Is It Permissible to Purchase Torah Aliyot With Maaser Funds?

Greetings, It is permissible to purchase aliyot with maaser funds, provided that at the time of purchasing the aliyah, one intended to pay for it using maaser funds. However, if at the time of purchase one did not intend to pay from maaser funds, then one may not pay for it from maaser money, since one should not repay a debt with maaser funds (as the Taz writes in Yoreh De'ah, Siman 247, Se'if Aleph; see also Hilchot Shlomo, Part 1, Chapter 12, Se'if 19, quoting Rabbi Gershon Edelstein zt"l). Some maintain that even when one intended to pay for the aliyah with maaser, he may give from maaser only the amount exceeding what a friend agreed to contribute, but not the entire sum (Rabbi Akiva Eiger in Shulchan Aruch HaRav, quoting the Shlah. See also Ba'er HaTerumah, Chapter 11, note 96, where Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor zt"l ruled accordingly; and similarly Rabbi Yitzchak Kamenetsky zt"l in Emes L'Yaakov, Yoreh De'ah 134). Blessings, Hillel Meirs