Dear Rav Kornfeld,

Could we please get some more help with two more questions?

1) Why when the gemara mentions the custom of declining the opportunity to be the shaliach tzibbur, do we also say that when called up for an aliyah of the Torah reading one should take the shortest path, and if I understand correctly, cannot decline once called by name?

How is the "aliyah" honors for other functions different -- any item that might be auctioned for Simchas Torah, such as opening up the Aron HaKodesh, or lifting up the Sefer Torah? How are these different than the aliyah of being the shaliach tzibur?

2) Why does the gemara use the example of one who eats food cooked without salt to describe someone with too little time, that he does not have to decline the first invitation to lead davening, and not mention the cases, elsewhere in Gemara, of the meat that is cooked only 1/3 of the way by Michoel ben Drasoi, a famous bandit apparently, who was always on the run, and had to eat his meat barely cooked?

Is it because the Gemara doesn't need as an extreme example, that not having time to spice food is more common than cooking food only the minimal amount?

Does any commentary on this gemara bring up this other benchmark of timing in cooking?

Chaim Chesler