Minyan Tehillah Quorum Policy

December 2009

I. Creation of the Quorum Committee

From its inception, Minyan Tehillah has struggled with the tension that exists in creating a prayer space that belongs to both women and men within a community that is committed to traditional halacha (Jewish law). However, Minyan Tehillah's mission “to create a spiritually uplifting tefillah (prayer service) grounded in a commitment to halacha, and to maximize the participation of both women and men” is clear evidence that the community strongly values both.

Specifically, according to halacha, traditionally a minyan is composed of 10 men. Tehillah was founded with the minhag (custom) to wait for 10 men and 10 women (hereafter “quorum”) to arrive before performing parts of the liturgy requiring a minyan to be present. However, there are times when a quorum does not arrive in a timely fashion, creating a prolonged period of waiting. Under these circumstances, this minhag may conflict with the halachic requirement to finish part of the liturgy by a certain time (sof zman tefillah; SZT).

Last year, the ritual committee developed a policy that attempted to reconcile these conflicting values and presented it at the spring 2009 Town Hall meeting. The policy was not approved, and it was clear that additional work was necessary on this topic in order to produce a sustainable policy regarding quorum and SZT . Therefore, the board convened a quorum committee (QC), tasked with creating a policy to address the difficult balance between abiding by Tehillah’s quorum minhag and remaining committed to traditional halacha. The QC was open to all community members who wished to participate.

Committee participants (in alphabetical order):

• Shlomiya Bar-Y am (co-facilitator)
  
  
• Alanna Cooper
  
  
• Leah Gordon
  
  
• Jamie Lichtenstein
  
  
• Gershon Marx
  
  
• Rabbi David Roth (halachic advisor forthe process)
  
  

• Lieba Savitt
  
  
• Anna Schachter
  
  
• Matya Schachter
  
  
• Ben Solomon-Schwartz (co-facilatator)
  
  
• Jonathan Stiebel
  
  
• Brian Zuckerman
  
  

Meetings were devoted to the following three tasks (detailed in Section II, below):

1. Identifying values
   
   
2. Studying halacha
   
   
3. Creating a new policy
   
   

II. Quorum Committee Tasks

1. Identifying Values

Committee members established that their task was to balance the intent of the founding principles of the Minyan with the current needs of the community. The QC members recognized the impossibility of developing a solution that would be perfect for every individual who attends Tehillah. However, they saw their collective diversity in ideology and practice as representative of the diversity that exists in the greater community, and therefore a strength that would aid in the development of a balanced resolution. They were

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committed to confronting and struggling with their differences to create consensus in the form of a policy that would best serve the community.
Three overarching values (detailed below) became the guiding principles that framed the work of the committee:

EQUALITY (valuing the participation of men and women as equal partners in tefillah)
Minyan Tehillah was founded by individuals committed to creating a prayer space belonging to both men and women. Men and women have different but complementary roles in davening (prayer) at Tehillah. Without the participation of members of both genders, davening is incomplete.

DIVERSITY (respecting Tehillah's diverse community)
Minyan Tehillah is a place where people from a range of backgrounds find a comfortable davening space, which any policy enacted should acknowledge.

OBSERVANCE (observing halacha within a traditional framework)
Minyan Tehillah was founded as a community committed to the observance of traditional halacha. While sometimes not fully aligning with mainstream institutions of Orthodoxy, the Minyan is committed to keeping its practice aligned with the mainstream of halachic Judaism.

2. Studying Halacha/Halachic Conclusions

Rabbi David Roth was asked by the board to act as the halachic advisor to the process. After the committee deliberated and identified the guiding principles and the specific halachic questions that arose from the combination of values and the issue at hand, Rabbi David Roth came up with a set of halachic determinations on the questions brought by the committee.

The QC explored in detail the halachot (laws) of minyan and sof zman tefillah:

MINYAN
Although Tehillah has explicitly never sought to redefine the traditional definition of “minyan,” the QC considered whether Tehillah (in accordance with the principle of equality) might be able to redefine minyan to mean 10 men and 10 women. However, based on the principle of observance, the QC reaffirmed the traditional definition of minyan as ten men. The QC therefore decided on the term "quorum" to refer to the ideal prayer community of at least 10 men and 10 women.

SOF ZMAN TEFILLAH (SZT)
SZT is the halachic time by which some part of the morning recitation of the Amidah must be completed. (There are various opinions as to how much of the Amidah must be finished by SZT.) Rabbi David Roth brought forward relevant halachic texts for the committee to study. He also contacted several rabbis who advise other partnership minyanim, to learn how they addressed this conflict. Based on the QC’s discussion of these texts, other partnership minyanim practices, and the principle of observance, the QC decided that there was, indeed, an imperative to abide by SZT.

3. Creating a New Policy

Each of the three guiding principles (equality, diversity, and observance) are satisfied in the ideal scenario wherein a quorum is present early enough such that there are no concerns with running up against SZT. Unfortunately, the ideal is not always possible. In working to create a guiding policy for such un-ideal scenarios in which a quorum is lacking, the QC struggled internally to create a solution that respected each of these principles to the greatest extent possible. While the recommended policy (Section III, below) is not perfect, it allows the community to move forward and honor the community’s values when we are unable to meet our ideal.

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III. Policy Recommendations

Overarching Principles

• Minyan Tehillah should always strive to have a quorum for public prayer (the recitation of liturgy requiring a minyan). If a quorum is not present when needed, it should ideally be achieved after only a short wait.
  
  
• Public prayer should take place without the presence of a quorum only when necessitated by SZT (i.e., halacha) and/or when it is clear that additional waiting will not help achieve the quorum. If, for either of these reasons, we must continue davening without a quorum, we will publicly recognize and broadcast this deficiency in our prayer by minimizing our singing during this time.
  
  
• To ensure that community davening takes place with the desired quorum, Tehillah participants must take responsibility for arriving on time. Minyan Tehillah has an On Time Program to coordinate our efforts to achieve a quorum in a timely manner. Tehillah participants are encouraged to be “On-Timers” (weekly volunteers to arrive before Yishtabach) to help ensure a smooth and beautiful davening.
  
  Shabbat and Yom Tov Mornings
  
  

• The service begins with Barukh Sheamar.
  
  
• If a quorum is not present at the end of Yishtabach, the community waits to proceed with davening until:
  
  

1. There is a quorum, OR
2. The halachic mandate of praying the Shacharit Amidah (including the repetition of the Amidah)

before SZT requires that we continue.

1. a)  The gabbaim (based on guidelines from the Head Gabbai and the Ritual Committee) will determine the proper time at which we must continue without a quorum in order to meet the requirements of SZT.
   
   
2. b)  If required to continue without a quorum, in recognition of the deficiency of this public prayer, we proceed with minimal singing. Regular Shabbat chant/nusach is used, but it is not embellished with song. If the quorum is completed during Shacharit, singing is resumed as soon as appropriate.
   
   
3. c)  If required to continue without a quorum, the liturgy reflects having a minyan if 10 men are present. If a tenth man arrives during Shacharit, liturgy reflects this as soon as appropriate.
   
   

• If a quorum is not present after the halachic requirement of SZT has been fulfilled (i.e., the Shacharit Amidah and full Kaddish are completed), the community waits to proceed. (On days on which we say Hallel, we wait just before Hallel). If we must wait at this point, we will wait proceed with davening until:

1. There is a quorum, OR
   
   
2. The gabbaim determine, based on present conditions (e.g., weather, time, date), that those necessary
   
   to complete the quorum are not expected to arrive.
   
   
   1. a)  The gabbaim will base the decision on whether/when to continue without a quorum on guidelines from the Head Gabbai and the Ritual Committee.
      
      
   2. b)  If required to continue without a quorum, in recognition of the deficiency of this public prayer, we proceed with minimal singing. Regular Shabbat chant/nusach is used, but it is not embellished with song. If the quorum is completed during Shacharit, singing is resumed as soon as appropriate.
      
      
   3. c)  If required to continue without a quorum, the liturgy reflects having a minyan if 10 men are present. If a tenth man arrives during Shacharit, liturgy reflects this as soon as appropriate.
      
      

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Friday and Yom Tov Evenings

• An Evening Davening Coordinatorshould be present at each evening davening who is responsible for applying the policy (based on guidance from the Head Gabbai and Ritual Committee).
  
  
• If a quorum is not present at the end of Mizmor Shir L’Yom HaShabbat, we wait (before HaShem Malakh) to proceed with davening until:
  
  
  1. There is a quorum, OR
     
     
  2. The Evening Coordinator determines, based on present conditions (e.g., weather, time, date), that those necessary to complete the quorum are not expected to arrive. (Note: Evening SZT does not occur until so late at night that, unlike during morning davening, there are no practical constraints of SZT in the evening.)
     
     
     1. a)  The gabbaim will base the decision on whether/when to continue without a quorum on guidelines from the Head Gabbai and the Ritual Committee.
        
        
     2. b)  If required to continue without a quorum, in recognition of the deficiency of this public prayer, we proceed with minimal singing. Regular Shabbat chant/nusach is used, but it is not embellished with song. If the quorum is completed during Maariv, singing is resumed as soon as appropriate.
        
        
     3. c)  If required to continue without a quorum, the liturgy reflects having a minyan if 10 men are present. If a tenth man arrives during Maariv, liturgy reflects this as soon as appropriate.
        
        
  Additional Recommendations
  
  

• Activity during any wait time should be something meaningful that fosters the continuity of the davening experience. Options include singing niggunim, hearing a dvar Torah, and/or studying a piece of text together. Determining suitable waiting activities will be the responsibility of the Ritual Committee; a variety of options can be tried as needed.
  
  
• SZT will be included in Minyan T ehillah’ s e-mail announcements.
  
  
• The announcements made at the end of davening should include whether it was necessary to wait for a
  
  quorum and either congratulating the community for its timeliness or urging earlier attendance.
  
  
• On weeks when SZT is earlier than usual, “On-Timers” should be asked to arrive earlier than usual.
  
  
• Just as gabbaim are encouraged to give aliyot and other honors to certain categories of people (e.g., those back after a long trip), gabbaim should also be encouraged to give special consideration for honors to people who arrived in time to help complete the quorum.
  
  IV. Closing Notes
  
  While the entire QC came to a consensus on the above policy, the policy ultimately did not meet with every committee members prioritization of values or ideals. However, the committee recognized that this was the solution that made the most sense for our community for the time being. To that end, there is the desire of some committee members to continue an exploration into specific topics related to the above listed minyan values. While this was felt to be outside of the official QC purview, some members felt it may be worth exploring:
  
  1. The principle of equality as an overarching communal value, including examining the possibility of halachic justification for the redefinition of minyan
  
  
  1. Whether the Tehillah community could do more to help fulfill the principle of diversity; and
     
     
  2. How Tehillah's practices might be affected by the knowledge that certain traditional communities do not
     
     follow the definition of SZT above.
     
     

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Our Mission

Minyan Tehillah's mission is to create a spiritually uplifting tefillah (prayer service) grounded in a commitment to halachah (Jewish law) and to maximize the participation of both women and men. We are a vibrant, friendly community of families, couples, singles, students, professionals and more, and we welcome people of all backgrounds, observances, ages, and orientations.