Q:
Considering the situation in Eretz Yisrael and even here in America where we have such problems and they’re trying to destroy us, is it a good thing that among the frumme we find even machlokes now?
A:
Question about the dissentions among the frumme; machlokes among the frumme.
There are two kinds. Sometimes it is caused by wrong reactions—it’s a yielding to the yetzer hara when frum people are willing to see faults in other frum people.
Let’s say people from one community—let’s say Lakewood people would find chesronos in Brooklyn frum people. I don’t know if it’s possible because they’re mostly from Brooklyn anyhow. But let’s say if people in one community will find chesronos in another community. So if it’s due to the yetzer hara it’s a pity. But sometimes it’s due to idealism. Not everybody agrees exactly how to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And therefore we should give them credit.
I remember when I was in Slabodka, Slabodka and Telz were considered two different camps. There was no machlokes but they were different entirely.
I’ll give a mashal. Once a Telzer yungerman, a kollel man came to Slabodka and he asked to daven minchah. He was a yasom. They let him daven minchah. While he was davening minchah he said a little bit of a niggun. In Slabodka a niggun was out of the question so they were smiling. I saw them smiling. A niggun in chazaras hashatz? No; in Slabodka they daven like you talk. You’re talking to Hashem; no niggun. So they smiled. But in Telz that was the nusach. So you have two different ways.
Now in Slabodka they put the whole trop on certain things. In Telz, on other things. In Telz for instance one of the menahalim of Telz said, “What’s so important about learning Mesillas Yesharim? I learned through the whole Mesillas Yesharim and what about it?” In Slabodka they wouldn’t say such a thing.
What about it?!
So they would say in Slabodka, “Learn it again! You didn’t learn it enough.”
So there were shitos. Now a difference in shitos, that’s something that’s understandable and we always had a difference of opinion among chachomim. So we have to know how to distinguish and differentiate between the yetzer hara that loves machlokes or the yetzer tov that believes in principles and you should stand up for your principles.
December 1994
