88. Assembling the Minyan

15:3 It is prohibited to count Jews, even for the sake of a mitzvah (Exodus 30:12). Moses took a census by counting half-shekel coins (30:13) and Saul counted his troops using goats (I Samuel 15:4). We must therefore be careful not to count the members of a minyan “one, two, etc.” The custom is to count them using the verse “Hoshia es amecha” (Psalms 28:9), which has ten words. 15:4 All ten members of the minyan need to be in the same place, and the shaliach tzibbur must be in the same place as the minyan. If they are in two different rooms, they do not count together, even if there is a door open in between them. (There is room to be lenient in the case of people separated by a curtain – see Mishnah Brurah 55:49.) Even those standing outside the threshold with the door open do not count with those inside. This is only the case with forming the minyan. If there is a minyan inside, others outside can reply to Kaddish, Kedusha and Barchu no matter how far away they are or what barriers are in between them and the minyan (so long as he is not in the presence of excrement or an idol).