Together-Apart: Constituting Remote Minyanim

OH 55:15.2001 Wired to the Kadosh Barukh Hu: Minyan via Internet Rabbi Avram Reisner
This paper was approved by the CJLS on March 13, 2001, by a vote of eighteen in favor, two opposed, and one abstaining (18-2-1). Voting in favor: Rabbis Kassel Abelson, Eliezer Diamond, Elliot N. Dorff, Paul Drazen, Baruch Frydman-Kohl, Myron S. Geller, Nechama D. Goldberg, Arnold M. Goodman, Judah Kogen, Alan B. Lucas, Aaron L. Mackler, Daniel S. Nevins, Avram Israel Reisner, Joel E. Rembaum, James S. Rosen, Joel Roth, Elie Kaplan Spitz, and Gordon Tucker. Voting against: Rabbis Ben Zion Bergman and Jerome M. Epstein. Abstaining: Rabbi Paul Plotkin.

Question: May one pray over the Internet? Constitute a minyan over the Internet? Through e-mail, in chat rooms, only with a real-time audio or video connection? Is this permissible in telephone or video conferences? If it is not now permissible, is there some foreseeable technological advance that would make it so?
What constitutes the same place? Clearly the model that the sages had in mind was a physical model of place. May we extend that notion into hyper-space? Paragraph numbers 13 and 14 derive from Mishnah Pesahim 7.12 and the relevant gemara. The Mishnah concerns the eating of the Pesah, which, by Biblical mandate, may only be eaten in one houseî (Ex. 12.46). The Mishnah defines the parameters of 'one's house' in clearly physical terms, considering the door and window spaces. In the gemara, on page 85b, Rav Yehudah states in Ravís name, without challenge 'The same is true for prayer'. The analogy is telling. The eating of the Pesah demands real physical proximity. No foreseeable technology would allow people distant from one another to share the sacrifice. It is thus clear to me that 'one house' in the Biblical verse needs to be taken physically. Whereas that might not be obvious with regard to prayer, the dictum of Rav establishes the equation. We are led to conclude, tentatively, that no Internet minyan is permissible.
Countervailing Sources
A. Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3.7 reports the following:
A person passing by a synagogue, or one whose house was adjacent to a synagogue, who heard the sound of the shofar or of the Megillah ó if he was attentive ó he fulfilled (the requirement), and if not ó he did not. This law predicates fulfilling oneís obligation on hearing alone, plus proper concentration. It is codified in Shulkhan Arukh, Orah Hayim 589.9. This precedent might lead to extending the notion of minyan, if not to keyboard connections, such as email and chat rooms, at least to connections with a real time voice component. This would require, however, that we are able to neutralize Rav's dictum that the physical attributes associated with the Pesah sacrifice are to be applied to prayer. This issue was considered and settled by three Tosafot on Pesahim 85b... Rav's view, though unchallenged, is found, in Pesahim, to be inconsistent with the view of R. Yehoshua ben Levi that God recognizes no partitions. In Pesahim and Eruvin, in the name of Rabbenu Yitzhak, the Tosafot establish a tripartite split in the legal materials. With regard to counting in the minyan, they argue, both Rav and R. Yehoshua ben Levi agree that one must be in the same place. With regard to fulfilling personal obligations that do not require a quorum both agree that one may fulfill an obligation as long as one hears and attends to the relevant sound. Their disagreement, according to Rabbenu Yitzhak, is exclusively with regard to hearing those prayers that require a minyan. Rav would hold that one outside is not part of the quorum, and therefore may not respond. R. Yehoshua ben Levi would disagree. If a proper quorum has been constituted, thereafter anyone who hears may answer. With regard to that limited uncertainty, the Tosafot in Sotah rules that the law is in accordance with R. Yehoshua ben Levi in that matter, and that position appears codified before us, as paragraph number 20 in Orah Hayim 55.1 Thus one location remains the rule for constituting a minyan. Once a minyan is in existence, however, even one who is not in the minyan, but simply overhears, may respond and fulfill obligations thereby...
Conclusions 1. A minyan may not be constituted over the Internet, an audio- or video-conference, or any other medium of long distance communication. Only physical proximity, as defined, that is being in the same room with the shaliah tzibbur, allows a quorum to be constituted.
2. Once a quorum has been duly constituted, anyone hearing the prayers being offered in that minyan may respond and fulfill his or her obligations thereby, even over long distance communications of whatever sort. (a) Some would refrain from fulfilling the specific requirement to hear the shofar in this way, due to its specific nature, but others permit. This committee is on record among those who would allow even the hearing of Shofar in this way.
3. This specifically refers to hearing. A real-time audio connection is necessary. Two-way connection to the whole minyan is preferable, though connection to the shaliah tzibbur alone or a one way connection linking the minyan to the individual are sufficient. E-mail and chat room or other typewritten connections do not suffice. Video connections are not necessary, and in the absence of audio would not suffice.
4. A clear hierarchy of preference is discernible here. It is preferable by far to attend a minyan, for the full social and communal effect of minyan for which it was established is only possible in that way. Less desirable, but closest to attendance at a minyan proper, is real-time two-way audio-video connection, wherein the individual, though unable to reach the other minyonnaires, is able to converse with them and see and be seen by them. Only in rare or exigent circumstances should one enact the third, and least desirable, method of fulfilling oneís obligation to pray with a minyan by attaching oneself to that minyan through a one-way audio vehicle, essentially overhearing them as one standing outside the synagogue.
5. With regard to Mournerís Kaddish, some member of the minyan must recite the kaddish, but a participant at a distant location may recite it along with him or her, as this is not considered a superfluous blessing. There is no obligation to pursue additional opportunities to recite kaddish, and this should be discouraged.
6. To fulfill time-bound obligations, the prayers must be offered during the requisite period in the frame of reference of the one whose obligation is to be fulfilled.

OH 340:3.2020a Streaming Services on Shabbat and Yom Tov Rabbi Joshua Heller
Approved on May 13, 2020, by a vote of 19-3-3. Voting in favor: Rabbis Aaron Alexander, Jaymee Alpert, Suzanne Brody, Nate Crane, Elliot Dorff, David Fine, Susan Grossman, Judith Hauptman, Joshua Heller, David Hoffman, Jeremy Kalmanofsky, Steven Kane, Jan Kaufman, Daniel Nevins, Micah Peltz, Robert Scheinberg, Deborah Silver, Iscah Waldman, and Ellen Wolintz-Fields. Voting Against: Rabbis Amy Levin, Avram Reisner, and David Schuck. Abstaining: Rabbis Pamela Barmash, David Booth, and Ariel Stofenmacher.
One important limitation of Reisner’s approach is that a minyan of at least 10 must be constituted in person, and then others may participate remotely. While the preference is for a two-way connection, where those participating remotely can also be seen and heard by those at the central location, he argues that a one-way connection would also be sufficient for one to fulfill the obligation, and that one who is listening to such a service can recite mourner’s kaddish even if they cannot be heard by the minyan, so long as the kaddish is also recited by someone who can be heard by the minyan Even though the mourner would technically be the “shaliah tzibbur,” we understand that even in a live minyan, those whose recitation is not heard distinctly are still considered to have said kaddish. A few members of the CJLS have offered temporary guidance that allows for more lenient approaches during a time of global pandemic, when gathering 10 people together in one place is unsafe and/or illegal in many communites20. This hora’at sha’ah21, which was not accepted by the majority, suggests the possibility of constituting a minyan via a multi-way visual and audio connection so that at least 10 participants can see and hear each other.22 As a result, this approach requires a video conferencing solution, rather than a one-way streaming solution. This hora’at sha’ah permission to constitute a minyan entirely via video link, is based on a previous precedent from an earlier plague situation23, and would not apply under circumstances other than quarantine.
21 A hora’at sha’ah is a leniency that bends the rules as required to address a single, extraordinary circumstance, and does not create a precedent. In contrast, a sha’at hadehak ruling relies on less commonly accepted precedents in pressing, but not necessarily unique circumstances.
22 Further guidance on the parameters and limitations of this practice are forthcoming.
23 Rabbi Daniel Nevins has pointed to one precedent for this situation, found in the 18th century Rabbi Haim Yosef David Azulai, Mahazik Brakhah OH 55:11,with reference to clusters of fewer than ten Jews confined to quarantine houses who can show their faces to each other out the window or door and combine to form a minyan, “lest forty days be lost without kaddish or kedushah.”

1. Virtual minyanim on weekdays (Orah Hayyim 55:20; 90:9) - David Golinkin
   

I agree with the responsum of Rabbi Avram Reisner approved by the Committee of Jewish Law and Standards in 2001 (available at www.rabbinicalassembly.org under CJLS to OH 55:15), that if there is a physical minyan of ten, one may join that minyan via the internet. Similarly, one can recite Kaddish via the internet if one of the people in the physical minyan recites Kaddish as well. This is in keeping with Shulhan Arukh OH 55:20, and the sources in the Talmud and Tosafot cited by Rabbi Reisner. Please read Rabbi Reisner’s responsum for other crucial details.
(For an interesting discussion of Rabbi Reisner’s teshuvah, see Rabbi Jason Rosenberg, “Worship in the Cloud” in: Rabbi Walter Jacob, ed., The Internet Revolution and Jewish Law, Pittsburgh, 2014, pp. 51-79.)
More recently, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef wrote an unpublished responsum on 28 Heshvan 5777 (November 2016), which rules that a person living in a remote location may join a physical minyan of ten via the internet and answer Amen to devarim shebikdushah, things which require a minyan. He says that he is basing himself on what he wrote in Yalkut Yosef (Yamim Noraim, 5776, Selihot, p. 50, note 9) and he stresses twice that he heard from his father Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef z”l that one may answer Amen and the 13 Attributes of God when joining Selihot over the internet. Neither of them seems to have addressed the question as to whether a mourner may recite Kaddish while participating remotely.
During the current crisis the RA published “CJLS Guidance for Remote Minyanim in a time of COVID-19”. The majority still agree with Rabbi Reisner’s teshuvah.
That letter offers another option of a remote minyan where all ten people are in ten different locations, based on their understanding of OH 55:14 and on a recent responsum by Rabbi Yitzhak Zilberstein of Bnai Brak (born 1934) in his Hashukei Hemed to Berakhot 21b, pp. 135-137. I do not find this convincing. OH 55:14 is talking about counting ONE person in a minyan who can be seen via a window, not ten, while Rabbi Zilberstein is talking about ten people who are standing in the same cemetery who can see and hear each other.
The letter offers a third opinion, that an online minyan of ten people in ten locations is only allowed for the recitation of mourner’s Kaddish since the Kaddish is not listed in the devarim shebikdushah in Mishnah Megillah 4:3 = fol. 23b. I find this approach very problematic. In order to allow people to recite Kaddish via the internet, we must demote the Kaddish and say that it’s not a real davar shebikdushah. This means that when the current crisis ends, people can say that since it’s not in the Mishnah Megillah, we may recite it without a minyan.
Similarly, Rabbi Benny Lau recently asked Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, a well-known Israeli religious Zionist posek, what may be recited in a Zoom “tefillah”. Rabbi Melamed replied that such a meeting is not a minyan and devarim shebikdushsha may not be recited. “Reciting Kaddish yatom and Kaddish derabbanan do not include a berakhah levatalah [= a blessing in vain] and therefore this electronic connection can be considered mei-ein minyan (a pseudo-minyan).” I don’t know what a pseudo-minyan is, but I certainly do not recommend it.
Therefore, if a physical minyan is no longer possible due to the virus, Jews can gather for communal prayer via the internet and skip the devarim shebikdushah such as Kaddish, Barchu, and Kedushah. In such a case, mourners can recite one of the prayers which have been composed for mourners who are not able to join a minyan. See, for example, “Prayer in Place of Mourner’s Kaddish” by Rabbis Jan Uhrbach and Ed Feld on the Rabbinical Assembly website.

CJLS Guidance for Remote Minyanim in a time of COVID-19
Posted on: Tuesday March 17, 2020
Please find below a letter from Rabbi Elliot Dorff, CJLS Chair, and Rabbi Pamela Barmash, CJLS Co-Chair, providing guidance for communities affected by COVID-19. Thanks to Rabbis Joshua Heller, Daniel Nevins, and Avram Reisner for contributing to earlier drafts and the CJLS as a whole for giving input. Please note that this is not an official responsum of the CJLS.
The CJLS-approved position of Rabbi Avram Reisner that permits remote participants to join on weekdays through electronic means to a minyan (ten adult Jews) gathering in person remains the standard practice. The majority of us on the CJLS firmly believe that this should remain the rule even in this she'at hadehak (crisis situation).
Individuals are obligated to pray, and they may do so on their own without a minyan. Congregations may also establish a link to communal prayer without a minyan gathering in person and omit the recitation of devarim shebikdushah (no barkhu, kedushah, or kaddish). While there is not technically a repetition of the Amidah in the absence of a minyan, the "leader" may choose to recite the Amidah loud enough for others to hear, omitting kedushah, but encouraging congregational singing. This will be helpful to those who may not have ready access to a siddur. Jewish leaders are advised to provide interactive online Torah study opportunities as well so as to facilitate a sense of communal connection during this time when so many of us are staying at home.
Kaddish yatom (Mourner’s Kaddish) has a special resonance. Our movement has created several prayers that are acceptable in lieu of kaddish yatom (Mourner’s Kaddish) and those who are mourners or observing yahrzeit may find spiritual and emotional sustenance in these alternatives to kaddish yatom (Mourner’s Kaddish). Some of them may feel distress at not being able to recite kaddish yatom in the absence of a minyan, particularly for a prolonged period, and rabbis must reassure mourners that they are fulfilling their Jewish legal obligations under the circumstances and should feel no guilt whatsoever in remembering and honoring the deceased in this way. There are also other alternatives to saying kaddish yatom with a minyan when that is impossible, such as studying a text or dedicating some other mitzvah to the memory of the loved one.
However, a number of the members of the CJLS believe that in the current dire circumstances a more lenient position on constituting a minyan remotely may be acceptable, especially since there has been significant advances in technology. The classic sources (Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayyim 55:13, and others cited by Rabbi Reisner) require that a minyan be located in one physical space. However, Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayyim 55:14 does open the possibility that there may be an exception by joining in to constitute a minyan if one can see the faces of the other participants: “One who is standing behind the synagogue, with a window between that person and the congregation, even if it is several stories up and less than four cubits wide, and who shows his face to them, may combine with them to form a minyan of ten.” The possibility of a minyan being constituted by people who are not physically near each other is further expanded by Rabbi Yitzhak Zilberstein in Hashukei Hemed on Berakhot 21b (p. 135), where he permits constituting a minyan for kaddish yatom (Mourner’s Kaddish) where people are scattered in a field but can see each other. Recently Rabbi Haim Ovadia called attention to this source, arguing in favor of constituting a minyan by means of real-time video and audio connection between ten Jews. Therefore, in this crisis situation, a number of us are of the opinion that a ruling relying on these precedents should be issued:
In this crisis situation in an area in which civil and/or medical authorities decree that it is unsafe for people to gather in person and recommend or order the closure of houses of worship, it is permitted to constitute a minyan whose constitutive participants (ten adult Jews) are not located in one physical place.
Some of us hold that in an emergency situation such as the one we are now experiencing, people participating in a minyan that is only online may recite devarim shebikdushah, prayers that require a minyan, with their community. The participants counted for the minyan must be able to see and hear each other through virtual means and be able to respond “amen” and other liturgical replies to the prayer leader. Because reading from a Torah scroll is permitted for private study, the Torah reading may be read from a scroll without aliyot. Alternatively, the Torah may be read from a printed text, such as a Humash or Hebrew Bible, without aliyot. The berakhah la'asok b'divrei Torah may be recited before the Torah reading.
Others hold that it is permitted to constitute a minyan exclusively online only for the sake of reciting kaddish yatom. The source in Hashukei Hemed sets a precedent in that it refers specifically to Kaddish (in a cemetery), rather than to a minyan generally. The requirement for a minyan for Kaddish is not mentioned in the list of devarim shebikdushah in Mishnah Megillah 4:3. The requirement for a minyan for Kaddish is first mentioned in Masekhet Sofrim 10:7, not in the Babylonian Talmud or the Talmud of the Land of Israel. The participants counted for the remote minyan must be able to see and hear each other through virtual means and be able to respond “amen” and other liturgical replies to the prayer leader. They do not recite devarim shebikdushah, and they read Torah from a printed text, such as a Humash or Hebrew Bible, without aliyot. The berakhah la'asok b'divrei Torah may be recited before the Torah reading. Kaddish derabbanan may also be recited after Torah study with a remote minyan.
Those who would permit constituting a minyan solely online, whether for all prayers requiring a minyan or only for Mourner’s Kaddish, limit this permission to this “she’at hadehak” (crisis situation), when it is forbidden or unsafe for ten adult Jews to gather in person for weeks at a time. This permission is also limited to an area where most of the synagogues have been ordered, or recommended, to close for the crisis. This does not apply to those in an area where the civil and/or medical authorities have not recommended or ordered that the houses of worship close for public gatherings.
Importantly, the permission to constitute a minyan remotely is still subject to concerns as to how this might be accomplished on Shabbat. There are complicated issues with using video technology to participate in services on Shabbat and Yom Tov, and we mention them here to advise rabbis and congregations of these obstacles. The CJLS is currently working on them, but even those who permit it would require that the stream not be activated by a Jew on Shabbat. The stream would have to be already activated at the synagogue before Shabbat or activate automatically at a specific time. Individuals linking to the stream should activate their equipment before Shabbat or have it activate automatically because a “many-to-many” video connection, such as Zoom, often requires each participant to log in, a problematic practice on Shabbat. Furthermore, there remain additional special concerns for Shabbat and holidays that must be taken into account: Jews must avoid taking active steps to permanently record data or fix the equipment on Shabbat if it malfunctions. These complicated issues should not be ignored, and congregations can bypass these challenges by offering a live streaming option at a time that is not Shabbat or yom tov (for example, Friday night before sundown, motza’ei Shabbat for Havdalah)