Interesting article I just saw:
Registration for marriage includes determining whether or not both the bride and groom are Jewish according to Orthodox criteria. Only Jews are permitted to marry in the Rabbinate.
Otherwise, the directives do not empower a rabbi from one city to register a resident of another. Also, every couple is obligated to pay a marriage tax to their local religious council that helps fund services offered in their city.
However, for many years, charedi rabbis of several localities – including Rechovot, Petach Tikva, Ashdod and Beer Sheva – have refused to automatically accept the Jewishness of converts converted by the Conversion Authority, which is headed by Chief Sephardi Rabbi Rav Shlomo Amar.
In a recent conference in Yerushalayim organized by Eternal Jewish Family, a charedi organization pushing for a more stringent supervision of the conversion process, several charedi city rabbonim declared they would not register converts converted by the Conversion Authority, which operates under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate.
These rabbonim said they would insist on scrutinizing every convert, no matter where his or her conversion was performed.
The interrogation is meant to determine that the convert embraced an Orthodox lifestyle. Those who have not might not be recognized as Jews.
These charedi rabbis, following in the footsteps of the gedolei hador,including Maran Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, have declared that anything less than a full acceptance of Torah and shemiras hamitzvos at the time of conversion followed by concrete proof of adherence to a Torah lifestyle after the conversion renders the conversion invalid. Many converts who refuse to submit to the scrutiny of charedi city rabbis are unable to marry in Israel.
In contrast, Zionist city rabbis unquestioningly recognize conversions performed by all reputable Orthodox conversion courts. They have been stepping in to help these converts.
However, this directive has been ignored and haredi city rabbis have continued to appropriate the authority to investigate the authenticity of the conversion before registering a convert for marriage.
According to attorney Mordechai Eisenberg, head of the Movement for Fairness in Government, a watchdog group specializing in religion-state issues, said it was unrealistic and unfair to expect rabbis to compromise their halachic opinions.
A bill backed by Chairman of the Knesset Law Committee David Rotem (Yisroel Beiteinu) might solve the problem by empowering every city rabbi to register converts regardless of their place of residence.
Efrat Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin said that while it was true that conversion was a serious process that included the acceptance of the commandments, in Israel the reality was different from in the Diaspora.
[in Israel]
According to Riskin, there are two aspects to conversion. The religious aspect entail acceptance of an Orthodox lifestyle. But the second aspect of conversion, which is symbolized by tevilah, is national.
[he or she]
There are about 300,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not Jewish according to Orthodox criteria but who have integrated into Israeli society.