Jewish people: Why does it take 10 men to make a 'minyan'?

Question

There are 12 tribes of Israel. Why is a minyan 10 and not 12?

Answer 1

This is an article from myjewishlearning.com
This is an excellent website for all your questions about Judaism - so I hope you will visit there in future.


Minyan: The Congregational Quorum
Only in a group of ten or more is there sufficient sanctity to recite certain public prayers.

Congregational worship [has traditionally been] preferred to private devotions because it enabled one to respond to the reader's call to worship and to recite the Kedushah of the [Amidah, or "Shmoneh Esreh"--the common core of every prayer service]. At a public service one could also hear the reading of the scriptural selections, and a mourner could recite the Kaddish. In addition, one experienced the inter-stimulation that comes from worship with coreligionists.

What constitutes a congregation? The answer is a minyan, a minimum of ten adult Jews (an adult Jew is any Jewish male who has passed his thirteenth birthday). The number ten was derived from the first verse of Psalm 82, which reads: "God stands in the congregation of God." The word edah (congregation) is also applied to the ten spies who, in the days of Moses, rendered a negative report on the land of Canaan. Hence it was established that a "congregation of God" consists of at least ten men.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Jewish people: Why does it take 10 men to make a 'minyan'?
There are 12 tribes of Israel. Why is a minyan 10 and not 12?

Answer 3

The reason a minyan does not require a dozen Jews is because a minyan is not necessarily a microcosm of the 12 tribes, which appears to be your assumption. In fact, I guarantee you that any minyan today has representatives of three tribes, max. You see, the majority of us are Judeans, some are Levites - typically with surnames like Levy or Cohen, and perhaps some are Benjaminites, as the Southern Kingdom, which was the all that remained of the Jewish nation following the Assyrian invasion and forced exile of the Northern Kingdom, consisted of members of those three groups. The rest have been essentially lost to history. There are various theories as to what became of them, and it is the subject of extensive debate among the poskim (Jewish legal authorities) whether or not they will return to us in the Messianic Era, but for all practical intents and purposes, they have been cut off from us and assimilated in their exile.

I've heard a couple different reasons as to why a minyan consists of ten. The one I hear most actually does go back to the twelve tribes, in a way. During our forty-year sojourn in the wilderness, Moses sent a party of spies (one from each tribe) to scout out the Land of Israel (then the Land of Canaan). When they came back, it was with an evil report about the land, that the people were big and strong, their cities well-fortified, and the chances of the Israelites being able to take it, slim to nil, despite G-d's promise that it would come to pass. Only two of the spies, Joshua ben Nun and Calev ben Yephunah, gave optimistic reports - consequently, they were the only ones of their generation to live long enough to enter the land with the next. You see, the testimony of the majority of the spies caused an uproar among the rest of the community, and that's WHY a journey that should only have taken a few weeks or months, took forty years. Save for the two good spies, that entire generation would eventually die in the desert, leaving their children to inheirit the promised land. So, the connection to the minyan is that we seek to make up, if you will, for the testimony of Moses' spies by way of our own testimony. Hence a quorum for prayer requires the same number. So there is an underlying connection to the twelve tribes, but it is not a microcosm. A minyan consisting of members of tribes whose spies gave the evil report, is not possible in our generation. And moreover, Calev, one of the good guys in the story, represented the tribe of Judah, whom which come the vast majority of Jews today (in fact this is why we Israelites, Judean are not, are referred to as "Jews"). But it is not as if those Jews are exempt from the mitzvah of minyan. Rather, we are required to pray with a group whenever possible.

I hope this helps clear things up.

Answer 4

A minyan is sort of a Jewish quorum. As ten of the tribes are lost, I don't think that has anything to do with it. As long as there are ten Jewish men (in Conservative and Reform Jewish movements, it's simply ten Jewish adults of either gender), you have a minyan, and just as with a quorum in a secular organization, you can do what you need to do with the idea that there is adequate "representation" of the group. Some scholars relate it to the ten brothers of Joseph; it's also mentioned in the Book of Ruth.

Answer 5

Jewish Minion

Answer 6

Minion Jewish

Answer 7

It is based on the how many people an "Edah" (group of people) constitutes.

In the Bible, there were 12 spies sent by Moses to scope out the land of Israel. 10 of them gave a negative report. They are referred to as an "Edah Harah" or wicked Edah. Thus, an Edah is 10 adult males.

Answer 8

sounded like a joke at first :-(