Years ago an acquaintance of mine told this story... she was a classic east coast liberal secular Jew. But she had enough sense to know that the world did not end at the Mississippi river so she got in her VW after graduation from college to drive by herself across the country, camping randomly. She ended up in South Dakota. In Sturgis. In a campground and in a couple of days it started filling up for the motorcycle rally. One night she’s in her tent, trying to sleep, determined to leave the next day. Down the row of tents she hears a man with a deep voice and a southern accent going from tent to tent asking, “Are there any Jews in there”? As he came down the row, this young east coast Jewish girl was asking herself whether she would confess her faith or hide in the back of her tent and fein sleep. She decided to confess her faith and when she did, the big biker with the southern accept said, “Good, a friend of ours died and we need a tenth to make a minyan to sit Shiva.”
““Good, a friend of ours died and we need a tenth to make a minyan to sit Shiva.”
Great story.
I didn’t know you needed ten to sit Shiva.
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That was also an episode of “Northern Exposure.” (Also, it has to be ten Jewish males 13-and-up for a minyan.)