Faith
If there is no kohen in the synagogue, when is it preferable for the Levi to be called up to the Torah?
Question
Hello, and thank you very much for your holy work. May you be blessed. I have a question for you.
If there is no kohen in the synagogue and there is a Levi, when is it preferable for him to be called up to the Torah, on weekdays and on Shabbat?
Thank you in advance
Answer
Greetings,
One may give the Levi the first aliyah in place of the kohen.
Sources: According to the Rema (siman 135, section 6) and the Mishnah Berurah (subsection 24). This is also the custom of Sephardim, as explained in Yabia Omer, volume 6 (Orach Chaim, siman 24), and there it is noted that the chazan must proclaim aloud: "There is no kohen here; Levi, come up in place of the kohen."
With blessings,
Hillel Meirs
