DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 494 KB)
Simhat Torah- Is It Permissible For 2 Kohanim or 2 Leviim To Have A Back To Back Aliyah at the Torah

Generally speaking, Halacha forbids calling two Kohanim to the Torah for consecutive Aliyot.  If a Kohen is called for an Aliya to the Torah after another Kohen, people may cast aspersions as to the validity of the first Kohen, suspecting that his status as a Kohen has been called into question, thus requiring that another Kohen be called.  The same applies to Levi'im: two Levi'im may not be called to the Torah for successive Aliyot, as this may give rise to some suspicions concerning the status of the first Levi.

 

Chacham Ovadia Yosef, in Chazon Ovadia (Hilchot Sukkot), establishes an important qualification to this rule.  Namely, two Kohanim may be called consecutively to the Torah if there is some interruption in between the two Aliyot.  For example, a Kohen may be called for Maftir even if a Kohen had been called for the final Aliya just beforhand.  Since the Kaddish is recited before Maftir, thus causing an interruption between the two Aliyot, a second Kohen may be called for Maftir.  Likewise, when a new Torah scroll is opened for an Aliya, it may be given to a Kohen even though a Kohen had received the previous Aliya.  Closing one Sefer Torah and opening the other serves to separate one Aliya from the next, and they therefore may be given to two Kohanim.

 

It thus emerges that on Simhat Torah, three Kohanim may be called to the Torah consecutively for the Aliyot of Chatan Torah, Chatan Bereishit, and Maftir.  These three Aliyot involve readings from three different Sifrei Torah, and hence calling Kohanim for all three does not violate the prohibition against calling Kohanim for consecutive Aliyot.

 

Summary: A congregation may not call two Kohanim or two Leviim for consecutive Aliyot, unless the two Aliyot are interrupted by a Kaddish or the second Aliya is read from a new Sefer Torah.

 

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Can Eliyahu HaNavee Come On Shabbat?
Is It Permissible To Have A Seuda Inside A Bet Kennesset
Is It Permissible To Change Biblical Verses from Singular to Plural Form
Is It Required To Repeat The Beracha Of LiHitatef BiTzitzit If Removing The Talit For Just A Short While
Is It Required To Make The Beracha Of LiHitatef BiTzitzit Again If The 1st Talit Was Found To Be Pasul (Improper)
Is One Required To Stand For An Elderly Lady or Scholarly Woman
Is It Permissible To Simply Answer Amen and Rely On Another's Beracha Of LiHitatef BiTzitzit
Granting Precedence to a Jew When Hiring
Is It Permissible To Give A Non-Kosher Turkey To A Goy For Their Holiday
Yichud- 1) Must An Onen Follow The Laws of Yichud, 2) War and Yichud
Yichud- Is It Permissible For A Man To Be Alone With A Lady On An Express Elevator In A Skyscraper
Yichud- Is It Permissible to Be Alone with Mother, Father, Daughter, Son, Brother, or Sister
Tzineeut and The Proper and Improper Ways Of Socializing With Friends
How Could We Pray To G-d That Korbanot Be Accepted, When Today We Do Not Have Korbanot?
Some Laws Regarding Visiting or Seeing a Cemetery
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found