22 | SEPTEMBER 24 • 2020 

C

OVID-19 has changed 
many aspects of life, 
including religious ser-
vices.
Since state restrictions on 
public gatherings continue, 
many local synagogue and 
temple buildings continue to be 
closed. This poses a challenge 
for meeting the traditional 
Jewish requirement of daily 
prayers with a minyan — a 
quorum of at least 10 men pray-
ing together. (Non-Orthodox 
congregations typically count 
women in their minyanim.) 
The minyan symbolically rep-
resents the community of Israel 
and is required for reciting the 
Kaddish and other prayers, as 
well as reading from the Torah. 
Some Orthodox congrega-
tions are holding small minya-
nim and Shabbos services out-
side their buildings, sometimes 
under tents, or inside their 
facilities in small numbers. 
“We are hosting in-person 
minyanim, with masks, dis-
tancing and a limited number 
of attendees in our large main 
sanctuary and social hall,
” said 
Rabbi Shaya Katz of Young 
Israel of Oak Park.
“Davening outside has been 
very beautiful,
” said Rabbi 
Shneur Silberberg of Bais 
Chabad Torah Center in West 
Bloomfield. “Our daily minyan 
is stronger than in the past, per-
haps because some shuls are not 
doing it.
”

However, many local 
Conservative and a few Reform 
congregations are using digital 
platforms like Zoom, Facebook 
and YouTube to offer virtual 
minyanim. Some link to their 
services via a password-protect-
ed site or a personal email to 
discourage hackers. While some 
worshipers miss the contact of 
an in-person minyan, others 
find them more convenient.
Congregation B’
nai Moshe 

in West Bloomfield has done 
well with online minyanim. 
Executive Director Steven Fine 
said, “We do get a minyan of 
Zoom participants most every 
morning and our afternoon 
Zoom minyanim sees anywhere 
between 20 and 40 participants 
every day. This is attended in 
greater number than when we 
had in-person services.
“While many were not able 
to attend our 6 p.m. services 
in person, some have become 
regulars over the last six months. 
We’
ve had people join our after-
noon minyan from as far away 
as Arizona and California. We 
have built a wonderful online 

community of caring individuals 
through this most difficult time.
”
Rabbi Aaron Bergman at 
Adat Shalom Synagogue, a 
Farmington Hills Conservative 
congregation, said, “We are 
Zooming seven days a week, 
twice a day. Minyan attendance 
for each service has been strong 
and consistent.
” 
Conservative Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield has 
offered morning and afternoon/

evening minya 
n on Zo 
om every 
day since March. “Our weekday 
minyan numbers are twice what 
they were when we met in per-
son,
” said Rabbi Aaron Starr. 
At B’
nai Israel Synagogue, a 
Conservative congregation in 
West Bloomfield, a daily online 
minyan includes the Mourner’
s 
Kaddish, if there are 10 par-
ticipants, but not the other 
Kaddishes or Torah readings. 
Congregation Beth Ahm in 
West Bloomfield follows a simi-
lar course.
Several Reform congrega-
tions including Temple Beth 
El, Bloomfield Township, and 
Temple Israel, West Bloomfield, 

offer weekly virtual minyanim.
Jewish halachic tradition 
prohibits using technology on 
the Sabbath and high holidays. 
Most Orthodox congregations 
have continued to abide by that 
restriction during the pandem-
ic. The Conservative Rabbinical 
Assembly issued a paper outlin-
ing ways to use Zoom and other 
online technology for Shabbos 
and Yom Tov, and made the 
paper available on its website.
Rabbi Bergman, a recent 
past president of the Michigan 
Board of Rabbis, said, “There 
were a lot of discussions among 
Conservative Rabbis. Ultimately 
this has been considered to be 
an unusual emergency situation 
where we had to be very cre-
ative in keeping the community 
connected to their Judaism and 
spiritual lives. Every synagogue 
has taken a slightly different 
approach, but we all felt the 
pandemic forced us into a situa-
tion that we would not normal-
ly have endorsed.
”
B’
nai Israel’
s Rabbi Mitch 
Parker said that people missed 
Shabbat services, so they insti-
tuted an online service. He 
added, “We tried to maintain the 
sanctity of Halachah and the day 
by asking members to turn on 
their computers to a Zoom site 
on Friday night before Shabbat.
” 
Members can access the service 
without turning anything on or 
off and without touching any 
computer keys. 

The Conservative Rabbinical 
Assembly has outlined ways to 
use technology for Shabbat and 
Yom Tov worship.

Yom Kippur

The Rise
of the Minyan

Technology increases participation in 
many congregations.

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

