diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/block/ClusterBlockLevel.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/block/ClusterBlockLevel.java
index d8d9381ce6a..4a47515adf1 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/block/ClusterBlockLevel.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/block/ClusterBlockLevel.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ public enum ClusterBlockLevel {
     METADATA(2);
 
     public static ClusterBlockLevel[] ALL = new ClusterBlockLevel[]{READ, WRITE, METADATA};
+    public static ClusterBlockLevel[] READ_WRITE = new ClusterBlockLevel[]{READ, WRITE};
 
     private final int id;
 
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGateway.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGateway.java
index 547cb8607bd..7b9d5b6bffc 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGateway.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGateway.java
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.EsExecutors.*;
  */
 public class LocalGateway extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<Gateway> implements Gateway, ClusterStateListener {
 
-    public static final ClusterBlock INDEX_NOT_RECOVERED_BLOCK = new ClusterBlock(3, "index not recovered (not enough nodes with shards allocated found)", ClusterBlockLevel.ALL);
+    public static final ClusterBlock INDEX_NOT_RECOVERED_BLOCK = new ClusterBlock(3, "index not recovered (not enough nodes with shards allocated found)", ClusterBlockLevel.READ_WRITE);
 
     private File location;