20 Sep Are House Minyanim Kosher?
People arrange a minyan in their home to accommodate someone sick, elderly or otherwise unable to attend synagogue. When I was a teenager, we had a Shabbos mincha/ma’ariv in someone’s basement because the mile-plus walk uphill to the nearest shul was, for many, too long to do twice on a Shabbos. But sometimes people attend a house minyan out of sheer laziness or the desire to pray quicker and maybe a little bit earlier. A century ago, entrepreneurs would open “mushroom shuls” for the High Holidays in theaters, often praying while the theater was preparing for the next show and/or selling tickets. Is praying in these alternative venues allowed?
To answer this, we need to turn to an episode that occurred in St. Louis in 1951. The quickly growing Young Israel rented a social hall in a local hotel in which to hold their high holiday prayers. The long-standing Beth Medrash HaGadol objected to this larger venue, which would draw many paying members from the larger and more established synagogue, and brought the issue to the attention of Rav Menachem Eichenstein, the Orthodox Chief Rabbi of St. Louis. Rav Eichenstein wrote a responsum forbidding the Young Israel from holding prayers in the rented hall. He sent this responsum to leading authorities who replied with their own responsa, generally agreeing with his conclusion. Among the illustrious respondents were Rav Yonasan Steif, Rav Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, Rav Bentzion Meir Uziel and Rav Moshe Feinstein. The exchange of letters takes up the first section of the March 1952 issue of the rabbinic journal Ha-Pardes, and was republished in the 1955 jubilee volume for Rav Eichenstein, titled Berachah Li-Menachem.
The Gemara (Berachos 6a) quotes the following: “Abba Binyamin says: A person’s prayer is only heard in a synagogue as it says, ‘To hear the singing (rinah) and the prayer (tefillah)’ (1 Kings 8:28) — the place of singing should be the place of prayer.” Rabbeinu Tam (Tosafos, Avodah Zarah 4b sv. keivan) explains that if you pray alone but at the same time as the prayers in the synagogue, then your prayer is at a middle level–not rejected. But when you pray in a synagogue, your prayer is always at a higher level–heard. Similarly, Rambam (Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Tefillah 8:1) writes that you should always go to a synagogue. Lechem Mishneh explains that Rambam is ruling that even if you have to pray without a minyan, you should pray alone in a synagogue. This would seem to render a house minyan less than ideal.
The Talmud Yerushalmi (Berachos 4:4) quotes R. Yochanan as saying that someone who prays in his home is as if he is surrounded by iron. R. Yochanan seems to be saying that it is good to pray at home. The Yerushalmi challenges this from the saying of R. Chiya in the name of R. Yochanan that you must pray in a place designated for prayer, i.e. a synagogue. According to R. Yochanan, is praying at home good or bad? The Yerushalmi answers that one saying refers to praying with a congregation and the other refers to praying alone. Rav Uziel explains that a minyan can pray in a private house and be confidently surrounded by iron. However, an individual, praying alone, must pray in the synagogue. The Rif and Rosh quote R. Yochanan as saying that a person’s prayers are only heard in the synagogue; therefore you must pray at the time that a minyan is praying. Rav Uziel explains that if an individual prays at home but at the same time as the minyan in synagogue, it is as if he prays with a minyan.
Rav Eichenstein explains the Yerushalmi differently–that both cases refer to prayer without a minyan. If a minyan is in the synagogue but has finished prayers, you should pray in the synagogue alone because you are still with a congregation. But if the synagogue is empty, then pray at home without fear, as if you are surrounded by iron. According to Rav Eichenstein, you have to pray in a synagogue if possible, which rules out house minyanim as a regular option. According to Rav Uziel, you can pray anywhere with a minyan.
Rav Uziel adds that every community must establish a permanent place for prayer. While temporary prayer with a minyan is allowed elsewhere, permanent prayer must take place in a designated area. Rav Uziel quotes Yoma (9b) which says that the first Temple was destroyed because it was used for two things—worship to God and worship to idolatry. While idolatry is certainly a terrible sin, the focus of the Gemara on the dual usage of the Temple implies that any other usage is inappropriate. The Temple, and a synagogue, must be designated solely for divine worship.
People are obligated to build a synagogue. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim (150:1) rules that townspeople can force each other to build it. Rav Uziel quotes the Chida in Machazik Berachah (cited inSha’arei Teshuvah 90:4) who says in the name of Malki Ba-Kodesh that someone who prays with a minyan in a house has not fulfilled the obligation to build a synagogue unless the place where they pray is a permanent place of holiness. Rav Henkin (in his responsum, later published as Gevuros Eliyahu, vol. 1, no. 24, sec. 5) writes similarly, based on his own understanding. Therefore, praying in a living room or a basement used for other things is inappropriate on a permanent basis. If you want to have a minyan in your house, you have to designate that area solely for prayer.
There are a number of other issues with a house minyan, which for space considerations we will have to leave for another time. Rav Eichenstein mentions at the end of his responsum in the 1952 journal that the Young Israel accepted his ruling and acted accordingly. In the 1955 version of the responsum, published in Rav Eichenstein’s jubilee volume, he added that the Young Israel had since bought a large building with plenty of room for the congregants.