n0 > The shtetl stirred up a lot of agnostic attitudes toward the Torah. Which is why irreligious sefardim (In the mid-east) did not have such attitudes until they met their western counterparts.
I just wrote about this in another thread. I don’t the shtetl itself created the stira – rather enlightment and russian oppression. R Berel Wein traces antagonism of Israeli commies towards religious organization to the russian law that made kahal responsible for providing cantonists – kids for pre-army military schools, leading to corruption and violence within the community.