<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><base href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/minyan-the-congregational-quorum/"><style id="print"></style><title>Minyan: The Congregational Quorum | My Jewish Learning</title><div class="original-url"><br><a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/minyan-the-congregational-quorum/">https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/minyan-the-congregational-quorum/</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="-webkit-locale: "en"; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="system exported">
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<div class="page" style="text-align: start; overflow-wrap: break-word; max-width: 100%;"><h1 class="title" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: start; display: block; max-width: 100%;">Minyan: The Congregational Quorum</h1><h2 class="subhead" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: start; display: block; color: rgba(27, 27, 27, 0.65); font-size: 1.46664em; margin-top: -0.35em; line-height: 1.27275em; max-width: 100%;">Only in a group of 10 or more adult Jews is there sufficient sanctity to recite certain public prayers.</h2><div class="metadata singleline" style="text-align: start; display: block; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.7em; max-width: 100%;"><span itemprop="author" class="byline" style="margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;"><a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/author/rabbi-abraham-millgram/" title="Posts by Rabbi Abraham Millgram" rel="author" style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;">Rabbi Abraham Millgram</a></span></div><figure style="max-width: 100%; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); margin: 0px;">
<img width="820" height="461" src="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/crop-gb-zo-djerba-tunisia-prayer-1.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/crop-gb-zo-djerba-tunisia-prayer-1.jpg 1600w, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/crop-gb-zo-djerba-tunisia-prayer-1-1120x630.jpg 1120w, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/crop-gb-zo-djerba-tunisia-prayer-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/crop-gb-zo-djerba-tunisia-prayer-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/crop-gb-zo-djerba-tunisia-prayer-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" class="" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0.5em auto; display: block; height: auto;" data-unique-identifier=""> <figcaption style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.8em; width: 100%; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);">At the El-Ghriba Synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba, 1995. <a href="http://www.jewishlens.org/" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; text-decoration: underline;">(Zion Ozeri/Jewish Lens)</a></figcaption>
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<p style="max-width: 100%;"><i style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Minyan</span></i><span style="max-width: 100%;"> is the Hebrew word that describes the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. The word itself comes from the Hebrew root </span><i style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">maneh</span></i><span style="max-width: 100%;"> (מנה) meaning to count or to number. </span></p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">One can always say one’s prayers by oneself, at any time or place, but praying with others brings a sense of connection and closeness, and can strengthen the collective to focus on their prayers more deeply. By requiring a minyan for many fundamental rituals, Judaism encourages communal cohesion.</span></p><h2 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;"><b style="max-width: 100%;">When Is a Minyan Needed?</b></h2><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Typically, a quorum of ten adult Jews is needed in Jewish communal prayer for certain components of the regular daily or Shabbat services (including Barechu, Kedushah and the repetition of the Amidah), reading from the Torah and haftarah portions in synagogue, and saying Kaddish among other things. The Kaddish is said by mourners for 11 months after the death of a loved one. Other rituals that require a minyan include: the seven wedding blessings (Sheva Berachot), reciting the priestly blessing (Birkat Kohanim) and saying the prayer for escaping a dangerous situation (Birkat HaGomel). </span></p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Only adult Jews can be counted in a minyan — meaning Jews who have reached the age of majority (13 for boys, 12 or 13 for girls). Having had a bar or bat mitzvah ceremony is not required, though being old enough to have had one is.</span></p>
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<b style="max-width: 100%;">Where Did The Minyan Originate?</b></h2><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">There are a few explanations derived from the Torah that may account for why the number ten was specifically chosen. The first is from the story of Noah, where there were eight people (Noah, his three sons, and wives) plus the presence of God and that was not enough to save the world from destruction, whereas ten might have. (</span><a href="https://www.reformjudaism.org.uk/origin-minyan-ten-men/" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Assembly of Reform Rabbis & Cantors</span></a><span style="max-width: 100%;">)</span></p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Similarly, in the story of Abraham and the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah, because Abraham couldn’t even find ten righteous people God destroyed the cities. </span></p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Later when the Jews were dwelling in the desert after the exodus from Egypt, ten men were sent to scope out the land of Israel, and came back with a negative report. The Talmud comments on the verse in Numbers 14:27, from the story of the spies, that the Hebrew word “eidah” denotes an assembly of ten men. </span></p><h2 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;"><b style="max-width: 100%;">Who Makes Up A Minyan?</b></h2><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">A minyan is made of ten adult Jews, traditionally males (over the age of 13). In Orthodox synagogues, this continues to be the standard. In more progressive Jewish communities, ranging from halachic egalitarianism, to conservative to reform synagogues, adult women and men are both counted in the quorum. Some communities also require twenty adults, ten men and ten women, so that women are as essential as men to the formation of the prayer community, but the traditional requirement of ten men is still fulfilled.</span></p><h2 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;"><b style="max-width: 100%;">How the Coronavirus Pandemic Tested the Jewish Minyan </b></h2><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">In 2020, with the rise of COVID-19 and lockdown orders, gatherings were deemed unsafe. Immediately, Jewish communities began to consider whether a virtual minyan, convened over Zoom or some other video conference program, would constitute a proper </span><i style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">halakhic</span></i><span style="max-width: 100%;"> minyan. Some rabbis ruled that virtual minyans were permissible in this case, because of sources that alluded to the fact that </span><a href="https://www.jta.org/2020/03/25/opinion/you-dont-need-zoom-or-skype-to-say-kaddish-without-a-minyan-heres-a-healthier-option-for-the-community" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">the men only needed to see each other</span></a><span style="max-width: 100%;">, rather than physically be in the space together. </span><span style="max-width: 100%;">(</span><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Pesachim.85b.7?lang=bi&p2=Rashi_on_Pesachim.85b.7.1&lang2=bi" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Pesahim 85b</span></a><span style="max-width: 100%;">, </span><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Mishneh_Torah%2C_Prayer_and_the_Priestly_Blessing.8.7?lang=bi" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Rambam’s Laws of Prayer 8:7</span></a><span style="max-width: 100%;"> and </span><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Shulchan_Arukh%2C_Orach_Chayim.55.13?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayyim 55:13-14</span></a><span style="max-width: 100%;">).</span><span style="max-width: 100%;"> Others ruled that if there were ten men physically “in one place” then others could join virtually and fulfill their obligation with the present men. </span></p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">COVID-19 posed a threat to peoples’ lives, and the Jewish principles of </span><a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/saving-a-life-pikuach-nefesh/" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">pikuach nefesh</span></a><span style="max-width: 100%;">, the idea that nearly all Jewish law can and should be overridden for the sake of saving lives, was an important principle in these discussions. Which Jewish groups will continue to permit virtual minyans in the absence of the pandemic or other similar crisis remains to be seen.</span></p>
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</div></div></div><br><br><div dir="ltr">Reverend Dr. Carolyn Peters, National Federation Of The Blind, Ohio, affiliate, vice president, Ohio Communities Of Faith division, president, Miami Valley Chapter, Dayton, Ohio president. 1-937-657-5134,<div><br></div><div>Dr.carolyn.peters@gmail.com☺️👏🙏🤲</div></div></body></html>