Shelach lecha
Numbers 13:1-15:41
Joshua 2:1-24
A while back, I received a post card advertising a new mystery novel called “Murder at the Minyan” by Shulamit E. Kustanowitz. What a title! I couldn’t help but read the blurb about the plot.
What makes the title intriguing is that one would think that a minyan, or prayer service, would be the last place for a murder.
Prayer is a time when we uplift ourselves from the grudges and desires that lead us to violence and instead focus on our highest aspirations and potentials.
But surprisingly, we learn in the Talmud that the source for requiring a quorum for prayer — the primary meaning of the word minyan — is not a pious gathering, but the wicked spies who slandered the land of Israel in this week’s portion.
In Tractate Megilla 23b, the Mishnah lists the parts of the service called “matters of holiness” (devarim shebikdusha) that require a minyan.
The Gemara explains that a quorum is required for these things because of the verse “I will be sanctified among the children of Israel” (Leviticus 22:32).
But why should “among the children of Israel” mean, davka, ten?
Through a complex process of comparison of biblical words (see especially Numbers 14:27 in this week’s portion), the Gemara deduces that at least an “assembly” is required and advances the number of the spies as the definition of the minimum size of an assembly.
Since two of the 12 spies that Moshe sent (Joshua and Caleb) broke ranks with their evil associates who attempted to persuade the people to go back to Egypt, the “assembly” of wicked spies was ten. Because of this, ten has been enshrined as the minyan count in Jewish law.
But why is an assembly of wickedness the source for how many congregants are required for a minyan?
Perhaps the intent is to remind us that a minyan is only a tool. For ten minyan-eligible Jews to join together is not itself an accomplishment, only a beginning.
Look at the spies! They were an esteemed minyan, leaders of each tribe, in a position to influence the Israelites to make a final, enthusiastic push into the Promised Land. But they chose to do evil instead of good.
A minyan is supposed to be an aid to our prayer, a way for us all to help each other in the difficult task of focusing our attention on our relationships with God and away from the mundane attractions that consume our lives.
But it is only a help — a means, not an end. Joining with a minyan is only as worthwhile as the positive outcomes it helps us produce.
If the minyan is assembled via strife and argument, or if participants use it as an opportunity to nap or gossip, then in spite of the good intentions, the minyan isn’t such a good thing after all.
Forming a minyan may get our services off to a good start, but just making a minyan is no guarantee of a good result.
If we are not circumspect about how we conduct ourselves while we are encouraging people to come to shul, as well as during our prayers, one can only imagine what kinds of ugly things can happen.
And I haven’t yet even read Kustanowitz’s book.
Rabbi Shlomo Levin is spiritual leader of Lake Park Synagogue.
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