based on a shiur I heard this morning (siman kuf ayin aleph in shulchan aruch) it seems to me there is a difference if the shul seats are priced based on place (mizrach wall = premium pricing) or if just pay membership which gets you a seat. if you paid a certain price for certain placement I think you’d have more of a “right” to a seat, if you pay general membership which gets you a seat you have less of a “right” to a specific seat. the fact that people get so worked up over getting their particular seat says to me that in general people feel a certain expectation to get “their” seat and if someone is in their seat it leaves a lot of people feeling rattled. If someone walks into a shul as a guest and doesn’t ask where to sit they are clueless and inconsiderate imo
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