Independent minyan

An independent minyan is a lay-led Jewish worship and study community that has developed independently of established denominational and synagogue structures within the organized Jewish community. Some began in the late 1990s and most since the year 2000, though some are several decades older. These new groups often combine a commitment to halakha/Jewish law with egalitarianism, and strive to create worship services where traditional prayer can become "spiritual experiences."

The name, minyan, comes from the Hebrew word (מנין) for the prayer quorum traditionally required for a full Jewish prayer service.

Scholars of religion are looking very closely at the development of these lay-led congregations, most of which are held in locations other than synagogues, although some use synagogue space while maintaining separate leadership and organizational structures. Some synagogue and Jewish community leaders take a negative position on this development, seeing the new groups as a threat to conventional synagogue and Jewish community organization.

On the other hand, there are those who view the trend as extremely positive, and one that will ultimately lead to new approaches to religion and spirituality within the modern Jewish community: a "triumphant story of day-school education and egalitarianism."Jack Wertheimer, a Professor of Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America has written that:

For some who take a longer view, the independent minyanim seem reminiscent of the Havurah movement of the 1970s, when numbers of young American Jews rejected the suburban synagogues of their parents in favor of small-group gatherings for study, prayer, and community. Commenting on the parallels between then and now, the scholar Riv-Ellen Prell has also underscored the differences. One salient difference is today's higher level of Jewish and Hebrew fluency, itself a testament to the organized community's investment in intensive Jewish education over the past two decades.
The historical moment is also different; members of today's independent minyanim are not counter-cultural types in rebellion against their parents or committed to smashing existing institutions but a generation that is at once self-sufficient and open to compromise. An example of the newer spirit is the DC Minyan's commitment to separate seating, an infringement on the principle of strict sexual egalitarianism that is maintained for the sake of accommodating the group's diverse population. In the present moment, pluralism is valued over purity.

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