My chavrusa Yosef Sheinis asked the following question.
How could the Gem. compare the middle lamp of the Menorah to the second Aliyah to the Torah. By the Menorah its a question of space, (similar to three people walking together where the most important personage walks in the middle), while being called up to the Torah second is a question of time? Is one comparable to the othere?!
Kol Tuv
alex lebovits, toronto, canada
In my opinion the question at stake is neither time nor space, but rather it is all about Kavod. The person who receives the middle Aliyah is not especially happy about it because he has to wait exactly the right amount of time in order to get it, but he is also very honored because he is given the central position in the arrangement of the Aliyos, in just the same way that the most important personage receives the central place when walking on the way, as you cited from the Gemara Yoma 37a. (As I am sure you are aware, Tosfos Menachos 98b DH SHEHA'EMTZA'I connects the latter to our Sugya.)
Just as the important person receives respect because of being in the middle, so the middle lamp of the Menorah is the most important one because the other lamps all turn towards it. The point is not the phyhsical location in time or space, but rather the symbolic meaning of holding the most prestigious position.
KOL TUV
D. Bloom