Top-heavy on the aliyot
Imagine trying to give out aliyot for this crowd: Seven Leviyim/Levites (yep, count 'em--seven!)--the rabbi, the cantor, the cantor's two sons, the cantor's brother, the president of the congregation, and the guy who's giving out the aliyot, the Chair of the Ritual Committee (also known as my husband). In theory, the Leviyim get only the first two aliyot, and that assumes that we don't get a surprise Cohen walking in and taking the first aliyah. The hubster is always on the look-out for non-Leviyim, who are, you may have gathered, in short supply in a congregation that can barely get eight men, total, for a Shabbat morning Torah reading. Much fun ensues. Oy.
posted by Shira Salamone at 1:10 PM
12 Comments:
Well the most obvious would be you :).
It's really strange that your congregation doesn't give women aliyot, when some shira chadasha type Orthodox minyanim already do (albeit in the framework of a mechitza, but still.).
You're expecting maybe logic? My fellow and sister congregants have finally given up pretending that they object to women having aliyot on grounds of halachah (Jewish religious law) and admitted that they just they want everything in the service to be the same as it was when they were being raised. Halachah has nothing to do with it--they just don't want anything to change.
In theory, the Leviym get only the first two aliyot,
In an ordinary case (no kohen, leviyim present), a Levi gets the first aliyah, but a Levi should not be given numbered aliyot after the first. So, Leviyim should not get the first 2 aliyot, only the first. Note that a Levi has no precedence for the first, so you can call a yisrael bimkom kohen if a Levi is present. If you do that, a Levi can only get acharon/hosafa aliyot or maftir (SA OH 135, Rama).
Your original question is almost answered in SA OH 135:12 and MB sv "ישראל אחד ביניהם." (The only difference is that it's talking about kohanim, not leviim, but many of the same conditions apply). I think, since you have 7 Leviim and 3(?) Yisraelim (otherwise no minyan, right?) you call a Levi bimkom kohen for the first aliyah, then fill the rest with Yisraelim until you run out of them. Go to the end with the Leviim under the conditions where blood relatives aren't given consecutive aliyot and fathers are placed before sons.
While you're at it, can you send some Leviim over here?
Elf's DH, please spell out your abbreviations for Ms. Am HaAretz here--as a Jewishly-illiterate person, I get as far as SA probably meaning Shulchan Aruch, and MB possibly meaning Mishnah Brura. Am I right on either count? What's OH?
My rabbi's policy is that, in the absence of a Cohen, one may give the first two aliyot to Leviim. One could make a case that Cohanim are also members of the tribe of Levi, so, in the absence of a Levi, two Cohanim could have the first two aliyot (or one Cohen could have a combined aliyah and the other aliyot would have to be redivided to make the remaining required minimum number of aliyot?), and, in the absence of a Cohen, Leviim could have the first two aliyot. My husband couldn't find any reference to aliyot in the Kitzur (condensed?) Shulchan Aruch that we own. What gives? Are both the approach that you describe and my rabbi's approach legitimate approaches?
SA = Shulchan Aruch, OH = Orach Haim, MB - Mishna Brura. (You're 2 for 3).
In the absence of a Levi, but the presence of a Kohen, the same Kohen is given the first 2 aliyot - for precisely the reason you specify: a kohen is also a levi. A second kohen is not called because it would appear as giving a preference to one kohen over another, or perhaps it would appear that there was something amiss with the second kohen. The first time, he's called by name. The second time, he's just called "bimkom levi." (I didn't know this procedure for a very long time because I have never been and never will be in a place where it can happen; see if you can figure out why :-) ).
Leviim have no absolute precedence for anything in the absence of a kohen, because leviim have no function outside of the presence of a kohen. And, in general, two Leviim should not be given 2 aliyot in a row, so, I'm not sure what the origin is of your shul's practice.
The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch talks about the order of aliyot in chapter 23. (The KSA is not generally considered to be "normative halacha" - it's more a recording of the minhagim of Hungarian Jews).
As for what's really "legitimate," that's a bit hard to judge. The order of aliyot is set in order to prevent congregational discord. One could make the argument that *any* agreed-upon order could be legitimate. The traditional order is based on codifying traditional notions of honor (Kohen, Levi, Torah scholar), obligation (yahrtzeit, bar mitzvah and such), and dishonor ("Is kohen X a lesser kohen than kohen Y?").
Interesting - what happens if the only kohenim present are chalalim (ritually disqualified)? Does that affect their eligibility for aliyot, or just for the priestly blessing?
Elf's DH, thanks for the translations, and also for the Shulchan Aruch link, which I will show to my husband at the earliest opportunity.
"(I didn't know this procedure for a very long time because I have never been and never will be in a place where it can happen; see if you can figure out why :-) )." Either your congregation has neither Cohanim (descendants of the Temple priests) nor Leviim, or you're a sufficiently egalitarian group that you don't call people to the Torah by "clan." I've worshipped with plenty of informal minyanim and formal congregations that don't reserve the first aliyah for a Cohen or the second one for a Levi.
Tzipporah, in our congregation, one of the Cohanim is chalal, and gets called for a Levi aliyah. We haven't done Birkat Cohanim, the Blessing by the Priests, for many years, but I wouldn't think that it would be any more permissible for a Cohen who's chalal to give the Birkat Cohanim than to have the Cohen aliyah. It would be best for you to ask a rabbi or consult a formal written source, though. Given my Jewish education (or the relative lack thereof), I'm hardly qualified to answer a question on a point of halachah (Jewish religious law).
Thanks for adding to my Hebrew vocabulary--chalal is a new word for me.
Either your congregation has neither Cohanim (descendants of the Temple priests) nor Leviim, or you're a sufficiently egalitarian group that you don't call people to the Torah by "clan."
Both of these are wrong; you're missing the most obvious possible reason. :-)
Tzipporah, in our congregation, one of the Cohanim is chalal, and gets called for a Levi aliyah.
As far as I can tell (based on Google search - not a real search of sources!), a chalal is, for aliyot purposes, a Levi.
So nu, Elf's DH, don't keep me in suspense. :)
I'm a Levi, hence, wherever I am, there will always be a Levi present :-)
Duh, why didn't I think of that? :)
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