Halocho #33 – Cohen gets preferential treatment

A Talmid Chacham has preference over a Cohen. Everybody else needs to give preference to the Cohen; he gets called first to the Torah, gets to speak first at functions, at meals gets served first and leads the Zimun. In a business partnership a Cohen does not get preferential treatment. One may not use a Cohen to run ones errands or do other mundane tasks, unless the Cohen has agreed to relinquish his Cohen status for this purpose. Source: Kitzur SA 144:8-9 To clarify: A Cohen always gets called to the Torah first, so as to prevent the unpleasantness of people arguing as to whether a specific person is a Talmid Chacham worthy of displacing the Cohen or not.