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A ''minyan'' () male Jew s for the purpose of communal Prayer ; a minyan is often held within a Synagogue , but may be (and often is) held elsewhere. It is also used as a Collective Noun , as in "do we have a ''minyan''?"

A single ''minyan'' may be one of several simultaneous prayer services within a synagogue. One synagogue (or any building) can have two or more minyanim meeting at the same time; for example, one Ashkenazi minyan and one Sephardi minyan, or one Orthodox minyan and one Conservative minyan, though the latter would typically only happen in a community center or other communally owned building.

Women are counted as part of the minyan in most non-Orthodox synagogues and prayer gatherings.


LAWS

According to Halakha (Jewish law), a ''minyan'' is required for many parts (''D'varim SheB'Kedusha'' "Holy utterances") of the communal prayer service, including ''Barechu'', '' Kaddish '', repetition of the '' Amidah '', the Priestly Blessing , and the Torah and '' Haftarah '' readings. Women are not required to pray with a minyan, and thus Judaism has traditionally counted only men in the minyan for formal prayer.

Rabbinic Judaism teaches that all men and women are obligated to pray to God each day, but the formal requirements for prayer are different for the sexes. Classical rabbinic authorities are in agreement that men are required to pray from a set liturgy three times a day; however, they were of varied opinions as to precisely what the requirements were for women. In the last 300 years many traditional rabbis have followed a trend in which women are seen as being required to follow many (though not all) of the same requirements as men.

The 19th century ) Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (''Yabiah Omer'' vol. 6, 17), that women are only required to pray once a day, in any form they choose, so long as the prayer contains praise of (brakhot), requests to (bakashot), and thanks of (hodot) God. {Link without Title}

While women are not required to pray with a ''minyan'', it is commonly believed that Jewish law requires that men pray in a ''minyan'', but this not exactly correct. None of the ), no Jew has an obligation to public prayer. That said, ''communal prayer'', which requires a minyan, is historically viewed as an almost-obligation—while not a requirement, it is regarded as anti-social to not join in communal prayer.

Men have no halakhic obligation to pray in a ''minyan''. It is, nevertheless, strongly encouraged. According to Maimonides in his '' Mishneh Torah '' (''Hilkhot Tefillah'' 8.1):
The prayer of the community is always heard; and even if there were sinners among them {Link without Title} , women count as part of the minyan of 10 required for a number of .

While the required quorum for most activities requiring a quorum is usually ten, it is not always so. For example, the Passover sacrifice or Korban ''Pesach'' (from the days of the Temple In Jerusalem ) must be offered before a quorum of 30. (It must be performed in front of ''kahal 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 ''minyan'' for offering the ''Korban Pesach'' (e.g. Rav, Rav Kahana, ''Pesachim'' 79b).


ORIGIN

A common misconception is that the requirement of ten to constitute a quorum comes from the fact that Megillah 23b), though the Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah 4,4) relates it to the ten brothers of Joseph who went down to Egypt to get food during a famine. The quorum of ten men is also referred to in the Book Of Ruth 4:2.

The number 10 for a minyan may not always have been consistent throughout history either. In Masechet Soferim (10:7) it is stated that in the Land Of Israel , sometimes as few as 6 (''i.e.'', one more than half of 10) men were counted as sufficient to say communal prayers. This view has not been codified as ''halakha''.


CUSTOMS

Some congregations (based on the '' Shulkhan Arukh '' section '' Orach Chayim '' 55) will include a boy touching a Torah scroll or holding a printed Tanakh as the tenth person if a minyan can be formed in no other way.


CHANGES IN NON-ORTHODOX FORMS OF JUDAISM

In the mid 20th century some congregations in Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism began counting women as part of the ''minyan''. Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis do not see themselves as bound by '' Halakha '', and the movements are committed to the equality of the sexes, rejecting historical practices that draw distinctions on the basis of gender; thus they disregard the traditional prohibition of counting women as part of a ''minyan''. Conservative rabbis do see ''halakha'' as binding, and did not generally accept this practice until several Responsa were offered by rabbis that attempted to justify this practice as in accord with ''halakha''. These responsa were accepted by the Committee On Jewish Law And Standards of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly (though Orthodox Jews do not accept their validity). Since that time the practice of accepting women as part of the ''minyan'' has spread to all of Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, and most Conservative Jewish Synagogue s.


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