| Halakhic texts relating to this article | |
|---|---|
| Torah: | Leviticus 22:32 |
| Mishnah: | Megillah 4:3 |
| Babylonian Talmud: | Megillah 23b;Sanhedrin 74b |
| Jerusalem Talmud: | Megillah 4:4 |
| Mishneh Torah: | Hilchot Tefillah 8:1 |
| Shulchan Aruch: | Orach Chayim 55 |
InJudaism, aminyan (Hebrew:מניין \ מִנְיָןmīnyān[minˈjan],lit. (noun)count, number; pl.מניינים \ מִנְיָנִיםmīnyānīm[minjaˈnim]) is thequorum of tenJewish adults required for certainreligious obligations. In all traditional orthodox practisingJewish religious movements, only men aged 13 years and older may constitute a minyan. The minimum of 10 Jews needed for a minyan has its origin (in part) inAbraham's prayer toGod inGenesis 18:32.[1][2] The minyan has additional roots in the judicial structure ofancient Israel asMoses first established it inExodus 18:25 (i.e., the "rule of the 10s").[3][4]Cyrus Adler's andLewis Naphtali Dembitz's entry for "Minyan" in theJewish Encyclopedia states: "The minimum of ten is evidently a survival in theSynagogue from the much older institution in which ten heads of families made up the smallest political subdivision. In Ex. xviii. Moses, on the advice ofJethro, appoints chiefs of tens, as well as chiefs of fifties, of hundreds, and of thousands. In like manner there were thedecurio among the Romans and the tithingman among the early English."[5]
The most common activity requiring aminyan is publicprayer. Accordingly, the termminyan in contemporary Judaism has taken on the secondary meaning of referring to a given prayer service, in general.
The source for the requirement ofminyan is recorded in the Talmud. The wordminyan itself comes from theHebrew rootmanehמנה meaning to count or to number. The word is related to theAramaic wordmene, numbered, appearing inthe writing on the wall inDaniel 5:25.
Babylonian Talmud
TheBabylonian Talmud (Megillah 23b) derives the requirement of aminyan of tenshomer Shabbat forKiddush Hashem[6] andDevarim she-Bikdusha, "matters of sanctity", by using the rule ofgezerah shavah to link three verses based on shared word-choice:
The word "midst" in the verse:
And I shall besanctified in themidst of the children of Israel(Leviticus 22:32)
also appears in the verse:
Separate yourselves from themidst of thecongregation(Numbers 16:21)
The term "congregation" is also used in another verse that describes theten spies (of a total of twelve) who brought back a negative report of theLand of Israel:
How long shall I bear with this evilcongregation which murmur against me?(Numbers 14:27)
From this combination, the Talmud concludes that "sanctification" should occur in the "midst" of a "congregation" of ten.
Jerusalem Talmud
TheJerusalem Talmud (Megillah 4:4) offers two sources for the requirement, also using agezerah shavah:
The word "congregation" in the verse:
Speak to all thecongregation of the children of Israel, and say to them:You shall be holy(Leviticus 19:2)
is also used in another verse:
How long shall I bear with this evilcongregation which murmur against me?(Numbers 14:27)
Since the term "congregation" in the later verse refers to theten spies, so too in the former verse: "You shall be holy" refers to a "congregation" of ten.
The second source is based on the term "children of Israel" which appears in the following two verses:
And I shall besanctified in the midst of thechildren of Israel(Leviticus 22:32)
And thechildren of Israel came to buy among those that came(Genesis 42:5)
Just as the "children of Israel" in the later verse refers to the ten sons ofJacob who descended to Egypt to obtain food during the famine, so too the former verse refers to sanctification among the “children of Israel” in the presence of ten.
Some rituals require a minyan; the presence of a rabbi (a teacher, not apriest) is not essential—it is said that "nine rabbis do not constitute a minyan, but ten cobblers can".[7]
The following instances which require a minyan are listed in theMishnah inMegillah (4:3):
Other instances which require the presence of aminyan include:
While the required quorum for most activities requiring a quorum is usually ten, it is not always so. For example, thePassover sacrifice orKorbanPesach (from the days of theTemple in Jerusalem) must be offered before a quorum of 30. (It must be performed in front ofkahal 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 theKorban Pesach (e.g. Rav, Rav Kahana,Pesachim 79b).
It was the firm belief of the sages that wherever ten Israelites are assembled, either for worship or for the study of the Law, theDivine Presence dwells among them. In rabbinical literature, those who meet for study or prayer in smaller groups, even one who meditates or prays alone, are to be praised. However, the stress is put upon the merits and sacredness of theminyan of ten. The codifiers, such asMaimonides,[11] his annotators, and the author of theShulkhan Arukh, 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, to be conducted with a quorum of ten.
There is a disagreement between the medieval commentators on whether prayer with aminyan is preferable or obligatory.Rashi is of the view that an individual is obligated to pray with aminyan, whileNahmanides holds that only if ten adult males are present are they obliged to recite their prayer together, but an individual is not required to seek out aminyan.[12]
Rashi and theTosafot[13] are both of the opinion that one is required to travel the distance of 4mil to pray with a minyan (contemporary authorities differ as to whether this is a distance or a time that it would have taken to travel this distance and with modern technology one would need to travel a lot further). TheMishnah Berurah writes that one who is sitting at home must travel up to onemil.[14]
There is much discussion inrabbinic literature on the matter of who is eligible to be counted in aminyan. Some discussions revolve around whether or not aminyan should consist of individuals who are obligated in performance of that particular precept. Some authorities deduce who may constitute aminyan by drawing on the verses which are brought as the basis for minyan and their implication. For example, the verse,"How long shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur against me?" is referring to the ten spies, a congregation comprising Jewish adult males. It is understood from this that a minyan must likewise comprise ten Jewish adult males. Other classical sources base their rulings on discussions brought in the Talmud. Contemporary rabbinical authorities deal with a plethora of questions relating to qualification forminyan.
Before a boyturns thirteen, he is considered aminor in Jewish law and is not obligated in the performance of religious precepts. However, if a child is over six years of age and has adequate comprehension of the significance of the precepts, his status may change. His inclusion inminyan is thus subject of Talmudic dispute. Based on the Talmudicpassage in Berachot,Rabbeinu Tam states that a minor can act as the tenth person[15] and according to theBaal Ha-Maor, up to four minors would be permitted.[citation needed]Rosh explains that those who permit the inclusion of a minor maintain that it is theDivine Presence which actually constitutes the tenth member, thereby validating theminyan — this may explain why some of these authorities require that the minor represent this fact by holding achumash. However the majority ofposkim follow the conclusion of theRi who holds that a minor can never be counted in aminyan under any circumstances. This is the stance taken by theShulchan Aruch, who, although acknowledging some authorities do permit the inclusion of an astute six-year-old, writes that consensus rejects this view and only males over the age of thirteen may constitute aminyan.[16] However, in extraordinary circumstances some are lenient and permit a minor over six years old holding a chumash orSefer Torah to complete aminyan.[17] RabbiMoshe Feinstein says that we can rely on this because most of the laws of Minyan are Rabbinical in nature (except for the laws ofKiddush Hashem),[18] so one can conclude that when dealing with a Biblical law of Minyan (such as Sanctifying God's name in public) one would not be able to count a child.
Although the issue of whether women are permitted to make up aminyan has been noted in early works, the matter has only come to the fore in the past few decades, a reaction to an enhanced role of women in modern society and to the demand for their inclusion in all areas of religious life.[19]
The Talmud itself does not directly address the question of whether women may count as part of a minyan for devarim shebkdusha. Since the Talmud uses the samegezerah shavah for Kiddush Hashem as it uses fordevarim shebkdusha, one may expect the laws for those two cases to be the same. Many authorities are of the opinion that women are included in theminyan for Kiddush Hashem and Hillul Hashem. However, traditional codifiers generally do not include women in theminyan fordevarim shebkdusha.[citation needed]
The Talmud (Arakhin 3a) relates that women are required to recitezimmun of three participants, and Berakhot 45 says that women may recite the zimmun. However, the majority of scholars are of the opinion that ten women may not recite the additional form ofzimun be-Shem, which is obligatory when ten men are present. The few authorities who do permit ten women to use thezimmun be-Shem formulation explain that the necessity for ten in this case is unique and cannot be compared to other instances requiringminyan. OnlyRabbeinu Simcha among these authorities mentions the possibility of one woman's joining with nine men to form aminyan for prayer. This isolated opinion is rejected by the codifiers. There are a number of cases, including reading of themegillah, where a limited number of authorities count women towards the minyan. However, in these cases the reason why women are counted is not because they constitute a "congregation," but rather because a public audience is required.[20]
A possible reason why it is men who were obligated to form a congregation in order to convene the Divine Presence is that women were individually considered sufficiently holy and did not require the combination of a group and special prayers to achieve added holiness deficient in men. Due to the righteousness of the women in the wilderness, they did not suffer the same deadly fate as their male counterparts, and despite the spies’ negative report about the holy land, wished to enter it.[21]Others point to the sociological reality that women were traditionally expected to care for the house and children. The Jewish tradition did not require women to leave their social role to engage in public prayer.[22]
In 1845, rabbis attending the Frankfort Synod of the emergingReform Judaism declared that women count in a minyan, a formalization of a customary Reform practice dating back to 1811.[23]
In 1973, theCommittee on Jewish Law and Standards ofConservative Judaism voted to count men and women equally as members of a minyan.[24] In 2002, the Committee adapted aresponsum by Rabbi David Fine which provides an official religious-law foundation for women counting in aminyan and explains the current Conservative approach to the role of women in prayer.[25] This responsum holds that, although Jewish women do not traditionally have the same obligations as men, Conservative women have, as a collective whole, voluntarily undertaken them. Because of this collective undertaking, the Fine responsum holds that Conservative women are eligible to serve as agents and decision-makers for others. The responsum also holds that traditionally-minded communities and individual women can opt out without being regarded by the Conservative movement as sinning. By adopting this responsum, the CJLS found itself in a position to provide a considered Jewish-law justification for its egalitarian practices, without having to rely on potentially unconvincing arguments, undermine the religious importance of community and clergy, ask individual women intrusive questions, repudiate thehalakhic tradition, or label women following traditional practices as sinners.
The question of whether a sinner can be counted for aminyan has become much more pertinent in recent generations, where a general malaise in religious observance among the majority of Jews has occurred. The Shulchan Aruch states that though a person may be a notorious and habitual sinner and has even committed acapital offense unless a person has been placed under a religious ban due to his sinful behavior, he is counted among the ten. The source provided for this sentiment is from the incident withAchan who, despite having been put to death for his transgression, was still referred to as a Jew.[26] However, thePri Megadim explains that this is only true if he sins for self-satisfaction, but if a person sins to spite God or has openly severed their connection with the Jewish people by professing a hostile creed or by publicly desecrating the Shabbat, such a person is prohibited from constituting a minyan.[27] Nevertheless, many contemporary authorities have been driven to adopt a lenient view in the face of widespread public non-observance of the Shabbat, on the presumption that it does not indicate a deliberate denial of faith, but is rather a result of ignorance and succumbing to the pressure of social and economic conditions.[28][29]
Even thoughTosafot deduce from the Talmud inSukkah 38b that wherever the verse states “children of Israel” it comes to exclude a proselyte unless there is specific clause for inclusion, here with regard tominyan the sources state that there is no reasoning to exclude a full-fledged proselyte. Since such a person is permitted to act as a prayer leader, obviously they can count towards aminyan.[30]
As long as a person is of sufficient intelligence, he can be included in theminyan, even if he is unable to respond to the prayers which make the presence of ten a necessity. According to some sources, this is because as long as ten are gathered theDivine Presence descends and it is feasible to pronounce aDvar she'bekedusha. This includes someone who is in the middle of his prayers but is precluded from responding to thehazzan’s incantations and someone who ismute but can hear the prayers — someone who is deaf but has the ability and knows when to respond can also be included. There is however a dispute regarding someone who is asleep or intoxicated. Such a person has sufficient intelligence, but at present can neither hear or respond.[31] Ideally he should be woken to the extent that he is dozing, but in extraneous circumstances where it impossible to arouse him, it is permitted to include the maximum of one sleeping person in theminyan.[32] In the case of a drunkard, the accepted view is that even if he has not reached the “drunkenness ofLot”, he still cannot be included.[33] A minimum of six of those gathered in the minyan have a duty to listen attentively and respond appropriately to the additional prayers and that at least nine are required to respond for the repetition of theAmidah.[34]
It is not just the status of the individual which dictates eligibility; the physical arrangement of theminyan is also a factor. Maimonides delineates the confines which are placed on the arrangement of the people making up aminyan. 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.[35] 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.[36]
Over the last decade or so,[when?] 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 asindependent minyanim, the term used by theJewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance for those groups that consider themselves part of the Modern Orthodox community ispartnership minyan. Many of these groups have adopted the custom initially instituted byShira 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 likeMendel Shapiro andDaniel Sperber. Some also use theGuide 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.
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