Ever Wonder Why the Jews Don’t Have a Pope?

By ניר חסון Nir Hason (ניר חסון Nir Hason) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
By ניר חסון Nir Hason (ניר חסון Nir Hason) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Everybody is free to learn whatever and however they wish to from the Torah.

Although there are some Jews who would really appreciate having someone like the Catholic Pope telling them what to do and guiding them toward the right and away from the wrong, but there is a certain reason why they have no pope-like figure in their religion. Thinking hard about this certain thought of why Jews do not have a Pope brings us to one of the most important essences of the religion; it does not recognize an all-powerful human who is infallible and knows exactly the God’s will. That answers almost all the questions regarding the topic. But digging deeper, one realizes that even Moses, the Lawgiver, had his own set of flaws and failures and was directed by God to appoint a council of elderly men who would be able to provide him proper council.

Jews do not trust power, nor do they like the fact that somebody is using power to shove doctrines down their throats. They look up to wisdom and keen understanding. This is the very reason that makes the Chief Rabbinate of Israel so disliked, as they have some ideas that appear very unpleasant to the Jews and also they are so taken to the authority they possess that they overlook the most important aspects of empathy and being fair to all.

Ever Wonder Why the Jews Don’t Have a Pope?[/tweetthis]

Jews Don’t React Well to Power and Impositions

For the Jews living in the U.S. the appointment of a central authority is ever more disastrous. Last time, a hundred years ago, when the group tried to appoint a Chief Rabbi, the majority of the Jews refused to acknowledge his leadership. Given this situation in mind, one might ask then what is it that the Jews look up to of it is not a leader or a particular person? The answer is the Holy Book Torah. The Torah holds all their collective wisdom and whatever they need to know they can find in the Torah, and use their own understanding to interpret the teachings. There is no one leader who interprets it on behalf of all the Jews everywhere. Everybody is free to learn whatever and however they wish to from the Torah. Though it does drive some followers crazy as they would have preferred someone to interpret it for them, but then it would become very boring to have everyone follow one and the same path.

The Holy Torah not only contains all the good ideas it also allows the people to follow their own understanding and interpretation, the sign of a good leader, just like Pope Francis, though a representative of the Church, he does everything to keep himself connected at the basic level with all kinds of people and all sorts of causes, with his humble and loving ways. He attracts the people not with his authority but with his love and open-mindedness.

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