“Ashkenazim are more intellectual??
That’s a Chiddush.”
A Sephardic friend explained that to me. He said that the Ashkenazi connection to Hashem is more intellectual. Which was good until Haskala. Before Haskala, the average nonJew was an illiterate ingnorant peasant. It was easy to stay separated.
After secular enlightenment, their ideas were harder to refute out of hand. That’s why many went OTD in Europe, especially among non chassidim. The Chassidim, my friend explains, went more towards the emotional/spiritual connection to Hashem, and thus suffered less OTD.