Why a Minyan?

Q: Why does Judaism insist on having ten people to have communal prayer?

A: Ten is a significant number.  We have ten fingers, ten toes.  Maybe because of those ten digits we based our numeric system on ten.  The Mishna informs us that there were ten generations from Adam to Noah; there were ten plagues in Egypt, ten miracles in the wilderness, ten creations on the eve of the first Shabbat, Ten Commandments….

But the base number for a minyan, a quorum of davenners, comes from elsewhere:

When the Jews were about to enter into the land of Israel, they dispatched twelve spies to scout out the area to determine its viability.  Returning from their reconnaissance mission the spies reported that they saw a verdant, lush land capable of sustaining the entire nation.  But there were giants; huge warriors that instilled great fear.

Of the twelve spies only two, Joshua and Caleb, disagreed.  Yet when the nation of Israel heard the report of the “ten” they eagerly bought in to the “giant” story and were then compelled to wander for a full generation until they were psychologically ready to enter the land.  Ten was the number of people it took to lead the entire community astray.

Coincidently, ten was also the lowest number of righteous people that Abraham, our father, asked God to save the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is as if Abraham intuited that ten was also the minimum number that makes a community redeemable.