Sorry Avi
What happened with the langer case is that the top Rabbanut BD, what you can call the halachic supreme court, paskened and revisited the issue and paskened again that these people were mamzerim.
There was no other avenue of appeal. But there was public pressure, and Goren saw an opportunity . He convened a secret BD that had no real authority since the matter had already been ruled on repeatedly. No one knew who the BD was for years (it was sealed under top secret military clearance) and Goren waved a magic wand and gave the secular public what they wanted, a chief rabbi who is willing to bend Halacha to accommodate the desires of the people.
He had no halachic authority to do what he did. , but he was able to do it based on his position.
Menu