Seeking sources about the necessity for finding a מנין

Question

I am looking for sources about the necessity for finding a מנין. More specifically, whether or not one has to always be in close range of a מנין, or if he can intentionally put himself in a position in which he cannot get to one.

Answer 1

The sefer meishiv nivonim OC siman 13 answers a question about if one could go to kivrei tzadikkim in poland if one knows there won't be a minyan there. He comes out one should not do it but he gets there with many mekors for it. Some sources: Tur siman 89,Minchas Yitzchak 7 siman 6,Igros Moshe OC 2:27,Shulchan Aruch Harav siman 17, Eretz Tzvi siman 22,Yad Eliyahu siman 6,Maharil siman 118,there are more in the sefer.

Answer 2

A Google search (for "davening with a minyan") turns up:

• TEFILLAH B' TZIBUR: HOW IMPORTANT? - From the OU
• Davening with a Minyan - From torah.org
• To Daven alone or with a Minyan? - from koshertorah.com

...and many other excellent sources (including our very own!), which in turn bring lots of their own sources.

Answer 3

You might also want to look up sources about the more general question of putting oneself in a position where one is unable to do a mitzvah. This is relevant, among others, to the question of being "on a distant journey" and therefore unable to offer the korban Pesach; see Minchas Chinuch 5 and a great deal of commentary on that. (There is in fact a booklet on Hebrewbooks - חיוב מצוות הזמניות קודם זמן המצוה - that discusses many different issues and sub-issues in this regard.)