So what’s the surprise? Yidden always had a gigantic “civil society” based on voluntarism. Even in the past when Yidden had a “chief” rabbi, the position never involved micromanaging community services. Every agency (every heder, every yeshiva, every shul, every mikva, every charitable organization) was an independent voluntary organization.
However to most Israelis, this is a serious problem, since the goal of zionism is to rid Eretz Yisrael of Yiddishkeit, and it is hard to do so when you are up against a community whose activities are based on voluntary activities rather than a centralized structure that could be disabled by chopping off the top.