[Avodah] Chol Moed Minyan for Those Who Wear Tefillen

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Micha Berger concluded:

> BTW, if I had to guess, it would depend on whether people are
> indeed motivated by a consciencous following of family customs
> and the perspective on Torah that comes with their subculture.
> And how much is simple ethnic pride and the actual identification
> with Litvaks or Hungarians or Yekkes, Mughrabi or Halbi than
> identification with the Jewish People, or shomerei Torah umitzvos
> as self-identifications.

That's an excellent analysis, until we ask which side of the aisle the
MB and AhS were on.

By insisting that the whole shul should do the same thing, aren't they
putting the main emphasis on family customs, their own subculture,
ethnic pride, and subgroup identification -- with LESS emphasis on
identification with the Jewish People and shomerei Torah umitzvos? Do
we really want to accuse the MB and AhS of that?

I think there is another way we can look at this whole topic. Let's
ask what makes Chol Hamoed Tefillin so unusual. Why is this case
different than so many others? Someone else asked why there isn't any
enforced uniformity regarding unmarried men wearing a tallis in shul.
Why is that different?

How about the differing ways of avoiding simcha during sefira? One
person will make a wedding during the last week of Nisan, and another
person FROM THE SAME SHUL will make a wedding after Lag Baomer. Not
only is this tolerated, but the entire shul is allowed to attend both
weddings! Why don't we insist that the whole town should go one way or
the other, like with the tefillin?

Sometimes I feel that our perspective on these issues is so very
different than what prevailed in the unified kehilos of yesteryear,
that we cannot ever hope to understand it. I think the confusion comes
from try to impose one perspective on a differing situation. Perhaps
we ought to "agree to disagree". Specifically: *WE* get strength from
our diversity; *THEY* got strength from their uniformity.

I personally worry about the misfits in those cultures, and the losses
they suffered. But perhaps their leaders accepted that as an
acceptable price for the chizuk that came to the larger group. We have
been trained to be unwilling to accept such a price, and we fight for
every single individual. But that too has a price, and we are often
unable or unwilling to admit it.

Akiva Miller