Wolf – This is one comparison that doesn’t bother me in the least. Comparing Ashkenazi halacha and Sephardi halacha is being accepting. Everyone accepts the fact that Ashkenazim are supposed to do certain things and Sephardim are supposed to do others.
Saying that Ashkenazim or Sephardim are more machmir or more meikel is not a judgment on the people at all – it is simply a fact that the halachos for one may be more stringent than the other. We accept the fact that different Jews are supposed to do things differently, and no one thinks one way is better than the other.
And by the way, being more machmir is not always a good thing. Neither is being more meikel.