Minyan

This article is about the term in Judaism. For other meanings, see Minyan (disambiguation).

A minyan (lit: "count") or quorum in Judaism refers to the minimum number of men necessary to conduct public worship or other various religious obligation's.

Source

The Babylonian Talmud (Megillah 23b) cites the Scriptual source for the requirement of ten men constituting a congregation in the words: "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur against me?" (Numbers 14:27), in which the ten spies who brought back a negative report of the Land of Israel are decrbed as a "congregation". The Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah 4:4) bases the requirement on Joseph's ten brothers who went down to Egypt to get food during a famine.

It was the firm belief of the sages that wherever ten Israelites are assembled, either for worship or for the study of the Law, the Divine Presence "dwells" among them. Thus the mishna in Avot (iii. 6) states: "R. Ḥalafta, the man of Kefar-Ḥananiah, says: When ten men sit down together to study the Law, the Presence dwells among them; for it is said (Ps. lxxxii. 1): "God standeth in the congregation of God" A baraita (Ber. 6a) puts it plainly: "Whence do we know that the Holy and Blessed One is found at the synagogue; or that when ten men say prayers together the Presence dwells among them?" It answers each of these questions with the verse of the psalm quoted above; it being understood that the word "'edah" (congregation) means ten or more Israelites meeting for a religious purpose. Both in the Mishnah and in the baraita quoted, consolation is held out to those who for study or prayer meet in smaller numbers—even to one who meditates or prays alone; but the stress is put upon the merits and sacredness of the minyan. The codifiers, such as Maimonides, his annotators, and the author of the Shulkhan Arukh, and many popular writers, have unitedly given strength to this sentiment, and have thus, for more than a thousand years, made the daily attendance at public worship, morning and evening, the rule among both men and boys in Judaism.

Ritual's requiring a minyan

The following instances which require a minyan are listed in the Mishnah in Megillah (iv. 3):

• Public worship, which conisits of the additonal readings of Kaddish, Barechu, Kedusha and the Repetition of the Amidah. The treatise Soferim, written in Babylonia in the seventh century, contains a passage (10:7) often interpreted as asserting that in Land of Israel at that time seven men were allowed to hold public services. Correctly interpreted it refers to the repeating of "Ḳaddish" and "Barechu" at the synagogue for the benefit of late comers, and declares that in Palestine such a repetition is permitted only when seven (according to others, when six) men are present who have not yet heard these responsive readings.
• The priestly blessing.
• Reading from the Torah and Prophets with the associated benedictions.
• Seven benedictions recitied at a wedding, or at any meal of the bridegroom and bride within a week from the wedding.
• Using the formulation "Let us bless our God, from whose wealth we have eaten," in preparing for Grace after meals.
• Ancient funeral ceremonies, no longer in use, which incoroporated arranging the standing and sitting, reciting the benedictions of the mourners and the consolation of the mourners.

Prayer with a minyan

The Shulkhan Arukh (Orach Chayim 90:9) states:

"A person should make every effort to attend services in a synagogue with a minyan; if circumstances prevent him from doing so, he should pray wherever he is, at the same time that the synagogue service takes place".

Rashi and the Tosafot (Pesachim 46a) are of the opinion that one is required to travel the distance of 4 mil to pray with a minyan. The late Rabbi Moshe Feinstein followed this opinion. According to Maimonides in his Mishneh Torah (Hilkhot Tefillah 8.1):

The prayer of the community is always heard; and even if there were sinners among them, the Holy One, blessed be He, never rejects the prayer of the multitude. Hence a person must join himself with the community, and should not pray by himself so long as he is able to pray with the community. And a person should always go to the synagogue morning and evening, for his prayer is only heard at all times in the synagogue. And whoever has a synagogue in his city and does not pray there with the community is called a bad neighbor.

Eligiability

According to Jewish Law males over Bar Mitzvah are eligiable to be counted for a minyan even if they are notorious and habitual sinners. If however they are under the ban or have openly severed their connection with their brethren by professing a hostile creed, they are disqualified.

None of the authorities speaks of counting women in the minyan. However, according to early authorities they can constitute a minyan in certain cases. Theses cases include publicizing the miracle of Esther on Purim; public remembrance of Amalek in Parshat Zachor; public recitation of the Birkhat Hagomel blessing after surviving severe illness or danger; and public martyrdom, sanctification of G-d's name "in the midst of the children of Israel." (Leviticus 22:32). A few authorities also hold that because women are obligated to say the Grace after meals, 10 women can, at least under some circumstances, constitute a minyan for purposes of zimmun b'shem leading Birkat HaMazon.

Conservative Judaism's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards permits only women who regard themselves as obligated to pray three times a day to count in a prayer minyan and presumes women regard themselves as so obligated unless otherwise indicated, an approach which creates a de facto egalitarianism in congregations wishing it, while permitting traditionalist congregations and individual women to choose to retain traditional gender roles. In Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, men and women age 13 and above are counted equally for all purposes.

See also

• Jewish services
• Partnership minyan

External links

• Minyan - Jewish Encyclopedia article.
• GoDaven.com Find an Orthodox Minyan anywhere in the world.
• What is a Minyan? on Ask Moses
• Template:PDFlink (OU.org)
• Minyan in the Jewish Knowledge Base on Chabad.org
• Frimer, A., Women and Minyan. Tradition 23:4, pp. 54-77 (1988) (Modern Orthodox view of women in minyan for various purposes)