The Prime Minister's Office – supposedly responsible for conversion policy – reportedly didn't even know about the changes until they were published.

Among what have been described as "draconian measures" is the prerogative to annul conversions retroactively in the event of their being deemed "mistaken."

This directive reminds me of a case that was heard in the Haifa rabbinical divorce courts a number of years ago. The wife was an Orthodox convert to Judaism. Since her husband was able to prove that she did not observe Shabbat rigorously, he succeeded in persuading the court to annul her conversion.

If her conversion was invalid, so was his marriage to her. As such, the divorce court ruled that he had the right to remarry without issuing his former wife with a get (divorce bill) and meeting the financial obligations of a divorce agreement with her.

Many would question whether there is any halachic basis whatsoever for the ex post facto annulment of a conversion. Once a Jew always a Jew – and that goes for converts as well.

The truth is that Rabbi Amar's new conversion regulations are indicative of an ongoing struggle between the chief rabbinate and the Prime Minister's Office over who shall have jurisdiction over conversion procedures in Israel.

Attempts by the prime minister to ease the process and make the option of conversion more accessible to the 300,000 immigrants from the former USSR who are not Jewish have met with strong resistance from most of the Orthodox rabbinical establishment.

Judaism is an exclusive club, they will tell you, and all clubs have their entry qualifications.

All would be well and good if people were fighting to join the club – but the opposite is the case. Rather than people running to adopt Judaism, they are fleeing from it.

A recent report from the United States indicated that almost 50 percent of American college students who affiliate with Hillel have only one Jewish parent. While it is encouraging that they choose to associate with Hillel, the figures are an inevitable reflection of the high rate of intermarriage within Diaspora Jewry.

HOWEVER, ISRAEL cannot sit back and rub her hands smugly in the belief that her society is immune to the threat to Jewish identity of an open, pluralistic and largely secular society.

The story is told that while Palestinian leader Jibril Rajoub was sitting in an Israeli prison he saw a prison warder eating falafel in pitta bread. Said Rajoub: "Why are you eating that? Don't you know it's Pessah?"

The warder shrugged his shoulders indifferently. Rajoub is reported as remarking that when he saw that he realized that the State of Israel would destroy itself.

While the reports of our impending death are greatly exaggerated, most would agree that we must do everything in our power to increase the observance of Judaism and encourage would-be converts to join us.

For instance, the new rules require that conversion candidates maintain "a Torah-observant lifestyle" even though the majority of Jews worldwide do not live their lives in an Orthodox fashion.

Setting unrealistic criteria for conversion and raising innumerable barriers does not increase the observance of Judaism – just the opposite; it encourages potential converts give up.

Day after day, as director of the rabbinical court of the Israel Council of Progressive Rabbis, I deal with applications for conversion. Some come from those who have fallen foul of the labyrinth the Orthodox rabbinical establishment has created.

Fortunately, conversions performed under our auspices are now also recognized by the State of Israel for registration purposes. Reform converts are at last accepted as Jews by the Jewish state.

Nevertheless, Rabbi Amar's new regulations are a further reminder that it is high time for Israel to de-establish religion and enable the various streams of Judaism to compete on an equal footing.

The writer is director of the rabbinic court of the Israel Council of Progressive Rabbis.