When One May Give Close Relatives Adjacent Aliyos
Are there any circumstances where a father and a son or two brothers may be given aliyos one after the other l’chatchila (in the first instance)?
It is permissible l’chatchila to call a father and son or two brothers to an Aliya, one after the other, when there are these two separations between aliyos:
- Kaddish is recited between the two aliyos (such as between shevi’i and maftir) and
- A second Sefer Torah is read for maftir (Piskei Teshuvos explaining Mishna Berura 141:20).
Presumably, this is acceptable because the separation between aliyos by Kaddish and a second Sefer Torah makes it less obvious that the two relatives are receiving aliyos and, therefore, the ayin harah consideration is mitigated.
Rabbi Schachter, shlita, added that this would apply as well to a shul that has only one Sefer Torah, as rolling the Sefer Torah to the correct place following Kaddish is equivalent to reading from a second Sefer Torah.
If there is a strong necessity to give an Aliya to a person immediately after a brother or father received an Aliya (for example, a person has yahrzeit or he is a chosson celebrating his Aufruf, and the gabbai accidentally called his father or brother to receive the previous Aliya), one may rely on one separation to call up the brother or son. The separation may be Kaddish between the aliyos (Toras Chaim 1:41) or a second Sefer Torah is read (Shaare Efraim Shaar 1:32). However, since there is only one separation, the first oleh should leave the bimah before the relative approaches the bimah for his Aliya (Toras Chaim ibid).
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