What transforms individuals into a community? Is it numbers alone that makes the difference? The rabbis read Ps. 82:1 as: God stands in a holy assembly. The Hebrew word, edah, is understood to mean ten because it is used to refer to the spies who were sent to explore the land of Israel. Twelve spies were sent and ten returned with a negative report. Having a community doesn’t ensure that it will act in good ways. The rabbis understood the verse in Psalms to mean that God is found in a group with good intentions.
     What is special about a group? Individuals come together and in so doing act with an element of unity. In such a space, the unity that underlies the universe, God, is present even if unacknowledged. Being in community moves us beyond ourselves. A sense of connection to others can help each of us go beyond the perspective of our individual needs to the larger question of what the community needs. 
     For the rabbis, even groups smaller than ten can have an element of oneness. In the tractate Berakhot, there is a chapter entitled “three that ate as one.” (shelosha she’akhlu ke-ahat). This means that if three people share a meal together, they recite a special introduction to the grace after meals (zimun). It is clear that two people don’t make up a group. Three is the minimum number. Yet, the number is only the first step. To be a group, there has to be a sense of oneness—in this case a shared eating experience—hence “three that ate as one.”
     While recognizing the holiness of people coming together, we should acknowledge the pitfalls as well. It is not only that communities can exclude others or disparage those who are outsiders. There is often the pressure to conform lurking in communities and a tendency to minimize individuality. There is a tension between individualism and collectivism in every society. It is an ongoing challenge for each of us and the groups in which we belong to balance community and the individual. Yet, community remains an important way we appreciate the diversity in life and continually remind ourselves that we are all flawed people with a similar goal-- to live a life of purpose and happiness.
     When the Israelites camped in the wilderness, the mishkan was at the center of the encampment. There were three tribes on each side. At the center of a people’s journey are the history, the values, and the vision that connects them to the past and carries them into the future. Without that they will only be aimless wanderers in the desert, a place of shifting mirages that can deceive people into drinking sand.

Adapted from Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21^st Century