Welcome To Virtual HJC! Class 2 - What Is A Minyan? "Any Jew can pray individually. But prayer is often easier (and preferable) in community."

(32) And he said, “Let not my Lord be angry if I speak but this last time: What if ten should be found there?” And He answered, “I will not destroy, for the sake of the ten.”

They do not recite the Shema responsively, And they do not pass before the ark; And the [the priests] do not lift up their hands; And they do not read the Torah [publicly]; And they do not conclude with a haftarah from the prophets; And they do not make stops [at funeral] processions; And they do not say the blessing for mourners, or the comfort of mourners, or the blessing of bridegrooms; And they do not mention God’s name in the invitation [to say Birkat Hamazon]; Except in the presence of ten. [For redeeming sanctified] land nine and a priest [are sufficient], and similarly with human beings.

GEMARA: The Gemara asks: From where are these matters, i.e., that ten people are needed in each of these cases, derived? Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It is as the verse states: “And I shall be hallowed among the children of Israel” (Leviticus 22:32), which indicates that any expression of sanctity may not be recited in a quorum of fewer than ten men.

The Gemara asks: From where in the verse may this be inferred? The Gemara responds that it must be understood as Rabbi Ḥiyya taught: It is inferred by means of a verbal analogy [gezera shava] between the words “among,” “among.” Here, it is written: “And I shall be hallowed among the children of Israel,” and there, with regard to Korah’s congregation, it is written “Separate yourselves from among this congregation” (Numbers 16:21). Just as with regard to Korah the reference is to ten men, so too, the name of God is to be hallowed in a quorum of ten men.

The connotation of ten associated with the word “among” in the portion of Korah is, in turn, inferred by means of another verbal analogy between the word “congregation” written there and the word “congregation” written in reference to the ten spies who slandered Eretz Yisrael, as it is written there: “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation?” (Numbers 14:27). Consequently, just as there, in the case of the spies, it was a congregation of ten people, as there were twelve spies altogether, and Joshua and Caleb were not included in the evil congregation, so too, here, in the case of Korah, the reference is to a congregation of ten people. The first several items mentioned in the mishna are expressions of sanctity, and they consequently require a quorum of ten.

The say Kaddish, and it is not said with less than ten males, who are free and have grown two [pubic] hairs, and this is the rule for Kedushah and Barchu that are not said with less than ten.

If the chazzan started kaddish or kedusha with 10 people and a few left he can finish the kaddish and kedusha that he started as long as the majority of them remain. Gloss: Nevertheless, it is a sin to leave ... but if there are 10 people remaining it is allowed

There are those who permit one to say a spoken part [of the service] in which [God's] holiness [is proclaimed] with 9 and a minor that is older than 6 and knows to whom we pray joins [them]. And their words were not seen for the great decisors. And the rule is that a slave or a woman is not joined [to the 9]. Gloss: And even if he has a Chumash [printed Torah] in his hand we do not join him [to the 9], although there are those who follow this practice to be lenient at a time of need [The Rosh and Mordechai and Hagahot Maimoni Chapter 9 of the Laws of Prayer]

With regard to the laws of joining a quorum, Rav Huna said: Nine plus an ark in which the Torah scrolls are stored join to form a quorum of ten. Rav Naḥman said to him: Is an ark a man, that it may be counted in the quorum of ten? Rather, Rav Huna said: Nine who appear like ten may join together.

The Gemara asks: And the presence of how many people is required so that it should be deemed a public act? Rabbi Ya’akov says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: An action is not considered a public act if it is performed in the presence of fewer than ten people.

Congregational prayer is always heard [by the Almighty]. Even if there are sinners among them, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not reject the prayer of a multitude. Hence, a person should associate himself with the congregation, and never recite his prayers in private when he is able to pray with the congregation. One should always attend Synagogue, morning and evening; for only if recited in a synagogue, are one's prayers heard at all times. Whoever has a synagogue in his town and does not worship there is called a bad neighbour.

Said Rabbi Yochanan: The time that Hashem comes to the synagogue and does not find a minyan immediately, he becomes angry. As it is said (Isaiah 50:2) Why, when I came, was there no one?" When I called, there was no one to take an answer..."

A person that can hear but not speak, or speak but not hear, they are like hearing people and can be included. But if he is deaf and mute, he is treated like a mentally incompetent person or a minor.

One who blows into a pit or a cistern or a jug, if he heard the sound of the shofar, he has fulfilled his obligation, but if he hears the echo [also], he has not fulfilled his obligation. And also one who was passing behind a synagogue or if his house was next to the synagogue and he heard the sound of the shofar or of the megillah [being read], if he directed his heart (had intention), then he has fulfilled his obligation, but if not he has not fulfilled his obligation. Even though this one heard and this one heard, this one directed his heart and this one did not.

How is public worship conducted? One person recites the prayers aloud, and all the rest listen.

One who stands behind the synagogue and in-between them is a window - even if it is several stories high [and] even if it's not 4 wide - and his face is seen by them from there, he joins with them for the 10. Gloss: [those in] roofs and upper stories are not included in the synagogue and the one who stands on them is not joined [to the 10]. [Ri ??]

(5) Two eating companies that were eating in the same room: When some of them can see some of the other they combine [for a zimun], but if not each group makes a zimun for itself. They do not bless over the wine until they put water into it, the words of Rabbi Eliezer. The sages say they bless.

All of the 10 need to be in one place and the prayer leader with them. And the one who stands in the middle of the doorway between a part of a building and outside such that when one closes the door [one is] in a place from the inside [lip] of the thickness of the door and outwards - it is like outside.

It is requisite that the congregation be assembled in one place and that the reader be with them in that place. Where a small court opens, throughout its complete breadth, to a larger courtyard, and nine persons are in the larger, while one person is in the smaller enclosure, they form a quorum. But if nine persons are in the smaller enclosure and one person is in the larger, they do not constitute a quorum. If the congregation is in the larger enclosure and the Reader in the smaller, their obligation to worship is discharged when he officiates on their behalf. But if the congregation is in the smaller, and the Reader in the larger enclosure, their obligation is not discharged when the reader recites the service, since he is separated from them and not in the same place with them, for the larger enclosure having posts on both sides is regarded as divided off from the smaller enclosure. The smaller enclosure, however, is regarded not as divided off from the larger enclosure, but as a corner of it.

Anything that is located from the inside of the doorway inward is considered as though it is inside, and anything that is located from the doorway outward is considered as though it is outside. And the windows in the wall and the thickness of the wall are considered as though they are inside, such that an offering is considered to have exited the premises only if it is taken outside the wall. GEMARA: Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: And the halakha is similar with regard to prayer, in that a one who is standing outside the doorway cannot be included together with those praying inside. The Gemara notes that Rav disagrees with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, as Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Even a barrier of iron does not separate between the Jewish people and their Father in Heaven. Barriers are irrelevant with regard to prayer.

If there were 10 in one place and they say Kaddish or Kedushah, even one who is not with them can answer.

...And in any case [a different authority] wrote that if one is standing [in an area above the place where the minyan is gathering] and it is impossible for them to come down [to the minyan] but they try to show their face, then you can rule leniently [about counting them in a minyan]. And [the previous authority] continued about these balustrades (that is to say, a place in which one is separated by "bad air" that is to say they are ill) there are 2 rooms in which 6 people are in one of them and 4 people are in another and it is impossible for them to come in contact with one another, then this one [earlier authority] if 4 people can stand at the entrance and join together to make 10 because they see each other and since they are not allowed to leave their rooms with a guard in the field before them, or they're not allowed to leave their home because they can't go out in public, or it's crowded, and those 4 people who are quarantined can show their faces in the window and join the minyan. All the more so that we should rely on the sages [who rule leniently] so that 40 days will not pass without saying Kaddish and Kedushah.