Cincinnati Anash: April 2008

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Importance of a Minyan

It seems as though many of you have forgotten what a Minyan is. Below is a review. Be sure to arrive on time.

What is a minyan?

A. The word Minyan (pronounced MIN-yin) actually means "count" or "number." It refers to the particular number 10, which is the number of men required for group Tefillah.
B. Why are ten men needed to say certain prayers? Because every human being has two parts: the physical, and the spiritual. When physical people gather in a physical room, their spiritual halves gather there as well. Those certain prayers require a heightened level of spirituality, and when ten Jews get together, their concentrated spiritual presence produces that spiritual level.
C. The minyan, or the spiritual level created by the minyan, allows the Borchu (pronounced BOHR-khoo) and Kaddish prayers to be uttered, as well as the Repetition of the Amidah, in which the Chazzan reads the amidah aloud while the rest of the minyan stands by and listens.

How do I assemble/lead a minyan?
1. Rules of Qualification
every human being has two parts: the physical, and the spiritual. When physical people gather in a physical room, their spiritual halves gather there as wellBecause a minyan is actually a spiritual event, qualification for minyan membership depends on your spiritual configuration. To be counted as one of the ten, you must be a) Jewish, b) male, and c) over the age of thirteen. (You should also not be dirty, disheveled or in dire need of "the facilities.") These seemingly physical characteristics are but reflections of the inner spiritual realities that govern the convening of the minyan.

2. Follow the Leader
The minyan is led by the chazzan, or cantor, who stands at the podium in front of the Shul. (When minyanim (plural for minyan) are staged at unconventional locations such as parking lots or rears of passenger aircraft, the chazan stands in front of everyone else.) The chazzan is to the minyan what timing is to a musical performance--he keeps everyone together on the same page in the Siddur by reciting out loud the last sentence of each paragraph of prayer. He also recites Kaddish and, in Shacharit and Mincha, repeats the amidah.

3. The Right Time for Everything
All organized Jewish communities have set times for their daily minyanim. According to Halachah, shacharit should be done before work or even breakfast, so most shacharit minyanim are around 7:00 a.m. Mincha minyanim are quite often organized in workplaces or other urban centers, as mincha is done in the afternoon smack in the middle of working hours. Nevertheless, your friendly neighborhood shul is certain to have a set mincha time as well, especially on those long summer days when it gets dark long after you’ve come home from work. Most synagogues do mincha and Maariv in close proximity, the locals gather for mincha just before dusk and wait a short while, when maariv may be prayed.