In
orthodox Judaism, a minyan – a quorum of ten
Jewish males who have undergone initiation (Bar Mitzvah) – is required in order
to hold a full worship service, including the public Torah reading, the
priestly benediction, and the recitation of the prayer known as Kaddish (chanted, for example, by mourners). A biblical
sentence, "God stands in the divine assembly" (Psalms 82:1)
led the ancient rabbis to comment that if ten men pray together, God's presence
(His shekhinah) hovers over them. (Avot 3.6).