Did you ever meet a Chassid who is constantly supporting Litvaks, or a Litvak who is constantly supporting a Chasid? (Or a Sephardi with an Ashkenazi, etc.?). R' Nosson Zatzal told me about such a person, and he considered him the Tzaddik HaDor. He told me that he believed that he is alive because of this person’s Tefilos. R' Meir Stern Shlita quoted the Maharal in Pirkei Avos that the Yetzer Hara for Machlokes is extremely strong.
It is hard to detect this Yetzer Hara, because if people can conquer it, the Geula Shleima would be here. The Satan dances and enjoys any kind of putdown in any direction. Especially if you claim that a Gadol came out against a certain group; now a person can feel like a big Tzaddik going against them.
The Satmar Rebbe Zatzal said: ִשׁ ַחוּר וֹבּ סָנְכִנ ןֵכּ םִא אָלֶּא הָרֵבֲﬠ רֵבוֹע םָדָא ןיֵאיטוֹת a person doesn’t sin unless he gets a spirit of “Shitos” (religious principles). R' Nosson Zatzal used to dislike people with strong principles, whom you can’t move since they’re so bound to their stubborn principles.
People love their Shitos and opinions. L'havdil, Rachmana Litzlan, Hamas were raised from the cradle to hate and torture Jews, Rachmana Litzlan. It’s not easy to change your opinion, even if you’re an Ehrlicher person.
I knew a very Chashuva person who simply couldn’t understand how a certain group davens. "That you call davening?? "I once had to spend Yamim Nora'im with a group that davens very different than my Derech, and it was murder. It had no Ta'am (flavor) to me.
In Novardok they said “Negi'a Gaon”, which means that a person is a super genius proving that what he likes or what he’s used to is the correct way. And he’ll bring true proofs from: ָכּ ַה לתּוֹ ָרה כּ וּ ָלהּ the entire Torah.
I knew a person who was fire against a certain way of learning. An Adam Gadol explained to me that this person is not good at learning that way, and that’s why he Passel’s (disqualifies) all those who learn like that.
A person would be shocked if he knew how much the Satan and Negi'os mix into all his Shitos. A big Masmid and a real straight-shooter once told me that he was told by someone that since it’s his nature to be a certain way, he can’t look down at other people who aren’t the same. He was: ַמ ְס ִכּ םי agreed, since he is a Tzaddik.
And the same with Chesed and Zikkui HaRabbim and all kinds of Shitos and Chumros. People very often believe anything that makes them or their group look good. Everyone else is inferior. Or “No, I’m broadminded. Everyone else is also okay, except that one group!” Either way, the Yetzer Hara creeps in, Rachmana Litzlan! Some people have a Negi'a to love and respect everyone except themselves. They have the same Yetzer Hara of hating and looking down, just in a different direction. The true Baalei Mussar would encourage exercises in the opposite direction of a person’s: הָיִטְנ tendency