Minyan
In Judaism, a minyan (Hebrew: מניין \ מִנְיָן mīnyān [minˈjan], lit. (noun) count, number; pl. מניינים \ מִנְיָנִים mīnyānīm [minjaˈnim]) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Judaism, only men 13 and older may constitute a minyan; The minimum of 10 Jews needed for a meeting has its origin in Abraham's prayer to God in Genesis 18:23.
This article is about the term used in Judaism. For other uses, see Minyan (disambiguation).Halakhic texts relating to this article
The most common activity requiring a minyan is public prayer. Accordingly, the term minyan in contemporary Judaism has taken on the secondary meaning of referring to a prayer service.
Some rituals require a minyan; the presence of a rabbi (a teacher, not a priest) is not essential—it is said that "nine rabbis do not constitute a minyan, but ten cobblers can".[2]
The following instances which require a minyan are listed in the Mishnah in Megillah (4:3):
Other instances which require the presence of a minyan include:
While the required quorum for most activities requiring a quorum is usually ten, it is not always so. For example, the Passover sacrifice or Korban Pesach (from the days of the Temple in Jerusalem) must be offered before a quorum of 30. (It must be performed in front of kahal adat yisrael, the assembly of the congregation of Israel. Ten are needed for the assembly, ten for the congregation, and ten for Israel.) According to some Talmudic authorities, women counted in the quorum of 30 for offering the Korban Pesach (e.g. Rav, Rav Kahana, Pesachim 79b).
Arrangement[edit]
It is not just the status of the individual which dictates eligibility; the physical arrangement of the minyan is also a factor. Maimonides delineates the confines which are placed on the arrangement of the people making up a minyan. Ideally all the members of the minyan should be gathered in one room. However, if they are within hearing distance of one another, it is permitted for the ten to be distributed in two adjoining rooms.[30] Later authorities limit the extent of this opinion and rule that even if there is an opening between the two rooms, the two groups are still considered separate entities. Only in unusual circumstances is it permitted, as long as some of the men in each room can see each other.[31]
Ten-and-ten minyan (ten men and ten women)[edit]
Over the last decade or so, some very liberal Modern Orthodox communities have formed an attempt to combine commitment to traditional Jewish law with a push for increased participation and recognition of the role of women. While many are simply referred to as independent minyanim, the term used by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance for those groups that consider themselves part of the Modern Orthodox community is partnership minyan. Many of these groups have adopted the custom initially instituted by Shira Hadasha in Jerusalem to wait for a "ten-and-ten minyan", made up of ten men and ten women.
Shira Hadasha has based many of its decisions on the writings of rabbis like Mendel Shapiro and Daniel Sperber. Some also use the Guide for the Halakhic Minyan, a compendium of halakhic sources supporting increased participation by women in services, as a basis for discussions of practices like the ten-and-ten minyan.