To listen to synagogue consultants, this pope was everything a religious leader shouldn't be. He wouldn�t compromise for outreach. He spoke openly against sin. He was judgmental and a moral absolutist. He rejected equality for women clergy. He was dismissive of gay claims and damned birth control. He was skeptical of modernity. He embraced ex-Nazi Kurt Waldheim and Yasir Arafat, the most prolific killer of Jews since the Nazis.

And yet in this Easter season, historically a time when pogromists rampaged against Jews, we now feel safer among religious Christians than we do among any other group on earth. This pope's apologies for centuries of anti-Semitism and his recognition of Jews as "elder brothers - children of the covenant" has reverberated through all of Christianity, where for the first time it is shameful to hate Jews and even chic to love us.

John Paul II was the first pope to visit a synagogue, to place a note begging forgiveness in the Western Wall and to viscerally absorb the Shoah in all its theological magnitude as only a Pole who remembered prewar Poland could.

. . . For what is perhaps the first time in history, a Jewish group, Edah - an Orthodox group, no less - distributed a prayer for a pope to be recited in synagogues, specifically for the pope as he lay dying, invoking Abraham�s prayer for a non-Jewish king and his court.

More evidence that personal relationships are the bedrock of social change:

"I belong to the generation for which relationships with Jews was a daily occurrence," he commented after becoming pope. "I have in front of my eyes the numerous worshippers who during their holidays passed on their way to pray."

Jerzy Kluger, a lifelong friend who later served as an intermediary between the Vatican and Israel, said, �The people in the Vatican do not know Jews, and previous popes did not know Jews, but this pope is a friend of the Jewish people because he knows Jewish people.�

Will the next Pope - who is unlikely to have John Paul's close ties to the Jewish community - continue his legacy of respect for his "Elder Brothers"?

It will probably take months to determine if the new pope will take the Church�s relationship with the Jewish community in a new direction or continue John Paul II�s. Some of his initiatives are certain to remain, observers said.

Fisher said the changes instituted by the John Paul II are �a permanent part� of the church, �part of the institution.�

"The legacy of this pope will remain forever," Granot said. "He has set the basis for a very strong dialogue.

Rabbi Klenicki said the substantive changes in Jewish-Catholic relations, like political recognition of Israel, will not be affected by the death of one individual, even one as influential as John Paul II.

And areas of contention remain, that will either be addressed or ignored by the next Pope.

UPDATE: Jewlicious notes an interesting candidate, whom I wrote about two years ago in regard to his visit to Yeshiva University.