Reply To: Respecting Differences

@ Gadol And my point would be that history shows an incredible diversity that makes today’s intolerance suspect.
You can’t argue on the one hand that “we stand in the shoulders” of previous generations, and then dismiss everyone except a specific חסידות or ראש הישיבה as “exceptions”.
The opposite is true. There were specific personalities, Mendelssohn or Heine, who were כופרים. And there were many people who through a combination of crushing poverty, virulent antisemitism, and lack of moral character, completely left their Judaism behind. And there were גדולים, ,like the חפץ חיים.
Most people fell somewhere in between.
More to the point, only a fraction of the tens of thousands of people learning Lakewood can accurately claim that they come from an unbroken chain of the typr of orthodoxy UJM seems to cherish.
If R’ Aron had agreed.eith UJM and rejected or excluded anyone holding”Modern Orthodox” views, be wouldn’t have had a yeshiva.
And if Sarah Schenirer hadn’t completely revolutionized Jewish education, it’s very possible that there wouldn’t be a Jewish people.
So rather than getting on a high horse and making lists of what is wrong with other Jews the week of יוה”כ, keep in mind that differences in character and temperament are opportunities for growth.