Israel is in the throes of a grave political crisis that ballooned in recent days to envelop crucial components of society — the military, universities and trade unions — and has caused strains with Israel’s foreign allies, chief among them the United States.

For weeks, protesters have taken to the streets to oppose the government’s plan to overhaul judicial rules. The discontent intensified on Sunday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, who had criticized the plan for causing turmoil within the military.

After a nationwide work stoppage that brought many services to a halt and snarled air traffic on Monday, Mr. Netanyahu announced a delay in the judicial legislation to allow for negotiations and a possible compromise between his ruling coalition and the opposition parties.

Even after the talks got underway, opponents of the judicial plan remain skeptical of Mr. Netanyahu’s motives and a dispute over the program with the Biden administration burst into the open.

Here’s what you need to know:

What is the government trying to do?

Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition, the most right wing and religiously conservative in Israel’s history, says the judiciary has granted itself increased authority over the years. The government also contends that the Supreme Court is not representative of the diversity of Israeli society.

In its proposed judicial changes, the government is first trying to change the makeup of a nine-member committee that selects judges for the court. The proposal would give representatives and appointees of the government an automatic majority on the committee, effectively allowing the government to choose the judges and the next president of the court. The government also wants to curb what it calls the Supreme Court’s overreach by drastically restricting its ability to strike down laws that it deems unconstitutional.

Critics say the proposed overhaul would place unchecked power in the hands of the government of the day, remove protections afforded to individuals and minorities and deepen the divisions in an already fractured society. They also fear that Mr. Netanyahu, who is standing trial on corruption charges, could use the changes to extricate himself from his legal troubles.

Why is the country divided?

In broad terms, the schism in Israeli society has divided people into two groups: those who want a more secular and pluralist state and those with a more religious and nationalist vision.

To its critics, the Supreme Court is seen as the last bastion of the secular, centrist elite descended from European Jewry who dominated the state during its earliest decades. Religious Jews, particularly the ultra-Orthodox, perceive the court as an obstacle to their way of life.

The court has often opposed certain privileges and financial subsidies for the ultra-Orthodox. In particular, the court rejected a special dispensation that allowed ultra-Orthodox Jews an exemption from military service in favor of religious study, infuriating religious leaders. Right-wing Israelis who want to entrench Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank also see the court as an antagonist.

Who is protesting?

The opposition has mainly been driven by secular centrists who fear the overhaul will threaten their freedoms and way of life. But there is also a growing resistance and desire for dialogue and compromise from parts of the religious right who say the government has pushed too far and too fast.

Israel’s largest trade union, which had previously tried to stay out of the fray, called a general strike on Monday.

The heads of Israel’s leading universities collectively agreed to suspend all teaching on their campuses.

But perhaps the most consequential opposition to the process came from reservists, who play a significant role in Israel’s military capacity.

Reservists say they fear being given illegal military orders if the Supreme Court lacks the power to scrutinize government activity adequately. And they fear being charged in international courts if the Israeli justice system is perceived as being too weak to prosecute soldiers.

Military leaders warned that a decline in reservists, who form a key part of the air force pilot corps, could soon affect the military’s operational capacity. The defense minister, Yoav Gallant, called on Saturday for a halt to the judicial changes; he was fired on Sunday by Mr. Netanyahu, whose office announced the dismissal in a one-line statement.

Mass protests took place on Monday both for and against the judicial overhaul. That evening, Mr. Netanyahu announced a temporary pause of just over a month in the legislative program, while Parliament is in recess, to allow time for discussions under the auspices of Israel’s mostly ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog.

What happens next?

Talks hosted by Mr. Herzog, the president, began with a preliminary, mainly procedural meeting of negotiating teams from both sides at his official residence on Tuesday.

The start of talks has mostly calmed the stormy atmosphere for now. But many Israelis, including the organizers of the anti-government protests that have rocked the country for the past 12 weeks, remained wary that Mr. Netanyahu’s call for a pause was merely a tactic to quell the civil unrest. It also failed to ease U.S.-Israeli tensions.

Israeli supporters of the judicial overhaul are worried that it will now be watered down or abandoned. They accuse Israeli liberals of “stealing” the November election and subverting the program by illegitimate means.

Opponents of the judicial overhaul fear that the talks will fail and that the plan will be back on the agenda when Parliament reconvenes at the end of April. The most contentious part of the proposed legislation, giving the governing coalition more influence over the selection of Supreme Court judges, has been through all the preparatory stages and could be brought any time for a quick final approval in Parliament.