By Yacov Fruchter:
Perhaps one of the most sustaining elements of Jewish community is the requirement of a minyan, a quorum of 10 Jewish adults to pray together and perform some of our most meaningful rituals (kaddish, sheva brachot, burial rituals- TB Megillah 23b).
Surprisingly, the source of the minyan, proven through rabbinic logic, is traced to the 10 spies in this week’s parasha, who influenced the Jewish people to take a negative stance towards entering the land of Israel.
The Ger Hassidic Master known as the Sfat Emet gave the following explanation:
The minyan is learned from the spies not despite their failure but because their story reveals the extraordinary power of ten Jews acting together. If ten people united in fear could change the destiny of a generation, then ten people united in prayer can draw the Divine Presence into the world.
This in a nutshell is the magical power of BT Small Groups. We just completed our 6th year and the survey showed that 96% of people increased their sense of connection to others, 94% decreased feelings of isolation, and 100% felt a new sense of responsibility to those in their group.
The mission of Beth Tzedec Small Groups is “to create smaller caring communities, deepen meaningful connections to one another and Beth Tzedec and create a sense of responsibility to one another.”
Our groups meet from October to June. BT Small Groups consist of 8 to 15 people, meeting on Zoom or in person to discuss a topic or engage in an activity of particular interest to you. Groups range from social activities to learning Torah, and everything in between, but all groups share a common goal. Participants commit to regularly attending sessions to build connections with one another.
We are now planning our groups for next year and searching for ideas and group leaders. If you would like to volunteer to be a group leader, please email me at yfruchter@beth-tzedec.org or Klara Romm at kromm@beth-tzedec.org by July 6th, so that together we can continue to ‘build meaningful Jewish Lives in an Engaged Community’.