If you’re an Oberlander, chassidim call you a Litvak and the litvish call you a chassid. But while the heimishe style of dress might look chassidish, an Oberlander Yid davens Nusach Ashkenaz and his minhagim bear a definite Ashkenaz stamp.
While the frum world tends to clump everyone into easily identifiable boxes, Oberlanders — Jews whose ancestors came to settle in the “highlands” [“Oberland”], or the northwestern part of Hungary, from neighboring Austria and Czechoslovakia (as opposed to the “lowlanders,” who later emigrated to the eastern territories from the borders of Galicia, Ukraine, and Romania) — bear their own distinct heritage, stubbornly clinging to the customs of their oft-misunderstood historic communities.
Your zeide lived in Nitra, in Unsdorf, in Paks, or in Szerdehel. He lived according to the mesorah of his fathers and grandfathers, the community following their rav in matters big and small, and the way forward was clear and uncompromising — there were no shortcuts yet no complications.
But you live in Yerushalayim, Boro Park, or London. On the corner is a chassidishe shtiebel, the next block yeshivah alumni. Your neighbors, lovely upright Yidden, are all serving the same G-d. So why hold on to the nusach and the minhagim that are so unfashionable today? Why continue to daven and dress in the style of a group that seems to be shrinking?
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