Some people look down at me for not practicing Judaism exactly the way they do, and that I don’t have the same exact Jewish outlook as they do. I try my best to follow the ways of the Torah, but they seem to feel like it’s “their way, or the highway.”
There is a very important point made by the Netziv (The former Rosh Yeshiva of Volozhin Yeshiva in Europe – one of the leading Torah Scholars of his generation).
He states that the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash (the holy Temple) was due to baseless hatred. Not just hating the person, but being intolerant of the other person’s way of serving Hashem (G-d). The Netziv continued that in the time of the Temple, if a person didn’t serve Hashem in exactly the way another person did, he would be considered an apostate, evil and unauthentic Jew. And this behavior was so abhorent to G-d that he destroyed the Temple and it remains destroyed to this day. There are many ways to serve Hashem and still be true to the Torah.
Follow your heart, and know that Jews who follow the Torah do not have to be clones of each other. The Torah is often compared to water. This is because it takes the shape of whatever vessel it is poured into. Yet it remains the same Torah. As long as the Torah isn’t changed then it is a proper path in Judaism.