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If there are no kohanim in shul on shabbat, Ashkenazi practice is to give the first aliyah to a levi or yisrael, and the subsequent six aliyot to yisraelim. (See Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 135:6,9,10.)

What happens if there are no kohanim and five or fewer yisraelim, with the rest of the minyan made up of leviim? Presumably in these cases, one would give aliyot to more than one levi.

How should the seven aliyot be distributed between the leviim and yisraelim?

Ideally, answers should address the six cases ranging from zero yisraelim to five yisraelim, and specify which aliyot go to which type of person in each case.

(I’m asking mainly about these specific scenarios in order to keep the question more manageable. Feel free to expand your answer to include other scenarios with one or more kohanim, some leviim and insufficient yisraelim.)

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    We had a similar situation and the answer I got (and we actually practiced in our shul) was that once there's no Cohen, anything goes.
    – Al Berko
    Commented Sep 10 at 14:55
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    Why only ask about where there are no kohanim. Something like 4K 4L 2Y is equally confounding. (I happen to daven at a minyan like yours weekly)
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Sep 10 at 14:55
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    @DoubleAA. Indeed. Just trying to keep the question more manageable. There are a lot of possible permutations. But more expansive answers are of course welcome.
    – Joel K
    Commented Sep 10 at 15:22
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    sefaria.org/Shulchan_Arukh,_Orach_Chayim.135.12. sefaria.org/Mishnah_Berurah.135.44.
    – אילפא
    Commented Sep 10 at 15:54

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The regular rules for Aliyah positions are based on three rules: 1) kohen and levi read first if available to avoid fighting about who reads first (Gittin 59a), 2) a kohen should not read directly after a different kohen, nor levi after another levi, so as not to make people wonder if the first one was found to be invalid (Gittin 59b), 3) some say Rule 2 applies even if the two are not directly adjacent since the latter 5 aliyot are generally for Yisraelim some might come to question the validity of the latter kohen/levi (cf. Shulchan Aruch OC 135:10), and some say not to worry about this third rule if calling another Kohen-Levi-Yisrael triad (cf. Mishna Berura, ibid :37).

The Shulchan Aruch (OC 135:12) rules that if you're stuck then we allow breaking all those rules. Since Rule 3 is highly disputed, that'd be the first to go. Accordingly, it comes out that you basically do as close to a repeating Kohen-Levi-Yisrael as possible as many times as needed to fill out 7 people.

There are two caveats to keep in mind. First, if the case is one with at least one Yisrael and no Levi, then the first triplet would be Kohen-Kohen-Yisrael like an ordinary situation of no Levi, but not subsequent triplets since those are arguably not actually necessary as triplets. Second, if there are only Kohanim and exactly one other, or only Leviyim and exactly one Yisrael, the Shulchan Aruch (:12) rules we flip the script and put the singleton first to avoid fighting and continue with repeating statuses from there.

Example case of 2 Leviyim and 1 Yisrael: Kohen, Levi, Yisrael, Kohen, Levi, Kohen, Kohen.

Example case of 0 Leviyim and 3 Yisraelim: Kohen, same Kohen, Yisrael, Kohen, Yisrael, Kohen, Yisrael.

Example case of 0 Leviyim and 1 Yisrael: Yisrael, Kohen, Kohen, Kohen, Kohen, Kohen, Kohen.

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    More about the different positions in rishonim (such as giving up on leining 7 aliyot or giving aliyot to women/children or giving the same kohen all 7 aliyot) hakirah.org/Vol23Broyde.pdf
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Sep 10 at 16:04
  • In your second example, AH OC 135:28 says that it would be better to do Kx2,Y,K,Y,Y,K. (He also quotes MA as saying do Kx2,Y,Y,Y,K,K, but doesn’t understand why that should be.)
    – Joel K
    Commented Sep 10 at 20:58
  • @JoelK yes but iirc that's about a place that generally gives shvii to a kohein, which I personally have never seen. That said it's probably fine since the last K can also be seen as opening a new truncated set of three.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Sep 10 at 21:02
  • @JoelK I did omit that MA because it seems to be saying we'd rather give up rule 1 later than rule 3 earlier. There's a logic there about delaying breaking the law, but given the controversy around 3 it seems hard to buy here
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Sep 10 at 21:06
  • hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1597&st=&pgnum=379 Seems to have additional rules (no idea if these are commonly accepted) in cases where there are no kohanim. Prefers to give first two aliyot to yisraelim, and then alternate levi, yisrael
    – Joel K
    Commented Sep 11 at 8:45

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