Windy City Minyan

What’s your mission statement?
Windy City Minyan aims to offer independent, egalitarian, and energetic Jewish religious experiences for young adults in Chicago.

What’s a minyan?
A “minyan” is the quorum of 10 adult Jews required for prayer. It’s also a way to refer to a prayer community.

What’s an independent minyan?
Traditional Jewish synagogues and prayer communities have some form of a rabbi, a cantor, a permanent space, and an official denomination. As an independent minyan, we have none of those. Without a rabbi or cantor, our participants are the ones to lead services and give divrei torah (sermons). Without a permanent space, we can move around to various parts of the Chicago area (mostly in the Lakeview neighborhood). Without a denomination, we are free to design a service that fits our participants’ needs. As an independent minyan, we are empowered to create a unique community of our own. Windy City Minyan is one of dozens of independent minyanim around the United States. For more information on the independent minyan movement, read what Wikipedia has to say.

No denomination, huh? 
Nope, not officially. Many of our participants grew up at Camp Ramah and in USY, but many also come from other backgrounds. Most of our participants use Siddur Sim Shalom. We are fully egalitarian (men and women are equal in the service) and we have no mechitza (divider). Our services are always filled with lots of singing and ruach (spirit).