Shouldn’t we Torah Jews show we have modernized, upgraded, our Torah performance? Shouldn’t we show the world we are a savvy, modernized nation? “
We are not in disagreement about that. Where some people and I might view things a little differently, is in the notion that our “upgraded” (read: excessive chumrah-filled) performance is a better one solely by virtue of its strictness. Hashem never asked of us to be machmir, but to follow the Din. The Torah He gave us was and is perfect to begin with. The danger in some chumros is ONLY that when one is accustomed to them, one starts to believe the chumrah is the ikkar shel halacha, when in fact the chumrah was never required of us in the first place. And when that belief becomes pervasive, it also becomes divisive, as each Yid tries to outfrum the next. We are a beautiful palette, all on the frum continuum, and when all of us recognize that about each other and respect even the “bare minimum” observance as being a frum yid, I think Moshiach will be ready to come.