Why do jews need a minyan to pray

He also ruled that a soldier who has guard duty on Shabbat should not switch it so that he could daven with a minyan if by doing so his replacement will violate Shabbat ibid The Mishnah Berurah rules that it is better to daven Minchah privately rather than do so with a minyan after sunset.

There is also no obligation to pay people in order to make a minyan MB Some authorities hold that there is no requirement to experience a loss of either money or a significant amount of time in order to daven with a minyan MB ; MA Interestingly, a sick person who was instructed by his physician to leave his house at most once a day was told by Rav Auerbach to use that opportunity to go to work rather than shul Halichot Shlomo , p. Similarly, if one regularly 18 davens vatikin , then doing so takes precedence over davening with a minyan.

Whether or not the minyan interferes with others is another consideration. According to his students, Rav Auerbach was not in favor of making a minyan on an airplane when it infringed upon others Halichot Shlomo , note The Brisker Rav, Rav Chaim Soloveichik, had an open house in which the poor would make themselves at home, any time of day or night.

The one exception was a private corner he set aside for davening. There is a story told of Rav Archik Bakst, rav in Lomzha and Shavil, Lithuania, who skipped minyan one morning to stay home. Having said all this, is it a mitzvah to daven with a minyan? Thus, the mechaber rules OC that a person who is traveling not for the sake of a mitzvah must retrace his steps up to a mil mile and go forward up to four mil to catch a minyan.

The Talmud Berachot 47b states that Rabbi Eliezer once freed a non-Jewish slave, thus granting him the status of a full-fledged Jew, so that he could be the tenth man in a minyan. He did this, despite the prohibition of freeing a non-Jewish slave, because of the importance of the public mitzvah of minyan. Minyan is so important that although one may not wake his father for great financial loss, he may wake him for minyan Chayei Adam Are women obligated in minyan to the same degree as men?

And if not, is there at least merit in their davening with a minyan? Rav Yochanan questioned the fact that she traveled to his beit midrash , which was much farther than her local shul. He did not, however, question her attendance per se, implying that it is virtuous for a woman to participate in communal prayers. So he asked, with a twinkle in his eye, why we're still attached to the number ten.

We're happy to break with Orthodoxy in order to count women as well as men, so why aren't we willing to break with custom on the question of how many people are required? After all, it is related in the Babylonian Talmud -- in Soferim -- that in Palestine, as few as six men were once counted as sufficient to say communal prayers. If there's precedent for fewer, why not make use of that precedent?

And if there's precedent for changing on the gender front, why not change on the number front? Wherever ten Jews gather for prayer or for the reading of Torah, the tradition tells us, the Shekhinah dwells among them. That comes from Psalms, Reading from the Torah scroll is one of the most beautiful and powerful liturgical acts in our repertoire, so it makes sense that we don't do it lightly.

But surely the indwelling presence of God is among us even if fewer than ten are gathered; and surely one could argue that there is merit in a lenient policy which would allow small communities like ours to reaffirm our connections with and derive blessing from the presence of God manifest in the Torah service even on days when our numbers are few.

So why be sticklers about needing ten? Questions like this one highlight an internal tension for me. When it comes to mitzvot we don't intuitively understand, meaning may arise for us as we do them -- and even if it doesn't, there is meaning to be found in allowing our lives to be shaped by tradition. According to this way of thinking, the tradition of requiring ten for a minyan is valuable because it is what has always been done, and we needn't understand it in order to find merit in it.

The other part of me balks, finding "we've always done it that way" to be a deeply unsatisfying answer. Up until relatively recently, that argument kept women from leading public prayer, or being counted toward a minyan, or being ordained as rabbis; I can't express how deeply glad I am to live in an era when somebody had the strength and wisdom to challenge that. As Reb Zalman says, we can't drive forward if we're only looking in the rearview mirror. 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. 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. A minyan is made of ten adult Jews, traditionally males over the age of 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. Minyan Service. Minyan Service - Prayer Service at a Shiva A minyan service, or prayer service for mourners, is generally held daily for the duration of the shiva.

What is a Minyan In Judaism, a quorum of ten Jewish adults is called a minyan. How Long is Minyan Service The duration of a minyan service varies on the degree of observance of the minyan participants. Who Participates in a Minyan Participation in a minyan is typically determined by the level of the minyan participants' observance. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Policy.