Dissociating from the collective: what is Hillel's real position?

Why should we go back to synagogue? This is the question posed by Rabbi Yosie Levine in his opinion piece for yesterday's Jerusalem Post. This piece asks, quite reasonably, why people should wish to return to synagogue prayer even when it is safe to do so once the threat of the coronavirus has finally abated. The rabbi, who gives various answers, also invokes the authority of Avot when he writes:

The notion of community serves as the animating force behind the project of building the mishkan. In describing its construction, the Torah tells us that God said, “And they shall make for Me a sanctuary so that I may dwell within them” (Exodus 25:8). Rabbi Moshe Alshich (1508-1593) notes that, conspicuously, the verse does not read “and I shall dwell within it.” It’s not the edifice that brings holiness into this world. It’s the people. An institution absent its adherents is no institution at all. It’s by virtue of coming together as a community that we bring holiness into our lives. That’s why even the sage Hillel, who was tolerant of virtually everyone, had no tolerance for those who dissociated from the collective (Pirkei Avot 2:4) [in many siddur editions the citation is 2:5].

Hillel certainly teaches that a person should not separate him- or herself from the tzibbur, the congregation. Avot does not however provide evidence that Hillel failed to tolerate those who do dissociate themselves from the collective. Since in the previous perek of Avot Hillel urges people to follow the path taught by Aaron the Priest, to "love peace and pursue peace", we might more reasonably expect him to adopt a position of keeping the dialogue going and even being initially quite conciliatory in the hope of getting the dissociating party back on board.

Another point on which we might reflect is that, where the collective is split between those who return to synagogual worship and those who prefer the outside option, people are damned if they do and damned if they don't since whichever side they follow will require them turning their backs on the other side.