Avram: sadly, you are correct. In my community, there are plenty of people who go to daven at the local Chabad, but not because they appreciate Chabad for what it is. Their reason is the time davening starts. In the shul I daven in, we are sure to make zman krias shema, and the start time reflects this. There are some who don’t want to wake up that early on Shabbos, and would prefer to go to a place that officially starts at 9:30 (although it’s closer to 10:00 by the time they actually start.)
I would never go to that place, because the Rabbi there is meshichist – I won’t even walk into the building. When I asked a friend about that aspect, he just shrugged and said, “I don’t say yechi when the rest of them do.”
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