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

[gimmelgirl.livejournal.com]

According to the "egalitarian" practice of giving aliyot as Rishonah, Sheniyah, and Shelishit, it doesn't matter if the first person happens to be a kohein. Rabbi Roth taught us to call them up as Ploni Ben Ploni HaKohein vePlonit. You acknowledge that the person is a kohein in their name, but it's still just a good-ole-egalitarian First Aliyah, as with anyone else. To have done differently would go against the whole premise of egalitarian aliyot. You don't distinguish for kohein/levi status. To specifically NOT give the kohein the first aliyah would be sorta reverse-discrimination, too, which would also be counter the egalitarian thing.

(just to be clear, I mean egalitarian in the global sense, as in, not distinguishing between anyone for any reason, well, except maybe being a minor, of course)