Reply To: Resilience Without Intolerance

Choosid is also echoing the exact issue I’m getting at; the beard is just an example of how one group can take their shitos and bash another in an effort to strengthen their stances, which may or may not have sound, concrete halachik merit aside from hashkofa.

The Litvishe approach to working vs learning is similar, although the benefits of sitting and learning seem to be a lot more important than a beard in my opinion..we also have sources which promote being supported, having women work, and and taking tzedaka to learn, but chasidim ignore them because that was not the norm in many parts of Europe.

My question was and is, how can we preserve the strengths of our mesoros (separation from goyim, or sitting and learning day and night) without looking down on those who emphasize other elements of avodas Hashem?

I forgot to mention that I also don’t think shulchan aruch would say that scizzors which look like the effects of a razor would be allowed if no one did it at all in his time or previously. My guess is that it depended on the community.