Although it is preferable to join a minyan whenever possible, prayer services may be said without a minyan. However, certain prayers may be said (or omitted) only with a minyan present:

• Bar'chu (morning and night),
• The word “Eloheinu” in the birkat ha'mazon introduction,
• Kaddish,
• Kedusha,
• Reader's repetition of the amida,
• Sheva brachot (the seven blessings) at a wedding,
• Sheva brachot during the week following the wedding,
• 13 midot in selichot,
• Torah reading if there will be aliyot, and
• Skipping the three introductory words for the shema.

By surrounding ourselves with reminders of the commandments and with objects for observing the various Jewish rituals, we can be constantly aware of what we should be doing to live our lives as Jews.
There are two categories of items used for mitzvot:

• Holy items (tashmishei kedusha), such as tefilin and its boxes, Torah books and commentaries, and Torah scrolls and covers. 
• Items used for mitzvot (tashmishei mitzva), such as lulav, etrog, and talit/tzitzit.

Women
Sacred scrolls (Torah, mezuza, tefilin) may not be written by women for sacred purposes. However, if they were written by a woman, you may study from them. You may not use them for public Torah reading, putting on tefilin, or affixing to doorposts (for mezuza).


Disposal
Both tashmishei kedusha and tashmishei mitzva should be disposed of in a respectful manner. Tashmishei kedusha should ideally be buried. Newspapers with Torah or Torah commentary must be double-wrapped and then may be put in the trash, since they contain material that should not be buried with holy writings (only a newspaper's Torah or Torah commentary contain inherent holiness).
To dispose of tashmishei mitzva, you may wrap in one layer of plastic and throw it in normal garbage.

• Unwrap the excess strap from your palm and wrap it three times around your middle finger while saying the three “v'eirastich li” phrases, one for each wrap.
• Wrap the strap around your palm in the shape of the Hebrew letter “shin.”
• Wrap the excess around your palm and tuck in the end of the strap to keep it tight and out of your way.

Introduction to Missed Amida/Tashlumim
If you accidentally miss any amida, you may make up for it (tashlumin)--unless you intentionally missed it.

Amida: Errors: Missed Amida/Tashlumin: Regular Days
Missed Ma'ariv Amida
If you accidentally did not say the amida for ma'ariv:

• Say the normal shacharit amida the next morning with the other men in the minyan.
• Say ashrei.
• When the leader begins his repetition of the amida, say the amida along with him, word for word, including kedusha.
• After saying ha'el ha'kadosh, finish your amida at your own pace.
• If you are not with a minyan, say ashrei and then repeat the shacharit amida.

Missed Shacharit Amida
If you accidentally did not say the amida for shacharit:

• Say the normal mincha amida with the other men in the minyan.
• Say ashrei.

• When the leader begins his repetition of the amida, say the amida along with him, word for word, including kedusha.
• After saying ha'el ha'kadosh, finish your amida at your own pace.
• If you are not with a minyan, say ashrei and then say the mincha amida a second time.

Missed Mincha Amida
If you accidentally did not say the amida for mincha:

• Say the normal ma'ariv amida with the other men in the minyan.
• Say ashrei.
• Say the ma'ariv amida a second time. Skip modim.
• If you are not with a minyan, say ashrei a second time and repeat the ma'ariv amida.

Note At the next prayer service, say whatever is the correct amida for that later prayer service, even if it is not the same amida that you missed.
If you miss mincha on Friday, say the ma'ariv service for Shabbat and repeat that amida again.
Note Once the time for the next amida has passed, you may not make up the missed amida.
Example
If you missed mincha on Thursday, you may only say tashlumin for mincha as long as you may still say ma'ariv, which is daybreak of Friday morning.

Amida: Errors: Missed Amida/Tashlumin: Shabbat/Jewish Festivals
Even if you forgot to say a prayer service on Shabbat and Jewish festivals, say the next prayer service amida and repeat THAT amida to make up (tashlumin) for the one you missed--even if it is no longer Shabbat or the Jewish festival.
Exception
There is no tashlumin for musaf. However, you may say musaf until sunset, even if you already said mincha.
Note If the time for mincha has arrived (½ hour after halachic midday), you must say mincha before saying musaf (but if you could join a mincha minyan later, you may say musaf now).
Situation
You miss Shabbat mincha.
What to Do
Say ata chonantanu in ma'ariv, but only for the first time you say the amida, not the second time (which is tashlumin).
Situation
You forget to say ma'ariv on Saturday night.
What to Do
Say ata chonantanu on Sunday morning in the second amida (which is tashlumin).

If Doubt about Whether You Said Amida
If you are not certain whether you said an amida:

• On a weekday, assume that you did not say the amida and say it anyway.  Intend that:
  • If you forgot the previous amida, this makes up for it, and
  • If you did say the previous amida, the second one is a nedava (free-will “offering”).
• On Shabbat and Jewish festivals, do not say the amida twice as tashlumin.

            Reason You may not say a voluntary prayer service (nedava) on these days.
Men who intentionally delayed saying shacharit past the fourth halachic hour of the day still say that amida until midday but if they did not say it by midday, they may not say tashlumin. See Minyan: Keeping Pace: Shacharit Minyan.

The Torah commands us to be kedoshim (holy, or set apart), requiring purity in what we eat, how we speak, what we wear, and how we behave. Tum'a is spiritual impurity generally resulting from transitions from life to death (even in a small measure; for instance—sleep or cutting nails). Tum'a inhibits or blocks us from achieving holiness.
Since we do not have a “red heifer” with which to make purifying water solutions, all people are considered to have some level of tum'a today.
Although there are three reasons to ritually wash hands--to add kedusha; to remove tum'a; and to remove dirt--tum'a normally has nothing to do with physical dirt. There are many types and levels of tum'a, with no exact progression. The following guideline is approximately in descending order from most impure to least:

Sources of the Different Levels of Tum'a

• Dead body (touching or being in same building with a dead body);
• Cemetery;
• Carcass of any dead animal not slaughtered by shechita;
• Women during and after menstruation or after childbirth (but before they immerse in a mikva);
• Sleep;
• Possibly a bathroom;
• Your hands' transferring tum'a to wet food;
• Your hands' transferring tum'a to bread;
• Food from under a bed on which someone slept;
• Intercourse or seminal emission;
• Having your beard, hair, or nails cut;
• Leather shoes;
• Touching body parts.

Depending on the level of tum'a, purifying may require:

• Washing your hands by the Three-Times Method.
• Washing your hands by the One-Time Method.
• Immersion in a mikva. OR
• Sprinkling with water that had been treated with ashes from a red heifer (which we do not have now).

Shema
When the minyan reaches the shema in shacharit:

• If you are between bar'chu and end of amida, simply:
  • Cover your eyes like everyone else, but don't say the shema line.
• If you are anywhere else:
  • Pause and, with everyone else, say the first two lines of the shema (Shema, Yisrael… and Baruch shem…), and then
  • Resume where you were.

Reason You may not interrupt your prayer between bar'chu and end of amida.

Amida
Situation  You are saying your amida in a minyan and it is close to the end of the fourth hour of the day.
What To Do  Do not pause, even if the leader says kaddish or kedusha, if doing so will delay you past the fourth hour.