During the period of the British Mandate of Palestine, the High Commissioner established the Orthodox Rabbinate, comprising the Rishon LeZion to which was added an Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, which it recognised collectively as the religious authority for the Jewish community. In 1921, Abraham Isaac Kook became the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi and Jacob Meir became the Sephardi Chief Rabbi. In 1947, David Ben-Gurion and the religious parties reached an agreement, which included an understanding that matters of personal status in Israel would continue to be determined by the existing religious authorities. This arrangement has been termed the status quo agreement and has been maintained despite numerous changes of government since. Under the arrangement, the Mandate period confessional system would continue, with membership in the Jewish community being on the basis of membership of a body called "Knesset Israel", which was a voluntary organization open to Jews. There does not seem to have been any dispute at the time of who was a Jew. Jews could choose not to register with "Knesset Israel". Members of Agudath Israel, for example, chose not to register. In 1953, rabbinical courts were established with jurisdiction over matters of marriage and divorces of "all" Jews in Israel, nationals and residents. (section 1) It was also provided that marriages and divorces of Jews in Israel would be conducted according to the law of the Torah (section 2). Since 1953, the rabbinate has only approved religious marriages in Israel conducted in accordance with the Orthodox interpretation of "halakha". The only exception to these arrangements was that marriages entered into abroad would be recognised in Israel as valid. The Chief Rabbinate is recognised by the State of Israel as the sole authority to perform conversions to Judaism in Israel. This was often done sensitively and with an appreciation for halachic traditions, for example with Ben-Zion Uziel, who was very encouraging of converts. In recent generations, the interpretation of the process has become more stringent to the extent that it takes actions that are unprecedented in Jewish history such as cancelling conversions. Some rabbis claim this centralisation is a threat to the future of the Jewish people. There has been significant controversy surrounding the relationship of the Chief Rabbis and the conversion process. It was revealed that they held a list of Beth Dins whose conversions it will recognise, and maintained a secret black list of rabbis whose conversions they would not recognise. This list caused controversy since there were a number of well regarded Orthodox rabbis on the list, including Avi Weiss and Yehoshua Fass.