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have always been fasci-
nated by numbers. Num-
bers represent such sim-
ple truths, whereas the
truths represented by
language can often be so
vague. I once read a
fascinating article about the
numbers of our modern life. It
was actually a review of a
book called The Harper's In-
dex Book, in which the editors
of Harpers magazine put
together pages and pages of
numbers which reveal a great
deal, I am afraid, about our
culture. Here are some ex-
amples from the article.
1. In its heyday, the budget
per episode of "Miami Vice"
was $1.5. The entire annual
budget of the actual vice
squad of Miami in the same
year was under $1.2 million.
2. The percentage of Ameri-
cans in 1985 who did not
recognize Mr. Clean was only
7 percent. The percentage
who did not recognize then
vice president George Bush
,
was 44.
The
percentage
of
Ameri-
3.
can high school students who
identify Israel as an Arab
nation: 40 percent!
4. Finally, one for the Motor
City. The percentage of
Americans who say the wheel
is the greatest invention of all
time: 11 percent, The percen-
tage who say that the
automobile is the greatest in-
vention: 10 percent.
You can tell a lot about a
culture from its numbers, and
such is the case with the
Jewish culture as well.
What are the special
numbers of Judaism? What
do they say about our culture?
One very special number, of
course, is the number seven.
"In six days God Created the
heavens and the earth and on
the seventh day God rested."
The seventh day is Shabbat.
On Simchat Torah we march
around the sanctuary with
the Torah seven times, and
traditionally a bride walks
around her groom seven
times during the wedding
ceremony. When we lose a
loved one, of course, we also
observe a period of seven days.
I believe there is a number
which is even more 'telling
about our culture. It is a
number which says so much
about our people and about
our way of life. It is the

Paul Yedwab is rabbi at

Temple Israel.

number 10. It is the number
of minyan.
In Judaism, a Jew alone
does not count as much as a
Jew in a minyan. Nine
tzadikim, righteous ones, do
not make a minyan, but add
one unlearned Jew and he
creates a minyan. Judaism is
the endless search for the
10th person.
Judaism is not so much a
faith as it is a minyan, a con-
gregation, a community of
ideas and values.
Where did the requirement
for ten come from? According
to the rabbis the answer is to
be found in our Torah portion
this week, Shelach Lecha. In
our portion, the story is told
of the 10 spies who go out to
spy out the Land of Canaan,
as an eidah, or congregation.
From this reference, the rab-
bis deduced that a congrega-
tion, an eidah, must consist of
at least 10 people, and hence
a minyan, or minimum coun-
ting of a congregation, is 10.

Shabbat Shelach
Lecha:
Numbers
13:1-15:41
Joshua 2:1-24.

What if 10 adult Jews just
cannot be found? Well,
Halachah tells us, then we
can settle for nine men .. .
and a boy holding a Bible.
The minyan, you see, is not
merely an arbitrary rab-
binical requirement. Rather
it is part of an entire
philosophy of prayer, part of
an outlook on life. It teaches
us that we need community
in order to reach personal
fulfillment.
Every society has two
choices. It can emphasize the
individual or it can em-
phasize the minyan, the com-
munity. What had begun as
an age of individualism in our
society has turned into an age
of loneliness. Judaism is the
corrective for that loneliness.
It is a culture which em-
phasizes minyan, and I see
the positive effects of that em-
phasis on minyan around me
every day.
I see it when I enter a home
of shiva and find there
already, a group of friends,
family and of faithful

