Aliyah (Torah)

An aliyah (Hebrew עליה, or aliya and other variant English spellings) is the calling of a member of a Jewish congregation to the bimah for a segment of reading from the Torah.

The person who receives the aliyah goes up to the bimah before the reading and recites a blessing for reading of the torah. After the portion of the torah is read, the recipient then recites another blessing. In many congregations, the recipient will also stand to the side of the bimah during the following reading.

A synagogue official, called a gabbai, then calls up several people (men in Orthodox and some Conservative congregations, men and women in others), in turn, to be honored with an aliyah (Hebrew: עליה‎; pl. עליות, aliyot; "ascent" or "going up"), wherein the honoree (or, more usually, a designated reader) recites a blessing over the Torah, between each verse. Each reads a section of the day's Torah portion. There are always at least three olim (people called to read the Torah) unless a Kohen is present and no Levite is present, in which case the Kohen is called for the first and second reading:

Initially, the Torah was read on the Sabbath or special occasions by the king, a prophet, or a kohen. In time, distinguished people were called to read portions of the Torah. The Torah was on a platform to which the reader ascended, hence the Hebrew term aliyah ("going up"). Eventually, the rabbis ordained that a professional reader do the reading to avoid embarrassing those who were unable to read the Torah script (Shabbat 11a). There are seven aliyot on a Sabbath (Megillah 21a). Bet Yoseph quotes a geonic source in explanation of this number (Ein Pochasim, Tur, Hilchot Shabbat 282). In the event that someone missed an entire week's services and as a result had not responded to the reader's daily invocation of Barechu, he may make up for it by responding to the Barechu of the seven blessings of the aliyot. A more acceptable reason is the midrashic explanation for the seven benedictions on the Sabbath (in place of the eighteen). The seven benedictions correspond to the seven voices of God (kol) mentioned in the Twenty-ninth Psalm and again in connection with the giving of the Torah (beginning with Exodus 19:16, Midrash Yelamdenu). This explanation is equally applicable to the seven aliyot. The first aliyah is assigned to a kohen and the second to a levi. This order was ordained to avoid public competition for the honor of being first (Gittin 59b). Babylonian Jewry completed the reading of the Torah within one year. Palestinian Jewry adopted a triennial cycle (Megillah 29b). The reading of a selection from the Prophets originated in the time of the Mishnah (Megillah 24a). This practice probably began after the canonization of the Bible and the ensuing effort to highlight the Prophets.

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