Q&A: Do Haredim Count Toward a Minyan?
Do Haredim Count Toward a Minyan?
Question
I heard from my late father that since the Haredim have separated themselves from us, they often will not eat our food, will not enlist with us, have separated themselves from us in every social and cultural respect, etc., they do not count toward a minyan—just as, for example, a priest who eats terumah does not join with an Israelite for a zimun, and therefore someone who insists on especially stringent kashrut standards and cannot eat with me cannot join with me for a zimun; and likewise, because of the other reasons as well, he cannot count toward a minyan, since he has separated himself from us.
What do you think?
Answer
I definitely understand the argument, and it has a certain logic to it. But since they are like children who were taken captive, one should be lenient. The question is what the status is of the captors, and who exactly they are.
Discussion on Answer
The questioner probably meant the Talmud in Arakhin 4a, where an initial suggestion is brought that an Israelite who ate ordinary non-sacred food does not join with a priest who ate terumah, because the Israelite cannot eat with the priest. But that is rejected in the conclusion, because the priest can eat with the Israelite. Therefore, even if the priest is eating terumah they do join together, and certainly if he is eating ordinary non-sacred food.
But theoretically, one can indeed infer from here that if there are two people, each of whom cannot eat from the other’s food, they do not join together. But that is a very far-fetched case. Maybe if there is a Jew who takes it upon himself not to eat Haredi kosher certification, there would be room to discuss whether they can join together.
In my answer I was not addressing the question of joining for a zimun in the formal sense, but rather joining with them for a minyan, for example, which is not connected to who can eat what.
Does a priest not join with an Israelite even when he is eating ordinary non-sacred food?
What is the source of this Jewish law?