Tzipiyah.com

It started with a youth minyan: the adults claim the youth make too much noise, the youth claim the tefilliah of the adults is boring. What is the solution? Separate the minyans!

There was also the different types of minyanim: There’s the “shtark” minyan, the yeshivish minyan, the tzioni minyan, the half tzioni minyan, the Sefardi minyan, the my mom is sfardi but my dad is Ashkenazi minyan, the beginners minyan, the quick minyan, the even quicker minyan, the quickest minyan – every 10 people can now have their own minyan.

This, I think, is one of the greater causes for the divisions in our communities. This, I also think, is the cause for the disconnect between our generation and our parent’s generation – be it through the secularization of many young people, or through the right wing turn of those who do stay religious – (what I’m criticizing is not what they became, but the way they become it which creates a disconnect with their parents).

There is a famous vort which says that the word “TziBbuR” (which can be translated loosely as community) is an acronym for Tzaddik, Benoni and Rasha (Righteous, “Average” and Evil). The reason given is simple, in order to truly have a community, you need all of those sectors to interact. A community is not a community with only Tzaddikim.

This is most clearly seen in the laws of the minyan. Even 9 Tzaddikim like Moshe Rabbenu are not considered better than 10 people, which include Reshaim, which come together in prayer to God. God tells us it is better to join a minyan of those 10 ordinary people than go pray with 8 other Tzaddikim.
There is no greater tragedy in Judaism than separation.

The Netziv wrote something incredible at his time when during the enlightenment, a lot of Jews were becoming secular, and Rabbis were unsure whether it was appropriate to continue living in the same communities. Some Rabbis wanted to build separate communities. The Netziv writes:

The writers instructed and advised to take guard from this generation and separate totally from each other, like Avraham separated from Lot. With all due regard to the writers, this advice is as difficult as swords to the body of the nation and its existence. For when we were in the Land and almost independent during the Second Temple, the land was darkened and the Temple destroyed because of the dispute of the Perushim with the Tzedokim, and needless hatred caused much bloodshed.

Let’s not forget, the Netziv obviously agrees the Tzedokim were wrong. He agrees they were completely heretical. Yet, he opposes the complete separation of a Jewish community nonetheless.

“[Hashem] is just and upright.” The praise of upright is written to justify Hashem’s judgment during the destruction of the Second Temple, when there was a stubborn and wily generation. We explained that they were righteous and pious and labored in Torah, but were not honest in their conduct. Therefore, because of the needless hatred in their hearts toward one another, they suspected everyone they saw who did not act according to their definition of fear of G-d – that he is a Tzedoki and an apikores. Through this they came to bloodshed in the extreme, and to all the evils of the world, until the Temple was destroyed.
There was tziduk hadin about this, because G-d is upright and doesn’t tolerate these kind of righteous people, only those who are upright also in their ways of life and not corrupt, even though it be for the sake of heaven, because this causes the destruction of Creation and the ruin of the settlement.

The Netziv basically says that when we say the Temple was destroyed because of Sinat Chinam, baseless hatred, we mean it was destroyed because of separation. There is no greater evil.
I really see a big problem with the way to community is organized today. In order to make minyanim quieter, we create youth minyan. What is the result? A child never has the chance to see his father pray.

In order to feel more comfortable, we each have our own type of minyan. What is the result? There is no interaction between the different layers of our community.

A community is built with different types of people, people who annoy each other sometimes. We cannot just separate ourselves for little issues of comfort because then, we sacrifice the community for our own comfort. If we stop praying together, we’ll stop speaking together, we’ll stop living together and then we’ll stop feeling connected as a community and as a nation.

Do you see any solution to the current fragmentation of our communities all around the world?