Mi Yodeya is a question and answer site for those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
If there are 2 minyanim to go to:
A- One that I know for sure has 50 people.
B- One that I know for sure only has 15 people.
Should I go to the bigger minyan so that my tefillah is more likely to be accepted because "God refuses to reject the prayer of many" (Rambam Tefillah 8:1)?
Or should I go to the smaller one to help strengthen it?
I know that many people davening together is great, but is it worth it to try to make one minyan have more people to enhance that one?
So there is a practical element that is pointed out by the Mishna Berurah (90:28) who notes that a larger minyan is preferable albeit with a caveat:
אם יש לו שתי בתי כנסיות ואחד יש בו ברוב עם מצוה להתפלל בו יותר. כתבו האחרונים דאם יש בבהכ"נ של רוב עם רוב בלבול ואין אדם שומע לא תפלה ולא קה"ת מוטב להתפלל בביתו בעשרה.
In summary: A shul with a larger minyan is better than a smaller one unless there is too big a crowd which prevents one from hearing the shaliach tzibbur and the Krias haTorah.
