Observation: Difficulties in the IDF for the Religious Don’t Negate Their Duty to Serve
Dr. Aaron Lerner 18 December 2025

Someone shared this article with me:

“The IDF Doesn’t Want Chareidim; It Wants to Re‑Educate Them,” Noam Chairman Says
The Yeshiva World December 15, 2025
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2486186/the-idf-doesnt-want-chareidim-it-wants-to-re%E2%80%91educate-them-noam-chairman-says.html

I posted my observation in the comments section following the article: (posting times are apparently USA)

DR_AARON_LERNER says:
December 16, 2025 2:55 pm at 2:55 pm
If this were any other mitzvah which secular elements made harder for religious Jews to carry out I am certain that Noam Party chairman MK Avi Maoz would be among the first to call on religious Jews to overcome the obstacles to perform the mitzvah.

That’s the bottom line.

I am proud that my children and nephews all carried out the mitzvah of serving in this latest war.

Someone responded:
coffee addict says:
December 16, 2025 7:17 pm at 7:17 pm
“If this were any other mitzvah which secular elements made harder for religious Jews to carry out I am certain that Noam Party chairman MK Avi Maoz would be among the first to call on religious Jews to overcome the obstacles to perform the mitzvah.“

Ever heard of a Mitzva Habaah BeAveira

I guess you didn’t learn that when you became a doctor

I replied:

DR_AARON_LERNER says:
December 17, 2025 2:45 am at 2:45 am
Thank you for raising the issue. The principle you are referring to — often rendered as “a mitzvah that comes through a transgression” — is indeed a genuine concept in Jewish law, but its scope is frequently misunderstood.

The Talmud (Sukkah 30a) establishes that a stolen lulav is invalid because the act of theft is inseparable from the performance of the mitzvah. Maimonides codifies this explicitly in Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Shofar, Sukkah v’Lulav, chapter 8, where he lists stolen items among the four species that are invalid for the mitzvah, with related disqualifications discussed in the surrounding halachot.

Crucially, this rule applies only where the mitzvah itself is performed through an inherent wrongdoing. It does not apply where external difficulties, burdens, or sacrifices make fulfilling a mitzvah harder.

Jewish tradition consistently teaches the opposite principle: hardship does not negate a mitzvah but can enhance its value — “the reward is according to the effort” (Ethics of the Fathers 5:23).

Accordingly, many leading authorities classify the defense of the Jewish people as a milchemet mitzvah (obligatory war), following Maimonides (Hilchot Melachim 5:1), a category that obligates participation precisely because of its necessity.

Jewish law therefore draws a clear distinction between:

A mitzvah invalidated because it is inseparable from wrongdoing, and

A mitzvah that remains binding — and even elevated — when fulfilling it entails real sacrifice.

That distinction is well grounded in the classical sources.

[Since then no comments have followed]
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