Minion or Minyan

The minyan was not conceived of as an institution for saints, rather a medium for even deficient individuals to uplift themselves by joining a minyan, whose collective nature is far greater than the sum of its parts – it is a reflection of the collective Jewish community.

Webster’s Translation

Webster’s Dictionary translates the word “minion”: 1. A servile follower or subordinate of a person in power. 2. Any favored or highly regarded person.

The first translation, suggesting inferiority, and the second suggesting superiority, parallel – by Divine providence – the two connotations of the Hebrew concept of the minyan.

The minyan, according to Halacha (Jewish law) is a quorum of ten men needed for communal prayer. Without a minyan, many of the most important prayers, such as kaddish and kedushah, cannot be recited.

The Source of the Minyan

Oddly enough, the source for ten being the required number for a minyan is from the description of the ten rogue spies sent by Moses to scout the Land of Cana’an in our parsha.

It is remarkable that the law as to what constitutes a minyan, the forum needed to invoke the holiest prayers, is derived from the evil spies. Why didn’t the Torah find a more suitable collection of individuals from whom to establish the law of a minyan?

One basic answer to this question is that by selecting the spies as the source of the law of a minyan, the Torah wishes to instruct us that even a Jew who has strayed from the path of Torah can still be counted in a minyan. As the Talmud states: “A Jew, even though he has sinned, is still a Jew.”

Implicit in this approach is the notion that to be counted in a minyan is not necessarily an indication of one’s high status within the framework of Judaism – even a rogue can be included. The minyan was not conceived of as an institution for saints, rather a medium for even deficient individuals to uplift themselves by joining a minyan, whose collective nature is far greater than the sum of its parts – it is a reflection of the collective Jewish community.

Just as being included in a minyan is far from a sign of superiority, it is likewise not necessarily a sign of inferiority to be excluded from a minyan. For example, the exemption of women from a minyan is not – G-d forbid – an expression of lower status. On the contrary, because women are of a higher spiritual makeup, they do not need the external support provided by the minyan.

Indeed, in many Chassidic communities, the most spiritual people would frequently endeavor to pray without a minyan. They would spend many hours daily in profound meditative and introspective prayer, revealing their own spiritual potential without the assistance of the minyan. From this vantage point the minyan represents a subordinate and inferior level of spirituality.

Holy Spies?

On a deeper level, there is another paradoxical reason for the minyan originating with the ten evil spies; one that suggests the loftier nature of the spies and of the minyan.

Despite appearances, the spies were not your run of the mill rogues. Their sin was not the typical sin of one who wants to rebel against G-d. If they were so evil, why would Moses have selected them from among all of the Jewish people, to scout the Land of Cana’an?

Chassidus teaches us that the spies were very special people. They tried to dissuade the Jews from entering the Promised Land, not in spite of their greatness, but, because of it.

Since these ten spies were endowed with very lofty souls, they wanted nothing less than to remain in the insulated environment of the desert to devote themselves exclusively to spiritual pursuits. Settling the land of Cana’an meant that they would have to detach themselves from the spiritual utopia they enjoyed in the desert.

We can now appreciate why the very concept of a minyan is derived from these ten spies. While in the final analysis they were wrong in their resistance to entering the Promised Land, they were driven by a desire to rise above the world. This is the very function of the minyan to enable the one who prays to rise above the material constraints of life.

Their error, however, was that they failed to realize that the ultimate purpose of Judaism was not to remain in the embryonic environment of the desert, but rather to infuse the physical world with spirituality. Their involvement with the mundane affairs of conquest and settlement of the Land of Israel would not have detracted from their connection to G-d. To the contrary, their involvement with the action oriented Mitzvos would have greatly magnified their connection to G-d inasmuch as it would have facilitated the connection of the entire land to G-d as well.

To refine and sanctify every aspect of existence represents the very purpose of the Torah. This is the process that we have been working at for over three thousand years. We are now at the point that the world is ready for the Messianic Age, at which time we will realize the fruit of our labor, and the entire world will experience the utter unity that exists between the physical and the spiritual.

The Internal Minyan

Just as there is a Minyan which consists of 10 individuals, each and every Jew possesses 10 faculties, which are divided into three intellectual and seven emotional powers.

The ideal form of praying with a Minyan is to gather and harness all of our 10 faculties.

Howver, in Galus-exile, our ability to function of the highest spiritual intellectual level is compromised, so that the concept of a Minyan in its fullest sense is elusive.

The Ultimate Minyan

In the Messianic Age, we will therefore enjoy the ultimate Minyan.

According to one Midrashic source the harp in the Bais Hamikdash, which originally consisted of seven strands will have ten. (According to another Midrash it will be eight.)

In addition, the Messianic Age will introduce the Tenth

Song and the tenth Red Heifer.

Whereas today we are empowered to deal with our emotions of which there are seven, in the Messianic Age we will be equipped to handle all 10 of our faculties, including the intellectual ones. Hence we will have the ultimate Minyan.

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Shlach by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.