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My question is twofold:

  1. Can a person present via webcam (with sound enabled), but not present physically, count towards a minyan (see this example)?

  2. If not, can that person still receive the benefits of praying with a minyan, when joining via webcam an already existing minyan that is physically in the same location?

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    Michael Horwitz, welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks very much for bringing this question here! I suspect that the same question will enter more and more people's minds as such technology is used for more and more other kinds of meetings. One thing you certainly can do online is read interesting Q&A about Judaism, so I hope you'll look around and find other material here that piques your interest, perhaps including our 131 other technology questions.
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Jul 2, 2013 at 19:38
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    Somewhat related: judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/17975/…
    – Daniel
    Jul 2, 2013 at 19:42
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    @Daniel, yes, that's the same sort of question, but it's important to note that being part of a minyan probably has more stringent requirements than celebrating along with a siyum.
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Jul 2, 2013 at 19:45
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    @IsaacMoses Yep. That's why "somewhat" related :)
    – Daniel
    Jul 2, 2013 at 19:56
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    related: judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/27406/…
    – Charles Koppelman
    Jul 2, 2013 at 21:55

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This answers certain aspects of your question and though it isn't an LOR's opinion it does provide sources which seem to point away from such a minyan.

This gives a Conservative position which seems to be "mostly no" but seems to say that listening in to an established minyan may be ok.

And this source seems to agree on the potential viability of responding over a distance to a real minyan.

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    You could make this answer more valuable by identifying each "this" explicitly and by including something about each one's sources and reasoning.
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Jul 2, 2013 at 21:34
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    Danno Thanks. These are all great sources. They all emphasize physical proximity. In that sense prayer with a Minyan can be viewed as counter cultural and reinforcing the value of face to face connections.
    – Michael Horwitz
    Jul 2, 2013 at 21:50

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