Where is the Brachah of Magen Avos Recited \ Parashat Shelach
In this week's parsha, Parshas Shelach, the Torah references the ten sinful spies as an 'עדה'. This is the source that ten men are required to make a quorum, a minyan. One halachah involving a minyan that has been particularly relevant in the present situation, with Minyanim being formed in irregular places, is the recitation of the Bracha of Magen Avos during Maariv of Shabbos evening. (This includes the entire brachah from ברוך אתה וכו' until מקדש השבת, whereas to say only the paragraph of magen avos even a single person may do so if he’d like.)
The Gemara in Shabbos (דף כד) says that the Brachah of Magen Avos is not a regular requirement rather it was only affixed to the Davening because of danger. Rashi explains that on Shabbos evening when everyone comes to Shul we are concerned of latecomers who will be left alone at the end of davening. In those times the Shuls were not in inhabited areas. Therefore, Chazal lengthened the davening of the Tzibbur in order to give everyone a chance to catch up. Based on this, the Ra’aviah writes that the entire regulation was only when Davening with a Tzibur (minyan) and not when Davening alone.
The Rivash (סימן מ') and others write that for this reason the Minhag is not to say the Brachah when a minyan is carried out in the home of a chasan or a shivah house. Since the תקנה was enacted because of latecomers to shul in the times of Chazal, even though we continue to adhere to the minhag today when there is no danger, it is not meant to be said unless in a shul specifically as opposed to a private home and the like. The Shulchan Aruch in סימן רס"ח rules like this opinion. The Maharalbach (סי' קכ"ב) contends that the simple connotation of the Ra’aviah is that the determining factor is only a Tzibbur, not a Shul. Based on this he writes, and is cited in the Magen Avraham, that a place that has the Minhag to say the Brachah even in a Minyan outside of Shul needn't be stopped from doing so.
Within the standard ruling of needing a Shul to recite the Brachah, there still remains unclarity. The Taz writes that a fixed Minyan for a few days, such as was done in his day during market days, is enough within which to say the Brachah. From this it would seem that an actual Shul is not necessary rather any kind of somewhat fixed minyan suffices, excluding only very temporary or random Minyanim. The Elyah Rabbah, however, based on the Knesses Hag’dolah, stipulates that such a Minyan only says the Brachah if there is a Sefer Torah in the house. Rav Moshe Feinstein Zt"l in Igros Moshe (או"ח ח"ד סי' ס"ט) questions the reasoning behind this stipulation, asking why it should make a difference whether or not there is a Sefer Torah in the house.
From the Poskim there appears to be two approaches to this requirement of a Sefer Torah. In the Elyah Rabbah it seems that it is a way to give the Minyan a status of ‘fixed’ and not temporary. The reasoning seeming to be that one can’t have a fixed Minyan without the option of reading from the Torah. The Sefer Sheilos U’Tshuvos D’var Moshe though seems to consider the Sefer Torah a way to consider the place of the Minyan like a Shul, as the תקנה is dependant on a Shul specifically. Hence, we have two ways of understanding the תקנה – one, that it is dependant on a Shul specifically and the other, that it is dependant on a מנין קבוע, a fixed Minyan. A practical difference being if there needs to be a Sefer Torah in the room of Davening itself, for according to the Elyah Rabbah it should suffice that the Minyan has access to a Torah for the purpose of Krias HaTorah. Also, in the case of a random Minyan gathered together inside a Shul, that according to the D’var Moshe it should recite the Brachah and according to the Elyah Rabbah it could be that it shouldn’t.
The Mishna Berurah (סימן רס"ח ס"ק כ"ד) gives the impression that a temporarily fixed Minyan (such as the above case of the Taz) requires a Sefer Torah in order to recite the Brachah but a proper Shul would say it even if there is no Sefer Torah present. Rav Moshe Feinstein writes that the Minhag is to recite the Brachah in any מנין קבוע, fixed Minyan, even if there is no Sefer Torah, and even if it is only fixed for Shabbos evenings. Rac Chaim Kanievsky Shlita is also quoted as saying that the Minhag is to say the Brachah in a Minyan Kavuah even if there is no Sefer Torah.
