The word minyan ( מִנְיָן) means count or number in Hebrew. A minyan has historically been deemed the number of Jewish men over age 13 required to have a religious service. That number being 10. It can be thought of as the necessary quorum for the observation of religious activity.

Over time, both Reformed and Conservative Judaism now consider women to be able to form a Minyan. Historically, in large communities, gathering 10 Jews for worship was not necessarily a challenge. But over time, as Jewish communities have shrunk for a variety of reasons from persecution to assimilation, assembling the requisite 10 can prove a non-trivial task. When more people were needed to form a group, there were members of congregations who were known as “Minyan jews.”