310. Davening with a Minyan

Tefillah u’Birkas Kohanim 8:4

Communal prayer is when one person davens out loud while the others pay attention. This requires a minimum of ten adult males (a minyan). The prayer leader counts as one of the ten. Even if some of the ten have already davened and fulfilled their obligation, they can count towards the minyan so long as most of them have not yet davened. Reciting Kedusha, reading the Torah with its brachos, and reading the haftarah all require a minyan.

Tefillah u’Birkas Kohanim 8:5

One person should not recite the brachos of Shema while the others listen and respond “Amen” unless there is a minyan. This is called being “poreis al Shema.” Kaddish is only recited with a minyan. The kohanim (priests) only bless the people when there’s a minyan. The kohanim count towards the minyan. A minyan is ten because a group of ten Jews is considered a congregation. Numbers 14:27 refers to the meraglim (spies) as “this evil congregation.” There were ten of them because Joshua and Caleb were not included in their number.