Reply To: Do you love all Jews…

GH: I think this is partly true.

Capital ‘H’ Haskala didn’t occur in Muslim lands but we have to realize that those countries were very advanced in the sciences, the arts, astronomy, philosophy, etc. And it was in these lands that Sephardic rabbis were able to flourish. We don’t see the Rambam, Ritva etc. becoming reform (Chas vechalila) because they were exposed to “enlightened” societies.

Another point is that in general, Sephardic leadership tried to keep EVERYONE in the fold. If you were mechalel Shabbat, you were not banished. In Europe, they actively created walls against those who were not 100% in the fold. And that is why even nowadays you will see a spectrum of people in Sephardic shuls coexisting peacefully and organically. Among Ashkenazim, we’ve got MO shuls, black aht shuls, Chabad shuls, Yeshivish shuls etc. etc.

Don’t you guys ever questions this??