Hello. Today, I am writing about Minhagim again. About the utopian Jewish dream of ending all minhagim. 

Of course, this would refer to Yemos Hamoshiach. In Messianic times when the diaspora is gathered, there will need to be a merging of minhagim or a completely new order of Minhag for the united Am Yisroel. 

The community of religious Zionists considers the establishment of the State of Israel to be a manifestation of the beginning of Messianic times. Thus, in the early years of the state, they embarked on making a uniting Nusach called “Nusach Achid,” initially attempting to make it the official siddur of the IDF. 

To make a long story short…it never really caught on in Israel.  

Despite the Olim’s philosophy lending itself to the idea of leaving the ways of the Diaspora behind, they nevertheless still had an affinity for the Nusach they brought with them. 

S.Y. Agnon has a short episode in one of his lengthy books, which I enjoy recounting. It involves a pious man, a widower or a bachelor, who is introduced to a local widow in the Shtetl,  and they decide to get married. The widow had already made plans to move to Jerusalem (as it was once a tradition for widows to live out their days in Jerusalem.) Having met this man, she would marry him, and they would go to Jerusalem together. Suddenly, a few nights before the marriage, he had a dream in which “Yom Tov Sheni” appeared to him as a woman – dressed in black and crying over the fact that he would no longer be observing the Yom Tov Sheni. He was so alarmed by the dream that he called off the wedding. 

Of course, Agnon was poking fun at the Lilliputians and of the Shtetl life, but sometimes we, too, need to remember to keep our eye on the big picture. 

Well, this week, while davening Mincha in the Five Towns, I encountered a piece of the future. A “Minyan Factory”—or so I was told—has opened on Central Avenue. 

I considered this a great convenience since other times I have ventured through that great avenue of Frum-commerce and Gastric sensations, I needed to find Mincha by searching in town for local Shuls and their schedules. Now, the Minyan would be “Central”. 

Well, as I learned more about this “factory” I heard that it was started with the assistance of the Scheiner Shul of Monsey. Knowing this I understood that it would be the type of place that makes everyone feel welcome, embraced, and at home. 

Indeed, there was a very welcoming coffee station, with soda, slushies, cake, pizza in a warmer, and hot dogs on rollers under a heating lamp! 

Additionally, there were signs about regular shiurim and a most novel invention- that brings me back to the dreams of the early Zionists and their Nusach Achid:  

There was a large dial on the wall before the Chazan’s Amud. It could be turned to indicate if the current Minyan was Ashkenaz, Sefard, or Sefardi. And what, you might ask, determines the Nusach of the Minyan? Nothing other than the volunteer Chazan of that Minyan!

 _{The great Nusach Dial of the future!}

Now, why would I, a guy with a Yekkishe blog that often glorifies Minhagim, be touting something like this? 

As I begin to age, I start to look for ways that Moshiach could come amid all the craziness around us. I realize that while the Zionists initially hoped that the ingathering of the Exiles would produce a NEW Nusach, I can see in hindsight that the solution to finding a Nusach for our nation’s reunion after a two-millennia-long separation would be the inclusion of ALL Nuschaos, with a fluidity that would allow all Minhagim to find their home in Moshiach’s time.  

Perhaps, this week, I witnessed the prototype of the Shul of the Future.