By Gabriella Gomperts, Features Editor
Some women at Stern, although not obligated to daven three times a day, find comfort from davening, especially with a minyan. A subset of them have been making special efforts to daven with a minyan during the week, even when it’s inconvenient and difficult.
For many, davening with a minyan significantly impacts the quality of their tefillah (prayer). “In addition to sources citing the meritorious benefits of davening with a minyan, I can see a clear difference in my kavanah (concentration) when I’m davening alone compared to davening with a minyan,” Eliana Diamond (SCW ‘25) told the YU Observer. “The shaliach tzibbur (prayer leader) paces me, I am inspired by those around me, and being in a beit hakeneset (synagogue) invokes a sense of seriousness which the rabbanim in the Gemara use to support davening in this space.”
A minyan is when a group of at least ten men pray together. These men form a prayer community, which allows them to recite prayers that one cannot say when praying alone, like the kaddish.
Although women are not technically obligated to pray with a minyan, because it is a time-bound mitzvah, certain commentators argue that women should go to shul and pray with a minyan as often as they can. Women are obligated to serve God through prayer, but not necessarily at a set time.
Elana Rosenblatt (SCW ‘25) sees davening with a minyan as a way to incorporate her relationship with God into her daily schedule. “When you have a set time for davening, and a set location that you need to be in, then you structure your day around your relationship with Hashem,” she told the YU Observer. “I think that’s very powerful, that instead of fitting God into your day, you’re fitting your day around God, and that’s a mindset that I aspire to have.”
Outside of strengthening her personal connection with God, Diamond noted other benefits to davening with a tzibbur (the community of a minyan). “Being a part of a minyan allows one to take part in dvarim shebekedusha (special holy prayers) which are otherwise omitted when praying without a minyan,” she said. “Answering to Kaddish, Kaddisha, and Barchu, or hearing the Torah read on Mondays and Thursdays is invaluable and unique to this setting.”
For Rosenblatt, going to shul is also an essential way she connects to her community. “It makes me feel like I am part of a people centered community a lot more than if I’m just staying at home in my house, but now I have people who know me as well, I know them, and it feels like I belong to something greater than myself, which I think is also part of the point of being part of a tzibbur.”
Although girls at YU try their best to daven with a minyan as often as they can, it simply isn’t always possible to have a minyan for Shacharit or Mincha for logistical reasons. Some try to make it to Adereth El for Shacharit at 7:00, but find it difficult to wake up so early in the morning.
Liela Silbiger (SCW ‘27) started the Minyan and Mocha club earlier this school year as a way to motivate girls to daven Shacharit with a minyan. The club typically meets once every other week at 6:50 and walks to Adereth El to join the shul’s minyan. After davening, the group goes to Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee before class.
Silbiger was inspired to start the club by her seminary, who ran a similar program when she was there last year. “I loved praying with the minyan and keeping on top of that, so I decided to bring it to Stern and start it here,” she told the YU Observer.
Davening with a minyan is important for Silbiger’s connection to tefillah. “When I pray by myself I try to go slightly faster in order to stay focused,” she said. “So in a minyan, I’m more focused and it keeps me on track.”
Silbiger believes it’s vital for women to pray with a minyan. “ I think praying [with] a minyan is important, even if we don’t have the chiyuv (obligation) for it,” she added. “It helps keep us on track, and tefillah betzibbur is sometimes very powerful.”
Diamond stressed that women have a place in davening, even though they aren’t counted as part of a minyan. “I’ve never felt like an outsider in a minyan. Just because I don’t count, it doesn’t mean I don’t matter,” she said. “Just as the eleventh man in a minyan still contributes to the davening experience, so too my presence is impactful to the tzibbur.”
Photo Caption: A Minyan and Mocha Event
Photo Credit: The Minyan and Mocha Club