When two people are fulfilling a commandment, and one has already fulfilled it while the second is about to do so, it is appropriate to give priority to honoring the one who is about to fulfill the commandment over the one who has already done so. For example, a person who has finished reading the Torah and goes to sit in his place while another congregant is coming up to read, each of the two being as worthy as the other and of equal standing, it is appropriate that the one who has already read and is descending to defer and make way for the passage of the one being called up to the Torah reading, for the one descending from the teiva [synagogue platform] has already performed and fulfilled the reading commandment, while the one being called up to read has yet to read, and so is to be honored and to be given precedence.