Halakhic Thought

[debka_notion]

So the egal minyan at JTS does not give the first and second aliyot to a kohen and levi, respectively. However today the person to whom they gave the first aliyah was a kohen. And they went on about their usual progression, so the next person was not a levi, nor did they give the second aliyah to the same person. And I understand not giving out aliyot based on that status issue, and since it was established for the sake of peace, I wouldn't complain about a minyan that does not hold by it for the sake of peace. But once you do call a kohen for the aliyah- I do wonder what the best choice of action would have been. On the other hand, they had handed out the aliyot in advance, and I know that once you call someone, you don't replace them, even if you should have called someone else- so maybe handing out the aliyot has some of the same status. It's just an interesting thing to think about.

Comments

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

What makes someone a communal leader though? At least "my teacher" qualifies as a direct-judgement call, so it's relational rather than a matter of necessary achievement or not, if the gabbay is allowed to choose when to use the title or not... (Rather like when I heard someone call up his granddaughter as nekhdati, or some such.) But I'd guess that the gabbay isn't so allowed.

And in a shul that duchens, it is a mark of something they do for the community, no? So if one's community were to do both, even though that opens another can of worms...