similar trajectory towards greater Chasidim could also be seen by Nitra, Kashau, Tzehlim, Krasna and Pupa.”
conversation with a choshuve מרביץ תורה (disseminator of Torah) of Litvishe stock. at some point he remarked to me along the following lines – ‘I agree with you that the Litvishe way (Litvak דרך is the correct way, but it is harder. I have been breaking my head lately over some שווערע ( difficult passages of רמב”ם). It is hard. It is a lot easier to be a Chasid.’
Rav Moshe Feinstein זצ”ל famously used to say that the saying ‘Es iz shver tzu zein a Yid’ (it is difficult, hard to be a Jew’) did in a generation of Jewish youth. They would hear their father’s, although keeping the tradition, sighing, groaning, about the difficulty involved. The children then, when given the opportunity to live a life that seemed (on the surface) easier, sans the same observance, unsurprisingly grabbed it. No, he counseled, , we need to be very careful about what message we are sending – not ‘עס איז שווער צו זיין א איד’, rather ‘עס איז גוט צו זיין א איד” (it is good, great, enjoyable to be a Jew)!
I believe the same lesson applies . No, not ‘עס איז שווער צו זיין א ליטוואק’ , but rather ‘עס איז גוט צו זיין א ליטוואק’