I’ve seen the hand holding, but it may have been because everyone knew each other. Conservative wouldn’t be dressed like that though, and likely not run around in the airport in such a manner.
Any Hasids in the audience? Don’t make me bug a rabbi. I already fielded the “are lambskin condoms trieyfe, meat, or pareve?” question.*
*Since you hopefully don’t swallow them, they aren’t anything. But you shouldn’t be using condoms anyway, you bad Jew. Please do not bug this Rabbi again, thank you.
So, Rabbi Klears, Rabbi Cove, Rabbi Greenberg and all those others I’ve seen lead services over the years were wrong?
And, what exactly do we say at the end of a seder?
BTW
A similar situation happened at a synagogue one day. Sid Mayer called in sick at the last minute. There were ten people present, but the tenth was the rabbi's wife and this was an orthodox synagogue. So, the rabbi told everybody to go outside and ask passersby if they would complete the minyan. Everybody rushes outside and splits up. The rabbi's wife sees a Jewish looking man and asks him "Will you be the tenth?". He looks at her and says "Lady, I wouldn't even want to be the first!"The same thing happened to me at LAX and I even posted about it. In my case they definitely asked if I was Jewish first. A guy was on his way to NYC for his mother’s funeral and he wanted to say Kaddish (the memorial prayer) for her.
Haj
Friendly note: inklberry, Alessan is an Israeli Jewish person. So while you can argue with him about nuances, you probably ought not give him a lecture on the differences between Islam and Judiaism.
Nitpick- A stray remark about the Russian WW2 airforce ‘That wasn’t gasoline. Those planes were fueled by pure distilled fury’ leads to me believe that Alessan(As well as his dad) were born and raised in Russia, then moved to Israel.
Hmm I wonder if it could be a Sephardic/ Ashkenazic difference? Inkleberry What branch of the bagel tree are you from?
About the non-Jewish thing: Let’s say they were going on separate and long flights. Could that be why they settled for having nine Jews and one non-Jew, rather than having to do an in-flight minyan with maybe five non-Jews, or not doing it at all?
A minyan’s an all-or-nothing thing; either you’ve got the ten Jewish guys or you don’t. If you don’t, then you pray without one, and that’s that. Nine Jewish guys plus one non-Jew is functionally the same as one Jewish guy by himself in terms of the prayers that can only be said with a minyan.
I’m pretty mystified by what happened to you, honestly.
inkleberry, I don’t think there are any Hasidim on the boards, unless they lurk. I think there used to be a Lubavich poster back in the day, but I haven’t seen him around for over a year. You’re stuck with us misnagdish types.
Huh. I’m trying to remember more details to help clear this up, but it happened a few years ago so my memory isn’t that sharp. I suppose they could have been from some tiny sect that has changed its concept of minyan, but in my experience tiny sects tend to be more stringent, rather than less.
My Dad was born and raised in Teaneck, NJ; I was born in Israel, but I spent several years in the States as a young child. My comment on Russia probably comes from the fact that Israelis are more aware of the Russian contribution to WW2 than Americans tend to be - I’d say there are more Soviet WW2 vets in this country than there are from any other of the Allies.
I’m Ashkenazic, my wife’s Sephardic, I’m a Conservative Jew in a largely Orthodox country. I’ve been exposed to a broad variety of Jewish communities, including Reform, and my observations pretty much apply to mainstream Judaism in all its variations.
OTOH, the OP may indeed be speaking of Chabad. Who knows what those weirdos are up to nowadays - I barely consider some of them Jewish aymore, what with their undead Rebbe and all.
If they were Orthodox Jews, they certainly should have asked you if you were Jewish - and they definitely would not have included you after you actively told them that you weren’t Jewish. Conservative Jews would also require that you be Jewish. In addition, I’m 99% certain that Reform Jews would also require that you be Jewish before you join a minyan. There are no “emergency” provisions that would allow a non-Jew to be counted toward a minyan (and I can’t imagine any life-threatening situation where one would be needed - “Help! Quick! Timmy fell down the well! Get the minyan!”)
Ma’ariv, as others have pointed out, is recited at night and can be recited all night long.
I’m not aware of any Jewish prayer ritual that requires the participants to stand in circle and hold hands. (Note: On Simchas Torah, we dance (usually in circles) and hold the hands of the next person - but (a) that’s not a prayer and (b) if it was Simchas Torah, those people should not have been travelling by plane - that’s a major holiday).
In short, Priceguy, I have no idea who those people were. They definitely weren’t Orthodox, nor Conservative, and I’d lay very good odds that they weren’t Reform either.
Zev Steinhardt
Does inhalation count?
Not to highjack, but is minyan pronounces as I am guessing? Sorta like minion?
min-YON or min-YUN.
Zev Steinhardt
You can crank that up to 100%. One twist to that is that Reform Jews are more liberal on who can be considered Jewish (having a Jewish father but not a Jewish mother counts) so a Reform minyan might contain people who are non-Jews by Orthodox standards.
Haj
A Reform or Conservative minyan could also include women as well as men.
Are those the followers of Shmereson (almost certainly misspelled)? I thought that all but a tiny lunatic fringe had given up on the idea that he would rise again.
LO! I fell off my chair, and the cat is looking at me as if I am demented… 
But back to the question- any idea of who these dudes might be? I have a freind (well, an ex-freind) who is a member of a weird Xian cult that keeps Kosher and even AFAIK Passover, so could it be…?
DocCathode - I believe you mean Schneerson, as in Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (z’chur l’tov). Those who follow him are usually Lubavitcher Chassidic Orthodox Jews. There’s a very small number of Lubavitcher Chassidic Orthodox Jews who believed he was the Messiah truly and really and that after his death he will rise again. Many other Lubavitchers (from what I can gather from the Internet and from speaking to a few) believe that R’ Schneerson was a potential Messiah: they believe that every generation has a potential Messiah, who will become the real Messiah when 'Am Yisrael is ready. Since Jews weren’t ready - or so they say - Schneerson did not become the Messiah.
Regarding the OP: I seriously doubt they were, in any halakhic sense, Jewish. If someone asked me to be in a minyan (since I know what it is and what rules apply to it), I would have refused. I am not Jewish, and I will not participate as if I were one. It makes a mockery of halakhah.
When Jews pray, they face Jerusalem. Jews in Israel also face Jerusalem. Jews in Jerusalem face the Temple. Jews at the Temple face of Holy of Holies. Every single book I have on Jewish prayer, including siddurim, states this. This also explains the elaborate “Mizrach” (meaning “East”) hangings available at Jewish stores. I have never ever heard of any prayer done in a circle or holding hands. After all, one’s hands must be free to hold the siddur (prayerbook).
Non-Jews can never be counted in a minyan, by all schools of Jewish halakhah it seems.
To summarize: they weren’t real Jews. If they thought they were, their understanding of halakhah is seriously deficient.
WRS
Here is a side question. If these dudes still really believe that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson still is the messiah- are they still a Jewish Sect? I mean- there are some odd cults/sects that keep Kosher and all- but claim that Jesus is the messiah- are they Jewish sects or Xian sects? ;j
And, I thought there were still some Samaritians- those who still worhsip at other sacred mountains and didn’t accept the Temple- would they be considered a Jewish sect?
Excellent questions.
Those who accept R. Schneerson as the Messiah are, in some regards, still Jewish. More stringent Jews have said that their belief in Schneerson as the Messiah has made them apostates: this was said while the Rebbe was still alive. If not for this fact, they would certainly be considered Jewish. Lubavitcher Chassidic Jews are Orthodox Jews, if not very Orthodox. (Nonetheless, they warmly welcome Jews of all types and levels of observance to their synagogues, but this is in an attempt to convert more wayward Jews to more proper Jews.) Their acceptance of Schneerson as Messiah is in a very different category than Jews who accept Jesus as Messiah.
Jews for Schneerson, as it were, believe he was/is the Messiah. But this does not make him the Son of God, anything connected with the Godhead, or able to offer salvation. The only salvation the Messiah can bring is deliverance from exile, gathering in of the Jews, reestablishment of Israel, rebuilding of the Temple, and basically the wholescale restoration of Israel’s glory and favor in and with the world and God.
Jews for Jesus, however, believe Jesus was/is the Son of God, a member of the Godhead (along with the Holy Spirit or Ruach ha-Qodesh). They basically put a very Jewish flavor to Christianity and, as such, are classified as Messianic Jews or Hebraic Christians; they properly belong in the religious category of Christianity rather than Judaism (as much as they may say they are Jews and not Christians).
Samaritans are a very old sect. They date back to the first exile. They, basically, were Jews who intermarried with pagans after the first exile. Halakhically, they are not Jews. Their Torah is different (and written in a different script), they reject the Oral Torah, they reject the authority of books other than the Torah (defined as the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses), they had their own Temple (on Mt. Gerizim), they still offer a sacrifice (on Passover or Yom Kippur - I forgot which). They are not considered to be Jews by the Orthodox, and relations with Jews are still pretty frosty. Nevertheless, Israel has done much to help and support the Samaritans. The Samaritans are, however, dying out.
WRS