"Minyan Man" is a song composed in 1982 by Victor Shine, also known as the man who found Yosef Shapiro. It tells the fictional story of a traveling Jewish businessman who is looking for a

minyan In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( he, מניין \ מִנְיָן ''mīnyān'' , lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Jud ...

for

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

in the small Jewish community of

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

, and serves as the tenth man for a group of nine Jews. The song was popularized as a

pop ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cur ...

by Lenny Solomon of

Shlock Rock Shlock Rock is an American-Israeli Jewish rock band, put together in December 1985, and officially founded in 1986, and led by, singer Lenny Solomon, which parodies popular secular songs, substituting new, Jewish religious-themed lyrics for t ...

in 1987. In 2015, Solomon recorded an

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

version with

The Maccabeats The Maccabeats are an American Orthodox Jewish all-male a cappella group. Founded in 2007 at Yeshiva University, Manhattan, New York, the 14-member group specializes in covers and parodies of contemporary hits using Jewish-themed lyrics. Their br ...

. Two

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s have been produced.

Background

The term ''minyan man'' refers to the tenth man who completes a Jewish prayer quorum; with less than ten men present, the congregation would not be permitted to recite

Kaddish Kaddish or Qaddish or Qadish ( arc, קדיש "holy") is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy, different version ...

, read from the Torah, or perform other parts of the public prayer service. According to

Jewish law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws which is derived from the Torah, written and Oral Tora ...

, not all ten need be actively praying; as long as a majority of six men are actively engaged in prayer, the other four may stand by and answer

amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jews, Jewish, Christia ...

to the others' blessings. Traditionally,

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

s in small communities paid a small stipend to a minyan man—typically a poor person or an older individual subsisting on public welfare—whose job it was to attend all weekday,

, and

holiday A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tra ...

services in order to guarantee a quorum for public prayer. The minyan man was especially important to ensure a minyan for non-regular worshippers who came to synagogue services once a year on the

yahrtzeit Bereavement in Judaism () is a combination of ''minhag'' and ''mitzvah'' derived from the Torah and Judaism's classical rabbinic texts. The details of observance and practice vary according to each Jewish community. Mourners In Judaism, the p ...

(anniversary of death) of their deceased parent in order to recite the

Mourner's Kaddish Kaddish or Qaddish or Qadish ( arc, קדיש "holy") is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy, different version ...

Recording history

In November 1986, composer Victor Shine sent a cassette recording of his original song "Minyan Man" to Lenny Solomon of

. Solomon re-arranged it as a

and recorded it on the band's 1987 album ''Jewish Pride'', released four months later. Noted Jewish musician Gershon Veroba sang the lead vocals on the track. Shlock Rock considers "Minyan Man" one of their top five all-time hits. The song entered Jewish popular culture as a

kumzits Kumzits (קומזיץ) is used to describe a musical gathering that Jews partake in. Everyone sits together, be it on the floor or on chairs, and sings spiritually moving songs. In order to establish a certain ambiance the lighting is often low ...

and campfire song. In 2015, Solomon recorded an

version of "Minyan Man" with

. He released this version on Shlock Rock's 2015 album ''Shlockapella''. "Minyan Man" was also covered by

Yidcore Yidcore are an Australian Jewish punk rock band from Melbourne, formed in 1998. Known primarily for playing punk covers of Jewish and Israeli songs, the band started writing more of its own material in later albums. Logo and The band's lo ...

, an Australian Jewish punk rock band.

Music videos

The original video for "Minyan Man" was produced, directed, and filmed by Phillip S. Schiller in 1989. Outdoor scenes of Solomon driving through a town (identified as

, in the song) by bus and meeting a rabbi on the street were filmed in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

. Indoor scenes of a minyan praying in the back of a hardware store were filmed in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, and featured elderly members of Knesseth Israel Congregation of Birmingham. The video was released on ''Shlock Rock Videos – Volume 1'' in November 1990. A new music video featuring an

version of the song, sung by Solomon and members of The Maccabeats, was recorded at the historic

Stanton Street Synagogue Stanton Street Synagogue, also known as Stanton Street Shul and Congregation Bnai Jacob Anshei Brzezan ( yi, קאנגרעגיישאן בני יעקב אנשי ברזעזאן, "Congregation Sons of Jacob, People of Brzezan"), is a historic synagogu ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, in March 2015. Black and white scenes of Solomon and the minyan members from the 1989 video were intercut into the new video, which was produced and filmed by Uri Westrich.

Notes

References

External links

Lyrics at jyrics.com"Shlock Rock featuring The Maccabeats – Minyan Man" (2015 video)Shlock Rock performs "Minyan Man" with composer Victor Shine in 2010
{{authority control 1987 songs Jewish rock Songs about Alabama Jews and Judaism in Mobile, Alabama