Somebody explain this to me? Ten Jewish men in the same area triggers the Apocalypse unless they do a service? (Probably not, but that's the first thing I thought of.)

Would still be a really fun Supernatural episode, with the right approach. "No, Dean, no, that's not what it is." "Are you sure, Sammy? Because, you know, weird shit happens." "No."

Ah, okay. So it's something that can only be done with ten men, not something that has to be done when you get to ten.

Right. But it's stuff that you're supposed to do whenever you have the opportunity, so if you usually have nine men, and a tenth is visiting, you're going to get him to be your tenth. (In NYC, outside some of the synagogues in areas that are mostly offices, where there are men who gather each morning to say the prayers, if they're short a couple people, you'll sometimes see one of them out on the sidewalk, trying to guess which of the guys in suits walking by might be Jewish, and trying to get them to come in so they'll have ten. Similar things happen in houses when people are mourning -- you're supposed to say the prayers each night for a week after the funeral, and there are usually lots of people visiting the first few days, but by the time you get to the last day or two, there will sometimes be frantic phone calls made to try to get enough people. For one of my grandfathers, on the last day, one of the men there called home to get his 14-year-old son and one of his friends to come (boys start counting for this when they turn 13) to be the ninth and tenth, and then, after the prayers, the boys were talking to my sister and me, and the father forgot that he'd called them and left without them, so they had to call their mothers to come pick them up.)

Ugh Laura. I am so sorry.

Similar things happen in houses when people are mourning -- you're supposed to say the prayers each night for a week after the funeral, and there are usually lots of people visiting the first few days, but by the time you get to the last day or two, there will sometimes be frantic phone calls made to try to get enough people.

Just like on Mad Men!

After DH's father died he did the year of saying Kaddish every day and the Orthodox guys loved him for showing up to make a minyan all the time. Heck, sometimes he was the tenth man at the weekly Conservative minyan, and those were thriving congregations.

Many years ago I came across a long article about Jewish life in Alaska, where minyan-gathering involves plane flight logistics, and the nearest rabbi is a chaplain at an Air Force base.

Like on Northern Exposure!

Dear Big Boss, if you would read the emails I send you before looking at the attached files, all your questions about what I'm sending you would be answered.

That is classic, Matt. Although I more often have the opposite problem. Don't just respond to the email -- you have to actually look at the attachments!

Like on Northern Exposure!

TV really is like real life.

this went on longer than I expected it to.

This reminds me of a conversation I was having with a friend (another failed Protestant) recently, about how there are so many Rules in Judaism and Islam (we knew little about Judaism and less about Islam, to be honest, but just from knowing the people we know, we know there are definitely a lot of rules) and lots of rules in Catholic Christianity, and almost none in Protestant Christianity. Like, Jews and Muslims and Catholics have to read their holy scriptures and learn stuff, and do prayers and rituals and be mindful of their religious duties in their ordinary lives. But Protestants, we just had to try not to fall asleep in church and know the kids' versions of the Important Stories -- you know, Noah and The Ark, and Birth of Christ, and the Crucifixtion, and Garden of Eden, and if you know those four and the general idea of the Ten Commandments, that'll do. Oh, and Jesus did miracles and preached: water to wine, loaves and fishes, Sermon on the Mount. Most Christians seem to be aware of those. But you don't have to actually study the scripture to be a Christian, you just declare that Jesus is in your heart and let someone dunk you in a river (or whatever your denomination does for baptism; I don't personally recommend the river dunking, myself; it was muddy and he dropped me) and bam, you're a Christian. You don't have to DO anything, you know what I mean? You don't even have to go to church, you don't have to change your life, there aren't any prayers or sacrifices or rituals or special food or required reading or anything. You dress up and go to church and have a special meal and a special ritual for Easter and Christmas, and that's it, and if you don't even do those, it doesn't really matter. You can be a really bad Christian (or a really bad person), but as long as you're baptized and you SAY you're a Christian, then you are. If you feel you've fallen too far from grace, you go to church and ask for forgiveness and cry, and, well, you get forgiven, right, because you're sincere. God will always forgive you; Jesus said so; all you have to do is ask sincerely. You don't even have to atone; you don't have to do anything except reaffirm Christ. You can even do that all by yourself, with no one to witness it. As far as I can tell, it's really about becoming part of a community -- you get baptized and accept Jesus, and you're In; you're One of Us, not One of Them. But there's nothing you have to do to maintain your religious status as a Christian or a member of the Christian community. Other members may *tsk* at you for not coming to church or drinking too much or whatever, but they don't kick you out. And while on one hand I understand why that was so important in the early church, why it was so meaningful that a person didn't need anything or anyone in between them and God, on the other hand it leads to people being really awful to each other and knowing next to nothing about their own holy teachings and still being certain they're good Christians going to heaven, and I don't think that was the point of those letters Martin Luther nailed to the church door. Luther's idea that grace is not earned by good deeds (or money) but is a gift from God is wonderful, but it ends up with people who don't feel they NEED to do any good deeds or anything else, they just BELIEVE and they get the gift of heaven. I think Protestantism could use another Reformation, is what I'm saying.

(Do I have to say "not all Christians"? I don't, do I? I hope not. I've just been thinking about this a lot lately.)