Who Calls the Shots for Jews?

During the time of Tanaim and Amoraim there was no government except the Torah and the Torah-leaders. There was no king, or privileged nobility; there were no barons or cheiftains, no popularly chosen leaders or men of war that held sway. The Torah Sages, and they alone, conducted all the affairs of the communities and of the nation in general. Never were they contradicted, from the Second Destruction down to the end of the Amoraim, by any man of power among the people of Israel. There is not even one instance of confrontation between a Torah-Sage and one who was not a Torah-Sage, on any matter of ideology or national policy. -- Exalated People