Ros. Responsa 14 a

Ros. Responsa 14 a

Aliyah la-Torah

1911

Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana

Justus (Tsadok ben Moshe Toevja) Tal

TalJ

Orah Haim

TRUE

Should a village with just 10 people on Shabbat change the order of calling people to the Torah to first call upon a visiting Cohen, who may not be a Cohen?

In a village there are just 10 Jews and there is no Cohen nor a Levy, and it was customary each Sabbath to call the Rabbi first to the Torah, and for the rest they always called upon 7 members, according to a set order. And on a given day one of the members had left the village and was unable to return in tome for Shabbat. And a guest came to the village to stay for Shabbat, and he said that he was a Cohen. And they asked him to come to the synagogue on Shabbat so that he should be able to pray and read from the Torah. The guest then said that he would be glad to do so as long as he would be called to the Torah first, as he was a Cohen. Otherwise he would not come. And the community did not want to change their custom of calling the rabbi first, and they also did not want to change the order of the other members, lest one of them lose their turn. And then one of the members reported that he remembers being in a certain place, where this guest was called upon the Torah not as a Cohen. Now they ask the Rabbi what to do?