[Avodah] Minyan, Including A Child

[Professor L. Levine]

>From today's OU Kosher Halacha Yomis


Q. I remember hearing that if there are only nine men over bar-mitzvah but there is also a child present, the child can hold a Chumash and be counted in the minyan. Is this correct?



A. The Gemara (Brachos 47b) relates several exceptional cases where we do not require a minyan to consist of ten adult men. One of these rulings is that of Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi who taught that although a child cannot be counted towards a Zimun, he may be counted as an adjunct to a minyan (i.e. nine adults and a child). The Gemara ends by declaring that the halacha does not follow any of these special rulings. Tosfos (48a s.v. v’leis) writes that when the Gemara stated that the halacha does not follow these opinions, it was not referring to the ruling of Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi about counting a child as the tenth, which is the halacha. However, Beis Yosef (Shulchan Aruch OC 55:4) rules that most poskim do not accept the ruling of Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi, and one may not include a child. The Rama, though, writes that some have the custom to allow counting a child if it is a difficult situation. The Mishnah Berurah (55:24) writes that the majority of poskim do not allow a child to be counted as one of the ten in a minyan even if he holds a Chumash. Every community should follow the ruling of the local rabbi.


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