In this week's Torah portion, Sh'lach l'kha, Moses sends a team of 12 scouts one representative from each of the tribes to scope out the land of Canaan. Only Joshua and Caleb return with a positive report. God then asks (Numbers 14:27), "How long will this evil 'assembly' provoke [the Jewish nation] to complain against Me?" From the use of the word eidah, "assembly," to refer to that group of ten, the rabbinic sages deduced that an eidah, a congregation, must consist of at least ten people.
Next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 6:45 am, we will have two minyanim: orthodox in room Huronie A and egalitarian in room Huronie B. The orthodox minyan needs 10 men, and the egal minyan needs 10 men and women in order for people to say all the morning prayers and read from the Torah, and in order for mouners to say Kaddish. Please consider participating in a minyan one morning of convention. If there are ten participants for each minyan at 6:45 am, both services can begin promptly and end in time for a leisurely breakfast. Thanks in advance, Marga ********************************* Marga Hirsch Librarian & Publications Editor Park Avenue Synagogue 50 East 87th St. New York, NY 10128 212.369.2600, x127 mhir...@pasyn.org --- Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@osu.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org