Prayer & Liturgy

What needs a minyan

Which mapped units require a congregation of ten, which do not, and how the quorum itself is counted.

← Siddurim8 services · 123 units · 39 require a minyan · 4 siddurim

What needs a minyan

39 mapped units

A davar she-bikdushah is a liturgical act that constitutes the congregation as a public body and therefore cannot exist without ten. Mishnah Megillah 4:3; Berakhot 21b derives ten by gezeirah shavah from 've-nikdashti be-tokh benei Yisrael' / 'hibadlu mi-tokh ha-edah ha-zot'. Codified SA OC 55:1.

Barekhu: M. Megillah 4:3; SA OC 55:1, 69:1
Kaddish — every form (Ḥatzi, Shalem/Titkabal, Yehei Shelama, D'Rabbanan, Yatom, D'Itḥadata): SA OC 55:1No form has a solo version. This is why a mourner without a minyan cannot say Kaddish.
Kedushah of the Amidah: Berakhot 21b; SA OC 55:1
Repetition of the Amidah (ḥazarat ha-shatz): M. Megillah 4:3; SA OC 124:1
Torah reading and Haftarah: M. Megillah 4:3Without ten the scroll is not removed from the ark and no blessings are said.
Birkat Kohanim (duchaning): M. Megillah 4:3The ten include the kohanim.
Thirteen Attributes as petition (Taḥanun, Seliḥot): SA OC 565:5An individual may read them derekh keri'ah be-alma — as plain text, not as supplication.
Me'ein Sheva (Magen Avot), Friday night: SA OC 268:10Leader only, with a minyan, and only in an established synagogue. An individual does not say it.
Modim d'Rabbanan: Belongs to the repetition
Yekum Purkan and other Aramaic public prayers: Not said without ten

Kedushah d'Yotzer (Kadosh kadosh kadosh inside Yotzer Or)

NOT a davar she-bikdushah — an individual DOES say it

SA OC 59:3; Rema: 'the custom has spread' to recite it. The Shulḥan Arukh suggests saying it be-niggun u-ve-ta'amim ke-korei ba-Torah.

Kedushah d'Sidra (Uva LeTziyon)

Said alone — its form is Torah-with-Targum, not sanctification

Standard practice

Nine plus oneSA OC 55:4 records the leniency of nine plus a child over six holding a ḥumash — rejected by the major poskim.

Partial departureSA OC 55:2-3: if begun with ten and some leave, the service may be finished provided a majority (six) remain.

Pores al ShemaSA OC 69:1 — where ten have already prayed privately, one leads Kaddish → Barekhu → Yotzer Or alone, for those who missed them.

Conservative practiceCJLS OH 55:1.2002 (15-0-2) reaffirmed that women count in a minyan and may serve as sheliḥat tzibbur; non-egalitarian Conservative minyanim remain within the standard.