The experience of the pandemic has taught us many lessons. One of those lessons is that there really is no true substitute for in-person community. For the past two years, we’ve used technology effectively to deliver synagogue programs on Zoom and stream worship services live on the internet. These technologies have given our community access to Jewish religious life when in-person participation was not possible.
Our ancient ancestors could never have imagined technology that would allow people to gather “virtually” at great distances from one another. Yet, they understood that a group of people gathered together is more than the sum of its parts. Sacred community can only really happen when people are in physical proximity. That is why our Sages established the rules of minyan – a prayer quorum of ten adults required to recite communal prayers that invoke God’s holiness. These “divrei bik’dusha” include barchu, kaddish, Torah reading, and the repetition of the Amidah. For thousands of years, these elements of the service were only said when 10 or more adults gathered in the same place.
During the coronavirus pandemic, HEA followed guidance provided by the Rabbinical Assembly, allowing for the constituting of a minyan through video conferencing technologies such as Zoom. For the past two years, we at HEA have been conducting morning minyanim and shiva services via Zoom, counting all the online participants as part of the minyan.
As the danger of the pandemic subsides and most people have returned to in-person activities, it is time for HEA to resume in-person daily morning minyan, weekly Kabbalat Shabbat minyan, and Shabbat afternoon mincha services. Starting Monday, July 18, 2022 we will resume these services in-person, constituting a minyan of those gathered in the room together.
We will continue to stream daily morning minyan, which will allow people to participate remotely in communal prayer, but only those gathered in person will be counted toward the quorum. At the same time, we recognize a countervailing value – the need of mourners to find comfort in reciting mourner’s kaddish.
In 2001, long before Zoom or the pandemic, the Rabbinical Assembly issued a teshuvah (position paper) authored by Rabbi Avram Reisner, addressing remote participation in a minyan. Rabbi Reisner’s well-researched teshuvah concluded that if a duly constituted minyan of 10 or more adults is gathered in one place (like synagogue or a house of mourning), other individuals can participate in the services through video or audio technology. Remote participants can respond to communal prayers and mourners are allowed to fulfill their obligation to recite mourner’s Kaddish with the community.
We at HEA take Jewish law and tradition seriously, and we also desire to make Jewish communal life accessible for our members. After careful consideration of the halachic sources and the guidance of the Rabbinical Assembly, we offer the following policy regarding minyan starting on July 18.
- A prayer gathering only counts as a minyan if there are 10 Jewish adults present in one physical location, such as the HEA chapel or sanctuary, or in a house of Shiva.
- The shaliach tzibbur – the prayer leader – should be chosen from among the minyan gathered in person. The service should not be led remotely.
- Those participating through video or audio conferencing (e.g., Zoom) and those viewing a live broadcast of the service (e.g., YouTube) do not count as part of the minyan, but may participate fully in the service, respond to prayers such as Barchu, and may recite mourner’s kaddish along with the community.
These policies are intended to align our practices in a way that is both true to Jewish law and normative practice, while also making worship and community accessible to those who cannot attend in person. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Rabbi Gruenwald at 303-758-9400 or RabbiG@HEAdenver.org.
Shabbat Shalom!
