Laws of Prayer with a Minyan - Rabbi Avraham Mizrachi shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 In this part of the class, we’ll discuss the value of a minyan—praying with the congregation, praying in a minyan—why it matters, and its halachic definitions. The Alter Rebbe writes in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 90:17, a very interesting definition: “Although communal prayer is a mitzvah instituted by the Sages,” a rabbinic obligation, “it is greater than a positive mitzvah of the Torah, for through it Hashem’s name is sanctified in public. Indeed, we see that one may set aside the Torah’s positive commandment ‘You shall work with them forever’ and free a Canaanite slave in order to complete a minyan of ten.” In other words, the Alter Rebbe is showing us the weight of the mitzvah of praying in a minyan. Although the obligation itself is rabbinic, it is connected to the mitzvah of sanctifying Hashem’s name in public, and that gives it great force. So it is very, very important to make an effort to pray in a minyan, as we’ll see later in the class. Our Sages said about the verse “I shall be sanctified among the Children of Israel” that anything requiring sanctity must be done in the presence of at least ten. The words “among the Children of Israel” teach us that this means ten Jews: “I shall be sanctified” in a gathering of ten Jews. A person should always come early to shul so that he merits being counted among the first ten to pray there. Even if a hundred people come afterward, he receives a reward corresponding to them all. Hakadosh Boruch Hu causes His Shechinah to rest there in a very—at a very high level when ten Jews are present, and the first ten are the ones who brought about that situation. Everyone else comes into a situation that already exists. So the first ten, who brought about this resting of the Shechinah, receive a reward corresponding to them all. It is also said of communal prayer that Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not reject the prayers of a multitude: “Behold, G-d is mighty and does not reject.” Even if they did not have such strong concentration in their prayers, the very fact that they prayed together in a minyan means their prayer is accepted. So when a person prays in a minyan, he gains

02:43 Speaker 2 two things. First, it becomes possible to say the parts of the service that require a minyan: Kaddish, the chazzan’s repetition, Birchas Kohanim, responding to Borchu, and Torah reading. Without a minyan, none of these can take place. The additional advantage is that prayers offered in a minyan are more readily accepted. How much effort must a person make to pray in a minyan? In terms of walking distance, our Sages required a person to make the effort to walk from home to a minyan for up to a mil—about eighteen minutes’ walk, close to a kilometer. If he is already traveling and had planned to stop somewhere to rest and pray on his own, but there is a place with a minyan farther along his route, he must continue in his direction of travel for up to four mil—equivalent to three kilometers and 618 meters—to reach a place where he can pray in a minyan. That is when he continues along his route. But if he has to deviate from his route to reach a minyan, he must do so for up to a mil, close to a kilometer. He is not required to go farther than that. All this concerns someone who has to walk to a minyan. What about traveling by car? How do we measure the effort a person must make to reach a minyan? One stringent opinion calculates by time: eighteen minutes if it is off his route, and seventy-two minutes if it is on his route. But there are more lenient opinions that do not measure by time; instead, they use the distances we discussed. The same distances apply whether walking or driving. Of course, since there are two opinions, it is proper to be stringent, but if that is very difficult, one may rely on the lenient opinion. Who counts toward a minyan? In this part of the class, with Hashem’s help, we’ll learn who

05:29 Speaker 2 can make up the minyan we discussed in the previous class, when we spoke about how important it is to pray in a minyan. In section 55, paragraph 2, the Alter Rebbe writes: “This congregation,” which we discussed earlier, “among whom Hashem is sanctified, must consist entirely of males who are free”—not slaves—“and adults,” not minors: they must be over bar mitzvah age. Women, slaves, and minors do not count toward a minyan. What if there are nine people who meet those conditions, and the tenth does not—for example, a woman, a slave, or a child over the age of six? There is an opinion that they can be counted as the tenth. In practice, however, the Alter Rebbe holds that one should not rely on that opinion, though one should not object to those who are lenient in pressing circumstances. In other words, if the situation is very pressing and there are nine adults and a child over six years old, one should not object to those who are lenient. A shoteh does not count toward a minyan. What is considered a shoteh? The halachic authorities already discuss how difficult it is to define. Broadly speaking, if a person’s mind is disturbed, he sees hallucinations and does not perceive reality correctly—imagination and reality become confused for him—there is reason to be concerned, and he should not be counted toward a minyan. A drunk person does not count toward a minyan. We discussed the definition of drunkenness in a previous class: this refers to someone who, because of his intoxication, cannot speak before a king with proper respect. A person who, G-d forbid, is both deaf and unable to speak—he cannot hear and cannot speak—cannot communicate. Someone who cannot communicate has the halachic status of a shoteh. If he has been taught to communicate through sign language or other means, but not through speech, the later halachic authorities disagree about whether his status changes. After all, he does communicate, though not in the usual way people communicate with one another. In practice, according to most halachic authorities, as long as he does not speak, he

07:48 Speaker 2 is considered deaf and unable to speak, and does not count toward a minyan. But if he speaks, even unclearly, and people can understand what he means, he is no longer in that category and may be counted toward a minyan. A boy is considered an adult from the day of his bar mitzvah itself—his thirteenth birthday—and counts toward a minyan. How do people join together to form a minyan? The main element of prayer in a minyan is, of course, the Shemoneh Esreh: ten people praying the Shemoneh Esreh together. What does “together” mean? It means they must be in one shared space in order to form a minyan. But if some are in one room and others are in another room, they do not join together. There are not ten people praying together, and it is not considered a minyan. If they have a line of sight to one another—some can see the faces of others—they do join together. If the chazzan stands within the doorway between the two rooms, he joins the two groups together so that they are considered one group, and it counts as a minyan. There are situations that do not quite count as a minyan but have a somewhat lesser status, as we’ll see now. Say a person is praying in a room adjoining the shul, such as the women’s section. The congregation has a minyan without him: they are praying in the men’s section of the shul, while he is praying in the women’s section, without their seeing him or his seeing them. Since he is praying along with them in a place adjoining the shul, it counts for him as praying with a minyan, but he cannot be counted toward the minyan. If a person is at home and his house is close to the shul, and he can clearly hear the chazzan and the entire service, he may respond and may also fulfill his obligation through what he hears. But he is not considered to have prayed in a minyan, because he was in an entirely separate space. But matters for which the chazzan fulfills

10:16 Speaker 2 For example, with a Torah reading and the like, he can fulfill his obligation because he hears the voice naturally—in a live transmission, so to speak; live, not through a broadcast. He hears the shliach tzibbur himself. So although he is in a separate place, he can fulfill his obligation through the shliach tzibbur, but it is not considered davening with a minyan at all. Someone listening to a live broadcast, yes? By radio, internet, or the like—he may answer amen, but he does not fulfill his obligation, and it certainly does not count as davening with a minyan. There is an advantage to davening at the time the congregation davens, even if a person is nowhere near the shul and cannot hear the minyan. Certainly, it does not count as davening with a minyan, and of course he does not fulfill his obligation through the shliach tzibbur’s davening. But the very fact that he davens at home at the same time as a minyan gives his davening an advantage. So someone who cannot get to a minyan should try to time his davening to coincide with the minyan’s. Does someone who is in the middle of Shemoneh Esrei count toward the minyan? Let’s take an example. The shliach tzibbur and the whole congregation began Shemoneh Esrei together. Say it’s Maariv, where there is no repetition by the shliach tzibbur. Kaddish is said immediately after the silent Amidah, and the shliach tzibbur wants to begin Kaddish, but not all ten who began davening with him have finished. Some have, and some are still davening. When may he begin Kaddish? The halachah is this: To say Kaddish, ten adult men must be present in the shul. A majority of the minyan must be able to answer the Kedushah or Kaddish that the shliach tzibbur says. Even if the minority do not answer, their presence itself makes ten, among whom the Shechinah rests, and a davar shebikdushah may be said,

12:38 Speaker 2 provided they are in the same place and the majority answer, even if the minority do not. As for someone who is asleep: if one of those ten is asleep, the poskim disagree about whether he counts toward the ten. The Alter Rebbe says not to rely on the lenient opinions on this, especially when it is possible to wake him and only then say the davar shebikdushah. When we are talking about the shliach tzibbur’s repetition—not at Maariv, but at Minchah or Shacharis—not only must ten be present, but nine must actually answer the shliach tzibbur’s blessings. That is the Alter Rebbe’s view, and he is stringent about it: if nine do not answer, it is close to saying that his blessings are in vain. So before the shliach tzibbur begins the repetition, he should check carefully that nine people will answer. To sum up, there is a major difference between the shliach tzibbur’s repetition and other devarim shebikdushah. For the others, the presence of ten is enough, as long as the majority answer. The repetition requires, in addition to their presence, that at least nine answer the shliach tzibbur’s blessings. What happens if we began with a minyan, but the minyan dwindled? One or two people left completely, and fewer than a minyan remain. What may we continue as though we still have a minyan, and what may we not say? That is what we will discuss in this part. If ten people began a davar shebikdushah and some left, but a majority of the minyan remain, they finish that same section and do not begin a new one. What counts as the same section, and what does not? We will discuss that now. But before making that distinction, let’s clarify something important: It is a transgression to leave and break up a minyan, because that causes the Shechinah, which rests among ten, to depart, and prevents devarim shebikdushah from being said. In other words, it is

15:04 Speaker 2 a very serious matter in halachah to cause a minyan to break up. If there are ten, those ten are responsible for remaining until the entire davening is finished. There should not be a situation where one person leaves and the minyan consequently breaks up, causing the Shechinah to depart and preventing the congregation from saying devarim shebikdushah. That is not proper at all. More than that, the poskim say that even if someone has already left, the ninth person should not say, “Well, there’s no minyan anyway, so I want to leave too.” It is a measure of piety not to leave even when there is no longer a minyan, because a replacement tenth person may easily be found. In other words, don’t be among those who prevent a minyan from forming. Now to define what counts as the same section that may be continued. If they began with a minyan and it dwindled—if they began Kaddish, or Kedushah in the shliach tzibbur’s repetition, and there were ten at the start of Kaddish or at the start of the repetition, but some left—they finish that Kaddish or finish the entire repetition, without Birchas Kohanim. Although Birchas Kohanim takes place during the shliach tzibbur’s repetition, it is not an integral part of it. So since there is now no minyan, they do not begin Birchas Kohanim at the end of the repetition. After the repetition, they continue davening, but in Tachanun they do not say the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, because there is currently no minyan. They say Ashrei, Uva Letziyon, and the Kaddishim through Kaddish Tiskabel, but no more. If it is a day when the Torah is read and there is no minyan when the Torah scroll would be taken out, they do not take it out. If the minyan dwindled near the beginning of Shacharis, during Pesukei Dezimrah—the tenth person has already left and there is currently no minyan—or at Minchah, if they began Ashrei but had not finished it and said Kaddish before some people left, they do not say Kaddish. The Kaddish between Ashrei and Shemoneh Esrei at Minchah, like the Kaddish between Yishtabach and Yotzer Or,

17:28 Speaker 2 is not considered part of the preceding section, so it cannot be said. If they had progressed further—they said Kaddish and Borchu at Shacharis while there was a minyan, continued to the blessings of Yotzer Or, and suddenly there was no minyan—they do not begin the shliach tzibbur’s repetition. What we said earlier applies when there was a minyan at the start of the repetition: then they finish it. Here, the minyan dwindled before the repetition began. At Maariv, if they began the silent Amidah with a minyan and some people left during it, they may say Kaddish Tiskabel after Maariv, following the Amidah, because that Kaddish relates to the blessings of Shema that preceded it, when there was a minyan. If there was a minyan at the start of Maariv and it dwindled before Shemoneh Esrei, they may say the Kaddish before Shemoneh Esrei, because that Kaddish relates to the beginning of davening, when there was a minyan. That covers the rules for a minyan that has dwindled. We have seen that since they began with a minyan, they may finish and continue anything that belongs to the section they began while there was a minyan. But they do not begin a new section when there is no minyan.