures who demand women be excluded from combat units.

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Several extreme religious figures have even demanded women be excluded from the Israeli military as a whole.

Addressing the issue during an officers' graduation ceremony held in central Israel on Thursday Kochavi said: "This would be a good opportunity to underscore what is the exclusive and important role of commanders in the army. Over the years, and even more recently, I have encountered attempts by non-military officials to dictate norms of conduct to soldiers. For example, issuing guidelines regarding the joint service for women and men in the IDF.

"Let me be absolutely clear: The only people who have any authority on the matter are those who define military orders, procedures, and norms, namely military commanders, chief among them, me. There is no place in the IDF for external individuals who presume to have authority over our soldiers."

Women who serve in the IDF "are a source of strength and power, and their contribution to all military units is immense," the chief of staff proclaimed.  "Men and women will continue to serve side by side, as one, in the Israel Defense Forces so as to ensure the security of the State of Israel."

A Reserve Rabbis Forum, which issued the booklet, issued a statement saying, "We hope that the booklet we issued assists military rabbis in their important work, for the security of Israel and the military's success."

After Israel Hayom broke the story that the booklet was issued, Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman warned that the religious establishment was trying to turn the IDF into a religious militia.

"The publication of a booklet with modesty guidelines for soldiers is yet another example of the radicalization of the national-religious camp, led by haredi nationalist elements," Lieberman wrote on Facebook, warning the IDF was becoming "Hashem's army" (God's army).

"This attempt to make the IDF into a haredi organization is part of this messianic trend that has been plaguing Israeli society and undermines the delicate status quo between religion and state," he continued.  "This must be stopped; this booklet should not be handed out to IDF soldiers."

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Earlier Monday, Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu had been holding consultations about whether or not to fire Smotrich, who also heads the National Union faction in the United Right, over harsh criticism that Smotrich levelled at Netanyahu on Sunday.

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Smotrich called Netanyahu "weak" after the latter decided to cancel an event for the haredi sector in Afula, which was scheduled to be held with completely separate seating for men and women.

A few Likud officials told Israel Hayom that "Smotrich went too far."

"True, we're in an election, and everyone has to sharpen their message to their voters, but Smotrich went too far. There is a way to speak about the prime minister, even in a situation like this," the officials said.

On Twitter, Smotrich said, "This is a stupid legal system. I'm sorry, but despite my status, I can't find a gentler world. Progressive, fundamentalist, stupidity … the prime minister is weak. 100% of this nonsense is happening on his watch. Zero leadership. Zero governance. Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber [who has publicly backed a High Court ruling against gender-based separation at public events] is the real prime minister."

Smotrich went on to tweet that he urged the leaders of the nation's religious and haredi parties to "inform the prime minister, today, that they will make joining any future government under him conditional on making the necessary changes to the law to stop the 'secular coercion' and allow the religious public to live according to its beliefs."

Approximately an hour later, Smotrich tweeted again, somewhat softening his tone toward Netanyahu.

"I realize that there are some who were offended by the tweet on behalf of the prime minister. I'm one of those who never stops praising his diplomatic capabilities. But he can't be given credit for what is good here and exempted from responsibility for what is bad. For 10 years he has allowed the court system to destroy our wonderful country," Smotrich tweeted.

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Speaking to host Aryeh Golan, Akunis said that the Likud party under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not lend a hand to turning Israel into a state governed by Jewish law.

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"If there is a need, we will carry out [infrastructure] work on the Sabbath. There will be work on Shabbat to avoid inconveniencing the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians who need to use the trains. This is not a violation of the status quo," Akunis said.

Turning to a controversial bill that would make conscription of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students mandatory, Akunis said, "We absolutely intend to see more and more haredim enlisting in the IDF – and incidentally, that's already happening. The Likud, including myself, see IDF service as a most important value. We are in a dispute with the haredim about it, true, but we'll continue to integrate them [haredim], and eventually, in my opinion, it will benefit them. I'm in favor of full service for everyone."

Akunis said that even if Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Lieberman repeated his "lie" about a "state run by Jewish law" every time he discussed the September Knesset election, "it still wouldn't make it true."

"Israel under the Likud headed by Netanyahu – and not only under Netanyahu – has always been a Jewish, democratic state. Not a state run by Jewish law. That's how it will continue to be," Akunis said.

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