Minyan: Why Ten? The Three Daily Prayers Explained

Ten adult Jews gathered in the synagogue before work or at nightfall, for a service of about twenty minutes: why ten, why three times a day, and what exactly cannot be said without them? This article goes back to the texts themselves (the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Rambam, the Shulchan Aruch and its commentators). It quotes the key passages, explains the reasoning of the Sages, and presents the disagreements as they are.

In short: the minyan (“the count”) is the quorum of ten adult Jews without which the “holy” parts of the public service are not said: Kaddish, Kedusha, Barechu, the repetition of the Amidah, the Priestly Blessing, and the reading of the Torah and the haftarah (Mishnah Megillah 4:3; Rambam, Hilchot Tefillah 8:4-5; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 55:1). The number ten is not written in the Torah: the Talmud derives it from a double verbal analogy, “in the midst” (betoch) and then “congregation” (edah), which leads to the ten spies of Bamidbar 14:27 (Megillah 23b; Berachot 21b). As for the three prayers, Shacharit, Minchah and Maariv, the Talmud gives two foundations: the patriarchs or the daily sacrifices of the Temple (Berachot 26b). The Rambam adopts the sacrifices and specifies that the evening prayer, originally optional, was accepted by all Israel as an obligation (Hilchot Tefillah 1:5-6). At the heart of every service stands the Amidah, the silent prayer said standing, which tradition attributes to the Men of the Great Assembly (Berachot 33a; Megillah 17b).

A minyan: what exactly are we talking about?

The word minyan comes from the root mana, “to count”. It designates the minimal group whose presence turns an individual prayer into a public prayer (tefillah betzibbur). It can be assembled anywhere, in the synagogue, at home, in a rented hall, provided that the ten are in the same place (we will come back to this).

The minyan is not reserved for prayer: the Mishnah gives a wider list of public and solemn acts that require it:

אין פורסין את שמע, ואין עוברין לפני התיבה, ואין נושאין את כפיהם, ואין קורין בתורה, ואין מפטירין בנביא, ואין עושין מעמד ומושב, ואין אומרים ברכת אבלים ותנחומי אבלים וברכת חתנים, ואין מזמנין בשם, פחות מעשרה.

“One does not recite the blessing that introduces the Shema (poressin et Shema, that is, Barechu), one does not pass before the ark, the Kohanim do not raise their hands, one does not read the Torah, one does not read the haftarah from the Prophets, one does not hold the standing and sitting stations of a funeral, one does not say the blessing for mourners or the words of consolation, nor the blessing for grooms, and one does not invite to the blessing after the meal with the Divine Name, with fewer than ten” (Mishnah Megillah 4:3).

The Kaddish is not in this Mishnah. The Rambam adds it: “the Kaddish is not said except with ten” (Hilchot Tefillah 8:5), and the Shulchan Aruch opens its chapter on the Kaddish with this rule (Orach Chaim 55:1).

Individual prayer remains valid and obligatory: the minyan conditions the public parts of the service, not prayer itself.

Why ten? The reasoning of the Talmud

The Torah nowhere says: “ten people are needed to pray.” The number results from a reasoning by verbal analogy (gezerah shavah), which the Gemara sets out in connection with the Mishnah quoted above (Megillah 23b) and which is found again in connection with the Kedusha (Berachot 21b).

Two successive analogies

The starting point is a verse: “And I shall be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel” (Vayikra 22:32). Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba, in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, deduces from it: “every matter of holiness must not be done with fewer than ten” (Megillah 23b). But the verse mentions no number. The Gemara asks: “What indicates this?” And answers:

אתיא ״תוך״ ״תוך״. כתיב הכא: ״ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל״, וכתיב התם: ״הבדלו מתוך העדה הזאת״, מה להלן עשרה, אף כאן עשרה.

First stage: the word “in the midst” (betoch) of the verse on the sanctification of the Name is brought together with the same word in the command given concerning Korach: “Separate yourselves from the midst of this congregation” (Bamidbar 16:21). Korach’s group thus supplies the measure: “just as there they were ten, so here too ten.” Second stage, because we still need to know why Korach’s “congregation” numbers ten:

ואתיא ״עדה״ ״עדה״, דכתיב התם: ״עד מתי לעדה הרעה הזאת״ — מה להלן עשרה, אף כאן עשרה.

The word edah is brought together with the one that describes the spies: “How long shall this evil congregation murmur against Me?” (Bamidbar 14:27; Megillah 23b). The same demonstration is reported in the name of Rabbanai, brother of Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba, in Berachot 21b, in connection with the Kedusha: Rav Adda bar Ahavah concludes from it that an individual does not say the Kedusha alone.

Why do the spies number ten?

Twelve men, one per tribe, had been sent to scout the land, all of them “leaders of the children of Israel” (Bamidbar 13:3). Yehoshua and Calev brought back a faithful report; the “evil congregation” that murmured is therefore twelve minus two: ten. The Rambam takes up the demonstration at the heart of his laws of prayer: “any group of ten Israelites is called an edah, as it is said: ‘How long shall this evil congregation…’; and they were indeed ten, since Yehoshua and Calev had left the number” (Hilchot Tefillah 8:5).

Ten Jews, not ten people

According to Rabbi Yochanan, an act performed before fewer than ten is not “public”; and these ten must be Jews. Rabbi Yirmeyah asks whether nine Jews and one non-Jew suffice: the Gemara answers with a teaching of Rav Yannai, brother of Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba, who takes up the same double analogy (Sanhedrin 74b).

Other supports

For the seven wedding blessings, Rav Nachman cites Boaz, who takes “ten men of the elders of the city” (Ruth 4:2), while Rabbi Abbahu invokes Psalm 68:27, “in the congregations, bless G-d” (Ketubot 7b): the Gemara discusses not the fact that ten are needed, but where it is derived from. It also distinguishes the acts that require ten because they are “of holiness” (Kaddish, Barechu, Kedusha, Torah reading) from those that require it out of propriety, such as the invitation to the blessing after the meal: saying “Let us bless our G-d” before fewer than ten is not the proper way (lav orach eretz, Megillah 23b).

Why we do not count out loud

The Sages forbid counting Jews directly. According to Rabbi Yitzchak, it is forbidden to count them even for a mitzvah; Shaul had counted his soldiers by means of sheep (Yoma 22b; 1 Shmuel 15:4). Rabbi Elazar sees a prohibition based on Hosea 2:1, and the Torah links a census to the risk of a plague (Shemot 30:12). One therefore avoids saying “one, two, three…”; the way of proceeding varies from community to community.

What requires a minyan

The Rambam describes public prayer: “one person prays aloud and all listen; this is not done with fewer than ten free adults, including the leader. One does not say the Kedusha, one does not read the Torah with its blessings, one does not read the haftarah, except with ten” (Hilchot Tefillah 8:4). Then come Barechu, the Kaddish and the Priestly Blessing, the Kohanim counting in the number (8:5). The Shulchan Aruch takes up the essentials: “the Kaddish is said, and it is not said with fewer than ten free adult men; likewise the Kedusha and Barechu” (Orach Chaim 55:1).

The Kaddish, including the mourner’s Kaddish: see What Is the Kaddish?.
Barechu (“Bless!”), the leader’s call before the Shema.
The Kedusha (“Sanctification”), said during the repetition of the Amidah. It rests on Yeshayahu’s (Isaiah’s) vision: “Holy, holy, holy is the L-rd of hosts” (Yeshayahu 6:3), and on the words of Yechezkel (Ezekiel): “Blessed be the glory of the L-rd from His place” (Yechezkel 3:12).
The repetition of the Amidah aloud by the leader (shaliach tzibbur).
The reading of the Torah and the haftarah: one does not read with fewer than ten free adults (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 143:1). The Talmud attributes to Ezra the readings of Monday, Thursday and Shabbat afternoon (Bava Kamma 82a).
The Priestly Blessing (Bamidbar 6:22-27).
The seven wedding blessings and the mourners’ blessing (Mishnah Megillah 4:3; Ketubot 7b).

The rest of the service, including the Shema and the silent Amidah, can be said alone without difficulty.

If the ten dissolve in the middle of the service

The Rambam teaches that if one began with ten and some leave, “even though they have no right to,” the others finish (Hilchot Tefillah 8:6). The Shulchan Aruch sets a condition: the leader may complete a Kaddish or a Kedusha already begun as long as the majority of the ten has remained (Orach Chaim 55:2). The Rema adds that leaving is a transgression, according to the verse “those who forsake the L-rd shall perish” (Yeshayahu 1:28), but that it is permitted to leave if ten people remain. The Rambam therefore says that the others finish, the Shulchan Aruch only if the majority stays: this nuance is worth keeping.

Who counts in the minyan? Criteria and debates

This part touches on sensitive questions. We present the sources and the positions we were able to verify, without ruling: each community follows its rabbi.

The classical criteria

According to the Shulchan Aruch, the Kaddish, the Kedusha and Barechu are not said with fewer than ten “men (zecharim), free, adult, who have brought forth two hairs” (Orach Chaim 55:1). The Rambam writes “adults and free” (Hilchot Tefillah 8:4). The criterion of the two hairs (shtei se’arot) goes back to the Talmud: concerning the blessing after the meal, Rabbi Yochanan teaches that a youth who has brought forth two hairs counts, and that otherwise he does not (Berachot 47b). The Shulchan Aruch adds that a man who has not brought forth two hairs remains a “minor” until most of his years have passed, but the Rema specifies that one does not check: anyone who has reached the required age is presumed to have brought forth his two hairs (55:5).

The condition of being “free” concerns the era of slavery. The Talmud reports that Rabbi Eliezer, having entered the synagogue without finding ten people there, freed his slave to complete the quorum (Berachot 47b).

Women

In Orthodox halakha, the quorum consists of ten men. The Shulchan Aruch writes that the slave and the woman do not join the quorum (Orach Chaim 55:4). This does not mean that women are exempt from prayer. The Mishnah teaches that women, slaves and children are exempt from the Shema, but obligated in prayer, the mezuzah and the blessing after the meal (Mishnah Berachot 3:3). The Rambam explains that, since prayer is not tied to a specific time, women and slaves are bound by it (Hilchot Tefillah 1:1), and the Shulchan Aruch codifies it (Orach Chaim 106:2).

The nature of this obligation is itself debated. The Rambam makes prayer a mitzvah of the Torah, without fixed number or schedule; the Ramban sees in it essentially an institution of the Sages. The Mishnah Berurah sets out both positions: according to the Rambam, one prayer a day suffices, and the Magen Avraham notes that many women therefore say a short request upon rising; but the opinion of the Ramban is that of most halakhic authorities, so that women must be reminded to say the Amidah of Shacharit and Minchah. For Maariv, women did not accept the obligation that all of Israel took on, and most do not say it (Mishnah Berurah 106:4). Being obligated to pray and being counted in the quorum are two distinct questions.

The child as the tenth

This is one of the best-known debates. The source is Berachot 47b, concerning the invitation to the blessing after the meal: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi teaches that a small child lying in his cradle is not counted, but that “one makes him an appendage (sanif) to complete ten.” The question remains whether this rule applies to prayer.

The Tur reports the existence of lenient opinions: some permit joining a minor to nine adults by placing a chumash in his hand. He cites the Rosh, who writes that one cannot count him before he has brought forth his two hairs, “neither for prayer nor for the blessing after the meal” (Tur, Orach Chaim 55). The Shulchan Aruch rejects the lenient opinion: “some permit saying a word of holiness with nine, plus a minor of more than six years who knows to Whom one is speaking in prayer; but their words did not appear correct to the great halakhic authorities” (Orach Chaim 55:4). The Rema, who reflects Ashkenazi practice, adds: even with a chumash in his hand, one does not join him, “but some have the custom to be lenient in case of necessity (sha’at hadechak).”

The Mishnah Berurah describes the evolution of practice. He explains that a chumash does not turn the minor into a “man” (55:23); then he reports that, according to the Magen Avraham, the custom arose of counting a minor holding a chumash, only to hear Barechu and the Kaddish that are an obligation, and not for the Kaddish that follows Aleinu; he adds that many later authorities are strict and count no minor before his thirteenth year, even in case of necessity (55:24). In each community, it is the rabbi who decides.

A Torah scroll, or an ark, as the tenth?

The same passage of the Talmud contains a famous discussion: “Rav Huna said: nine and the ark (aron) join together. Rav Nachman said to him: is the ark a man (gavra)?” Rav Huna then retracts: “nine who look like ten” join together (tish’ah nir’in ke’asarah), which is explained either when they are grouped or when they are scattered (Berachot 47b). The object is therefore not retained as a “man.” But this passage speaks of the invitation to the blessing after the meal, and applying it to prayer calls for caution: where relevant, one asks a rabbi.

A borderline case

According to the Shulchan Aruch, a sinner who has transgressed an ordinance of the community or committed a transgression, if he has not been placed under a ban, counts in the minyan (Orach Chaim 55:11). How to apply this today, for example to a non-practicing Jew, is a question to put to one’s rabbi.

The ten must be in the same place

The Talmud reports a disagreement: Rav teaches that a person standing at the door, outside the hall, does not join those who are praying inside, whereas Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi affirms: “even an iron partition does not separate Israel from their Father in heaven” (Pesachim 85b). Halakha retains the requirement of a common place: “all must be in a single place, and the leader with them” (Rambam, Hilchot Tefillah 8:7; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 55:13). The Shulchan Aruch details the borderline cases: someone who stands behind the synagogue, with a window between them, and whose face the worshippers can see, joins them (55:14). If ten are already gathered, even someone who is not with them may answer Amen, because “even an iron partition…” (Tur, Orach Chaim 55).

The remote minyan (telephone, videoconference)

The classical texts are clear: the place must be common (Rambam 8:7; Shulchan Aruch 55:13-14). The ancient sources could not envisage a screen; according to the classical reading, people connected by a screen are not “in a single place,” and, to our knowledge, Orthodox communities stop there. For any specific situation (illness, lockdown, mourning), consult a rabbi.

Conservative (Masorti) Judaism has had a public and documented debate. On March 17, 2020, at the start of the pandemic, the movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) published a provisional guidance. On July 23, 2021, it voted an opinion (Rabbi David J. Fine) entitled “A Minyan Is Constituted in Person” (CJLS, OH 55:14.2021b). The American Reform movement (CCAR) devoted a responsum to the question in 2020 (no. 5780.2); we do not report its conclusion here, which we were not able to verify.

Other movements

Conservative (Masorti) Judaism counts women in the minyan: the Law Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly decided this in 1973, by nine votes to four (New York Times, September 11, 1973). Orthodox communities hold to Orach Chaim 55:1 and 55:4; the other movements base their positions on a different reading of the evolution of halakha. One should turn to a rabbi of one’s own community.

Why pray with the community?

The Sages explain why prayer in a group has a value of its own.

The prayer of the many is heard. The Rambam: “The prayer of the community is always heard, even if there are sinners among them; the Holy One, blessed be He, does not despise the prayer of the multitudes. This is why a person should join the community, and not pray alone as long as he can pray with it” (Hilchot Tefillah 8:1; Berachot 8a).
The Shechinah is there before them. “How do we know that when ten pray, the Shechinah is with them? It is said: ‘G-d stands in the congregation of G-d’ (Tehillim 82:1)” (Berachot 6a; Pirkei Avot 3:6, for the ten who study).
The empty synagogue. Rabbi Yochanan says that when the Holy One, blessed be He, enters the synagogue and does not find ten people there, He is angered: “Why have I come and there is no one?” (Yeshayahu 50:2; Berachot 6b). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi encourages arriving early to be among the first ten: even if a hundred people arrive after him, he receives the reward of all of them (Berachot 47b; Orach Chaim 90:14).
The “bad neighbor.” Resh Lakish: “Whoever has a synagogue in his town and does not enter it to pray is called a ‘bad neighbor'” (Berachot 8a; Rambam 8:1; Orach Chaim 90:11).

The Kuzari of Rabbi Yehuda Halevi adds that the individual rarely completes his prayer without a slip or an error: hence the custom of saying the community’s prayers, if possible with at least ten people, so that one can make up for the other’s lapse (Kuzari, III, 19).

And if I cannot go to the minyan?

Praying with the community is an ideal, not a condition of validity. The Shulchan Aruch: “if he is prevented from going to the synagogue, let him have in mind to pray at the time when the community prays”; the same goes for those who live in places without a minyan (Orach Chaim 90:9). Someone who prays alone simply omits the parts that require ten.

An open siddur lying on a wooden table, next to a folded prayer shawl and a pair of tefillin, in the morning light

Why three prayers a day?

A mitzvah of the Torah, or an institution of the Sages?

The Rambam answers that prayer is itself a mitzvah of the Torah: “It is a positive commandment to pray every day, for it is said: ‘You shall serve the L-rd your G-d’ (Shemot 23:25). The oral tradition teaches that this service is prayer, for it is said: ‘and to serve Him with all your heart’ (Devarim 11:13), and the Sages said: what is the service that is in the heart? It is prayer. But the number of prayers is not from the Torah, nor the wording, nor the schedule” (Hilchot Tefillah 1:1; Taanit 2a). The Ramban does not share this view: according to him, only the cry to G-d in time of distress comes from the Torah, and daily prayer is an institution of the Sages (Hasagot on the Sefer HaMitzvot, mitzvah no. 5; summarized in Sefer HaChinuch 433). In practice, both opinions lead to the same act: one prays three times a day.

The debate of the Gemara

Tractate Berachot (26b) poses the question:

רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא אמר: תפלות אבות תקנום. ורבי יהושע בן לוי אמר: תפלות כנגד תמידין תקנום.

“Rabbi Yose bar Chanina said: the patriarchs instituted the prayers. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: the prayers were instituted to correspond to the daily sacrifices (temidin)” (Berachot 26b).

According to Rabbi Yose bar Chanina, the patriarchs. Each is linked to a service, based on a word that the Talmud reads as designating prayer:

Avraham instituted Shacharit: “Avraham arose early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the L-rd” (Bereshit 19:27). The verb “to stand” (amad) designates prayer, as with Pinchas: “Pinchas stood up and prayed” (Tehillim 106:30).
Yitzchak instituted Minchah: “Yitzchak went out to converse (lasuach) in the field toward evening” (Bereshit 24:63). The word sichah designates prayer: “He pours out his complaint (sicho) before the L-rd” (Tehillim 102:1).
Yaakov instituted Maariv: “He encountered (vayifga) the place and spent the night there, because the sun had set” (Bereshit 28:11). The verb paga designates prayer: “Do not intercede for this people… and do not encounter Me (tifga)” (Yirmeyahu 7:16).

According to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, the sacrifices. The prayers correspond to the perpetual sacrifices: one lamb in the morning and another “between the two evenings” (Bamidbar 28:4). From this follow the times: Shacharit corresponds to the morning sacrifice, Minchah to the afternoon one, Musaf to the additional sacrifice; as for the evening prayer, it has no fixed time, because the fats and limbs burned on the altar all night long (Berachot 26b; Mishnah Berachot 4:1). The Shulchan Aruch writes: “prayer is in place of the sacrifice” (Orach Chaim 98:4).

An objection, and the answer of Rabbi Yose bar Chanina. The Gemara wonders whether this teaching about the times does not refute Rabbi Yose bar Chanina. He can answer that the patriarchs instituted the prayers, and that the Sages then set their times and characteristics on the model of the sacrifices. Otherwise, he says, who would have instituted Musaf, which the patriarchs do not establish? Even according to him, therefore, the services were organized on the model of the sacrifices: the two positions partly meet (Berachot 26b).

The choice of the Rambam. The Rambam writes that Ezra and his court fixed the eighteen blessings (Hilchot Tefillah 1:4), then “they instituted that the number of prayers be equal to that of the sacrifices: two prayers each day, corresponding to the two perpetual sacrifices, and, on the days when an additional sacrifice is offered, a third prayer” (1:5). He adds that the evening prayer is due to the fact that the limbs of the afternoon sacrifice burned all night, with Tehillim 55:18 as support, “evening, morning and noon” (1:6). The patriarchs are not mentioned in this chapter.

The status of Maariv

The Talmud does not regard the three prayers as obligatory in the same way. The Gemara (Berachot 27b) reports a disagreement: Rabban Gamliel says that Maariv is obligatory, Rabbi Yehoshua that it is optional (reshut); Abaye rules like the first, Rava like the second. The Rambam writes: “The evening prayer is not obligatory like those of the morning and the afternoon; but all Israel, wherever they live, has adopted the habit of saying it and has accepted it as an obligatory prayer” (Hilchot Tefillah 1:6). Consequence: the leader does not repeat the Amidah at Maariv (Rambam 9:9; Orach Chaim 237:1).

Biblical hints of three prayers

The Psalmist says: “Evening, morning and noon, I complain and moan, and He hears my voice” (Tehillim 55:18). Daniel “three times a day knelt, prayed and gave thanks before his G-d,” with windows open toward Jerusalem (Daniel 6:11): the Talmud derives from it that prayer has a fixed number and that one prays in a house with windows (Berachot 31a). As for Minchah, Rabbi Chelbo teaches, in the name of Rav Huna: “let a man always be attentive to the afternoon prayer, for Eliyahu was answered only at Minchah” (1 Kings 18:36; Berachot 6b).

The times of the three services

The times are calculated in “seasonal” hours (sha’ot zemaniyot): the day, whatever its length, is divided into twelve hours (Rema on Orach Chaim 233:1). Local calendars give the times each day.

Shacharit. The ideal time of the Amidah begins at sunrise, “for it is said: ‘They shall fear You with the sun'” (Tehillim 72:5); one fulfills the obligation if one prays from dawn, and the time extends until the end of the fourth hour, that is a third of the day. Later, until noon, one loses the reward of prayer “in its time”; after noon, according to the Rema, one no longer prays Shacharit (Orach Chaim 89:1). The Mishnah gives the two limits: “until noon” for the Sages, “until the fourth hour” for Rabbi Yehuda (Mishnah Berachot 4:1). The morning Shema is read until the end of the third hour, that is a quarter of the day (Orach Chaim 58:1). The vatikin take care to finish the Shema and its blessings at sunrise in order to proceed to the Amidah (Berachot 9b; Orach Chaim 58:1): it is the Shema, not the Amidah, that is timed to sunrise. Tradition discourages eating before having prayed (Berachot 10b; Orach Chaim 89:3).

Minchah. One who prays after six and a half hours has fulfilled the obligation; the main time runs from nine and a half hours until nightfall according to the Sages, and until plag haminchah (an hour and a quarter before nightfall) according to Rabbi Yehuda (Orach Chaim 233:1; Berachot 26b).

Maariv. The evening Shema begins at the emergence of the stars; the ideal limit is midnight, and one has fulfilled the obligation until dawn (Orach Chaim 235:1; Mishnah Berachot 1:1). The evening Amidah “has no fixed time” (Mishnah Berachot 4:1). A difference of custom remains: the Shulchan Aruch writes that, since one prays Minchah until nightfall, one does not pray Maariv before sunset, except in case of necessity; the Rema answers that, in Ashkenazi countries, one prays Maariv from plag haminchah and no longer prays Minchah afterward (Orach Chaim 233:1).

Musaf and special days. On Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and festivals, Musaf is added, corresponding to the additional sacrifice (Rambam 1:5-8; Bamidbar 28:9-10); on Yom Kippur, Ne’ilah (1:7-8). The Amidot of Shabbat and festivals have seven blessings, with a central blessing proper to the day: the Rambam alludes to it in connection with Friday night (9:10).

How does the service unfold?

Rites vary (Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Yemenite, Chasidic), but the framework is common. The Rambam describes the morning service as follows: the leader says Barechu, then the Shema and its blessings; all rise and pray in a low voice; the leader repeats the Amidah aloud, with the Kedusha; then come the supplications, the Kaddish and the end of the service (Hilchot Tefillah 9:1-6). In practice, four stages are distinguished: the morning blessings (Birchot HaShachar, Berachot 60b), with tallit and tefillin for men (see What Are Tefillin?); the praises (Pesukei DeZimra), where Psalm 145 holds a central place (“Whoever says ‘Tehillah LeDavid’ three times a day is assured of a share in the World to Come,” Berachot 4b); the Shema and its blessings (Devarim 6:4; 6:7; Mishnah Berachot 1:1-2; see What Does the Shema Yisrael Mean?); finally the Amidah, or “Shemoneh Esrei,” the “eighteen.”

The Amidah: the prayer said standing

Amidah means “standing.” It is said with the feet together, as if they were one, in imitation of the angels of whom Yechezkel says: “their feet were one straight foot” (Yechezkel 1:7; Berachot 10b; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 95:1). Outside Israel, one faces the Land of Israel, thinking of Jerusalem, the Temple and the Holy of Holies (Berachot 30a; Orach Chaim 94:1); the Rema specifies that, living to the west of Israel, we face east (94:2). It is said in a low voice, on the model of Hannah: “Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard” (1 Shmuel 1:13; Berachot 31a; Orach Chaim 101:2).

On ordinary days, it has nineteen blessings despite its name. The Gemara itself raises the question: “are they eighteen? They are nineteen.” Rabbi Levi answers that the blessing against the minim was instituted at Yavneh and was not part of the original count: Shimon HaPakuli had arranged the eighteen before Rabban Gamliel, and Shmuel HaKatan formulated the additional blessing (Berachot 28b). For the number eighteen, it is proposed that it corresponds to the eighteen mentions of the Name in Psalm 29 (Rabbi Hillel son of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani), in the Shema (Rav Yosef), or the eighteen vertebrae of the spine (Rabbi Tanchum in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi) (Berachot 28b).

Adding one’s own request

Fixed prayer does not forbid personal requests. Several Sages added at the end of their Amidah a short prayer of their own composition (Berachot 16b-17a); that of Mar bar Ravina is, according to tradition, the origin of the text “Elohai netzor” that closes the Amidah (17a). The Shulchan Aruch permits adding in the intermediate blessings a request consistent with their theme (healing in “Heal us”), and in “Hear our voice” all of one’s requests (Orach Chaim 119:1). The Rambam sees in it a voluntary prayer (nedavah) and changes nothing in the first three and last three blessings (Hilchot Tefillah 1:9).

A brief history of Jewish prayer

The Torah does not fix the text of prayer. The Rambam describes a first period, from Moshe to Ezra, in which each person prayed according to his ability, turning toward the Temple (Hilchot Tefillah 1:3): the prayers of Hannah (1 Shmuel 1) and of Shlomo (1 Kings 8), of Daniel three times a day (Daniel 6:11). After the exile to Babylon, the children born in exile mixed several languages, and “Ezra and his court arose and instituted eighteen blessings in order,” so that the prayer of those who struggle to speak would be as complete as that of the eloquent (1:4). The Talmud, for its part, speaks of the Men of the Great Assembly, who “instituted for Israel the blessings, the prayers, the sanctifications and the havdalot” (Berachot 33a; Megillah 17b); we present them as two neighboring traditions, the Rambam not using this name in that passage. After the destruction of the Temple, the order of the eighteen was arranged at Yavneh, around Rabban Gamliel (Berachot 28b). The text was long transmitted orally; the oldest surviving complete collections are the Seder of Rav Amram Gaon (9th century) and then the Siddur of Rav Saadia Gaon (10th century). The word siddur comes from seder, “order”; the prayer book for festivals is the Machzor.

Practice today

In observant communities, services take place every day: a minyan early in the morning, an afternoon service before sunset, often followed by Maariv; the times are posted at the synagogue. The morning minyan lasts about twenty minutes on weekdays. A beginner can go without knowing everything: many synagogues offer siddurim with translation. The Mishnah allows the Shema and the Amidah to be recited in the language one understands (Mishnah Sotah 7:1), and Hebrew remains the recommended way (Orach Chaim 101:4). For any particular case (travel, illness, doubt about a person’s status), consult a competent rabbi.

What belongs to law, to rationale and to intention

Three levels are mixed here, which the Sages distinguish.

Practical law (halakhah lema’aseh). Ten adult Jews for the public parts (Mishnah Megillah 4:3; Rambam 8:4-5; Orach Chaim 55:1); three prayers a day, the third accepted as an obligation (Rambam 1:6); times. The differences of custom are real (Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Sephardim and Ashkenazim): each person follows his rabbi.

Rationales and aggadic teaching. The patriarchs or the sacrifices, the Shechinah among ten, the empty synagogue explain and motivate, but do not all have the same legal weight. The patriarchs/sacrifices debate nevertheless has a consequence: the absence of a fixed time for the evening prayer (Berachot 26b). And a homiletical statement can become law: Resh Lakish’s “bad neighbor” appears as is in the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch (Hilchot Tefillah 8:1; Orach Chaim 90:11). The Shechinah that “precedes” the ten (Berachot 6a), for its part, is read as a teaching on the meaning of communal prayer.

Intention (kavanah). The Mishnah: “One does not stand to pray except in a state of seriousness” (Mishnah Berachot 5:1). The Rambam: “Any prayer without concentration is not a prayer; if one prayed without concentration, one prays again with concentration” (Hilchot Tefillah 4:15); but elsewhere: “if one concentrated one’s mind in the first blessing, nothing more is necessary” (10:1). The Shulchan Aruch requires intention in all the blessings, at the minimum in the first, and the Rema adds that today one no longer repeats the prayer for lack of intention, because one would probably not concentrate any better the second time (Orach Chaim 101:1). The Mishnah of Pirkei Avot: “Do not make your prayer a routine (keva), but a supplication before the Omnipresent” (2:13), which the Gemara reads in several ways (Berachot 28b-29b). Finally, for the Kuzari, prayer is for the soul what food is for the body (III, 5): an explanation of meaning, not a rule of law.

What Rav Raphaël Benizri teaches

Two published lectures of Rav Benizri touch on these themes.

In his lecture on Pirkei Avot 5 (Pirkei Avot 5: ten generations from Adam), the Rav presents ten as “the expression of perfect creation.” He recalls that the Sages taught that the divine presence rests among ten who study, and he adds: “the minyan is always nine plus one: it is the force that is added, the bonus.” He compares it to the counting of the Omer, where one must count fifty days but where one does not count the fiftieth, which rises of itself once the forty-nine have been counted.

In his lecture on the parasha Vayetze (Vayetze: the flight to Charan), he reads the three prayers in light of the character of each patriarch. Avraham instituted the morning prayer, a beginning tinged with chesed, kindness. Yitzchak instituted Minchah, the prayer of the waning of the day, the hour of reckoning, which bears the attribute of justice. Yaakov instituted the evening prayer, between the day that ends and the one that has not yet begun, and that is why, the Rav says, he needs mercy. These readings belong to teaching on meaning (derash); they complement the sources seen above without replacing them.

Frequently asked questions about the minyan and daily prayer

Why are ten people needed for a minyan?

The Sages deduce it from a double verbal analogy: “in the midst” (Vayikra 22:32) is linked to the “congregation” of Korach (Bamidbar 16:21), itself linked to the “evil congregation” of the ten spies (Bamidbar 14:27) (Megillah 23b; Berachot 21b).

What happens when there are only nine people?

One prays, but without the public parts: no Kaddish, no Kedusha, no Barechu, no Torah reading, no repetition of the Amidah. This is why one looks for a tenth; arriving early to complete the quorum is a mitzvah (Berachot 47b; Orach Chaim 90:14).

Why do Jews pray three times a day?

According to one Talmudic opinion, each patriarch instituted a service; according to another, the prayers correspond to the daily sacrifices (Berachot 26b). The Rambam adopts the second (Hilchot Tefillah 1:5-6).

Do women count in the minyan?

In Orthodox communities, no (Orach Chaim 55:1 and 55:4), although women are obligated to pray (Mishnah Berachot 3:3). The Masorti movement has counted them since 1973. One should turn to a rabbi of one’s own community.

Can a minyan be held by telephone or videoconference?

The classical sources require a single place (Rambam, Hilchot Tefillah 8:7; Orach Chaim 55:13-14). The CJLS of the Masorti movement voted in 2021 an opinion requiring physical presence. For a concrete situation, consult a rabbi.

Can one pray alone at home?

Yes. Individual prayer is valid and obligatory; the ideal is to pray with the community (Rambam 8:1), but failing that one prays at home, preferably at the time of the public service, omitting the parts that require a minyan (Orach Chaim 90:9).

Do I need to know Hebrew to take part?

No. Bilingual siddurim are very widespread, and the Mishnah allows the Shema and the Amidah to be recited in a language one understands (Mishnah Sotah 7:1), even though Hebrew remains preferred (Orach Chaim 101:4).

What Is a Minyan, and Why Do Jews Pray Three Times a Day?