Ritual Decisions
The structure of Minyan Tehillah's services was created by drawing upon precedents set by other Partnership Minyanim, upon halakhic analyses presented by Daniel Sperber and Mendel Shapiro in their respective articles published in The Edah Journal, as well upon the recommendations of our halakhic advisors.
There are two foundational documents that dictate our current ritual experience. The first is Guide for the "Halachic Minyan" by Elitzur A. and Michal Bar-Asher Siegal. The second is Minyan Tehillah Description of Ritual Practices/Record of Decisions. This document describes the ritual practices followed by Minyan Tehillah, the rationale for those practices, and, when known, the process and rationale by which decisions were made. This document sets out ritual practices making explicit reference to The Guide for the “Halachic Minyan”.
There are three categories of ritual decisions.
The first, and by far the smallest, are those that are just halachic.
- Those need to go to the halachic advisor. The assumption is that the board asks the halachic advisor for a psak (halachically binding decision), such that it’s not an individual or small group of people who ask and then end up with a decision by which the entire community is bound.
- In instances when the question is very specific, and possibly time bound, then an emissary of the board can ask the halachic advisor. An example of such a question is someone shopping for kiddush finds a new hashgacha and texts a picture of it to the halachic advisor to ask if we can use it.
The second category are those that are just ritual, no halacha involved. While these are more common that those that are just halachic, they are still not very common.
- These questions can come to the ritual committee from the board, from any member of the minyan, or from ritual committee members.
- Many decisions are made just by the committee. An example is moving L’David Hashem Ori from the end of Musaf to the end of Shacharit.
- Some decisions are made by a subgroup of the committee/ritually involved people. An example is when the gabbaim decided to make an announcement right before the personal Amidah in Shacharit if everyone needs to do something differently during that Amidah, such as adding Ya’ale V’yavo. This replaced banging on the shulchan.
- Occasionally the committee will send a recommendation to the board, and the board then makes the final decision.
The third category, questions that are a mix of halachic and ritual, is definitely the biggest.
- These questions can come to the ritual committee from the board, from any member of the minyan, or from ritual committee members.
- These must start in the ritual committee, since the halachic advisor is a member. The halachic advisor brings sources and teaches the committee to help answer the question.
- Some decisions are made just by the committee. An example was the decision to start Shabbat morning davening with Baruch She’amar.
- Sometimes the committee will send a recommendation to the board, and the board then makes the final decision. This can happen if either the board told the committee from the beginning that it should happen this way, or if the committee thinks that the impacts of the decision are large enough that it should be a board decision. An example is when we decided to no longer gender match aliyot recipients and leyners.
- Some decisions go the community for a discussion and vote. When this happens, all choices have already been approved by the committee as halachically and ritually possible.
The make up of the ritual committee is:
ritual chair - Michal Skarf
halachic advisor - Rabbi David Roth
davening coordinator - Ben Soloway
gabbait representative - Naomi Hachen
gabbai representative - Dan Savitt
member at large - Jamie Rosenblum
If you have any questions, which to bring an issue to the attention of the ritual committee, or are interested in learning more, contact Deena Zuckerman at [email protected].
Halakhic Analyses Related to Partnership Minyanim
"Qeri'at ha-Torah by Women: A Halakhic Analysis," Rabbi Mendel Shapiro, The Edah Journal, 2001
"Congregational Dignity and Human Dignity: Women and Public Torah Reading," Rabbi Daniel Sperber - (Edah 3:2)
For additional articles, see those posted on the JOFA website.
There are two foundational documents that dictate our current ritual experience. The first is Guide for the "Halachic Minyan" by Elitzur A. and Michal Bar-Asher Siegal. The second is Minyan Tehillah Description of Ritual Practices/Record of Decisions. This document describes the ritual practices followed by Minyan Tehillah, the rationale for those practices, and, when known, the process and rationale by which decisions were made. This document sets out ritual practices making explicit reference to The Guide for the “Halachic Minyan”.
There are three categories of ritual decisions.
The first, and by far the smallest, are those that are just halachic.
- Those need to go to the halachic advisor. The assumption is that the board asks the halachic advisor for a psak (halachically binding decision), such that it’s not an individual or small group of people who ask and then end up with a decision by which the entire community is bound.
- In instances when the question is very specific, and possibly time bound, then an emissary of the board can ask the halachic advisor. An example of such a question is someone shopping for kiddush finds a new hashgacha and texts a picture of it to the halachic advisor to ask if we can use it.
The second category are those that are just ritual, no halacha involved. While these are more common that those that are just halachic, they are still not very common.
- These questions can come to the ritual committee from the board, from any member of the minyan, or from ritual committee members.
- Many decisions are made just by the committee. An example is moving L’David Hashem Ori from the end of Musaf to the end of Shacharit.
- Some decisions are made by a subgroup of the committee/ritually involved people. An example is when the gabbaim decided to make an announcement right before the personal Amidah in Shacharit if everyone needs to do something differently during that Amidah, such as adding Ya’ale V’yavo. This replaced banging on the shulchan.
- Occasionally the committee will send a recommendation to the board, and the board then makes the final decision.
The third category, questions that are a mix of halachic and ritual, is definitely the biggest.
- These questions can come to the ritual committee from the board, from any member of the minyan, or from ritual committee members.
- These must start in the ritual committee, since the halachic advisor is a member. The halachic advisor brings sources and teaches the committee to help answer the question.
- Some decisions are made just by the committee. An example was the decision to start Shabbat morning davening with Baruch She’amar.
- Sometimes the committee will send a recommendation to the board, and the board then makes the final decision. This can happen if either the board told the committee from the beginning that it should happen this way, or if the committee thinks that the impacts of the decision are large enough that it should be a board decision. An example is when we decided to no longer gender match aliyot recipients and leyners.
- Some decisions go the community for a discussion and vote. When this happens, all choices have already been approved by the committee as halachically and ritually possible.
The make up of the ritual committee is:
ritual chair - Michal Skarf
halachic advisor - Rabbi David Roth
davening coordinator - Ben Soloway
gabbait representative - Naomi Hachen
gabbai representative - Dan Savitt
member at large - Jamie Rosenblum
If you have any questions, which to bring an issue to the attention of the ritual committee, or are interested in learning more, contact Deena Zuckerman at [email protected].
Halakhic Analyses Related to Partnership Minyanim
"Qeri'at ha-Torah by Women: A Halakhic Analysis," Rabbi Mendel Shapiro, The Edah Journal, 2001
"Congregational Dignity and Human Dignity: Women and Public Torah Reading," Rabbi Daniel Sperber - (Edah 3:2)
For additional articles, see those posted on the JOFA website.
