Between the 17th and 18th Centuries, there was an explosion of innovation in Jewish practice that followed the introduction and popularization of the Tzfas schools of kabbala. I might be wrong, but I can't help thinking that a Jew from the year 1650, miraculously transported to a thriving Torah community in 2023, would wonder whether he was still among Jews. Everything would look, sound, and feel so different.
That's all fine. But what I would like to see is a world where it's also normal and acceptable for a Jew to choose to live according to the traditional principles of pre-Tzfas Judaism. There should be room in such a world for other - newer - traditions. But loyalty to the innovations of Tzfas should never be a test for loyalty to God's Torah. I'm looking for a way to agreeably acknowledge my neighbors' strange innovations while passionately embracing the traditional approach of Rabbi Hirsch.