{"id":12561,"date":"2025-12-17T15:33:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T15:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.kabbalah.info\/?post_type=book&#038;p=12561"},"modified":"2025-12-17T15:33:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T15:33:30","slug":"optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/","title":{"rendered":"466. Optional War and a War of\u00a0Mitzva\u00a0[Commandment]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>August 1982<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen you go to war.\u201d RASHI interpreted that it is optional. But concerning a war of&nbsp;<em>Mitzva<\/em>, it is written, \u201cYou shall not keep alive any soul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We should divide between \u201coptional war,\u201d when one engages in war against the inclination, and a war of&nbsp;<em>Mitzva<\/em>, where there is no thinking, meaning that a person does not need to introspect whether he is working&nbsp;<em>Lishma<\/em>&nbsp;[for Her sake] or&nbsp;<em>Lo<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Lishma<\/em>&nbsp;[not for Her sake].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is so because even an act of&nbsp;<em>Mitzva<\/em>, such as observing Shabbat [Sabbath], if a person has the power to force his neighbor not to desecrate the Shabbat, or he will deny him provision, and so forth, for which he would be observing Shabbat not because it is a&nbsp;<em>Mitzva<\/em>&nbsp;but because his neighbor forced him not to desecrate the Shabbat, in this, too, one must force his neighbor to observe the Shabbat. This is the meaning of \u201cYou shall not keep alive any soul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Conversely, in an optional war, meaning in things that are permitted, when it is neither a&nbsp;<em>Mitzva<\/em>&nbsp;nor a transgression, there is the work of&nbsp;<em>Lishma<\/em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>Lo Lishma<\/em>, to thereby see how much faith he has in observing something permitted in order to bestow. But when it concerns a war to do a&nbsp;<em>Mitzva<\/em>&nbsp;or a transgression, there are no calculations whatsoever, and we must observe the practices even without intentions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August 1982 \u201cWhen you go to war.\u201d RASHI interpreted that it is optional. But concerning a war of&nbsp;Mitzva, it is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6246,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"topic":[26],"class_list":["post-12561","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kabbalah | 466. Optional War and a War of\u00a0Mitzva\u00a0[Commandment]<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;Optional War and a War of Mitzva [Commandment]&quot; explores the distinction between voluntary conflict and divinely commanded actions in spiritual contexts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kabbalah | 466. Optional War and a War of\u00a0Mitzva\u00a0[Commandment]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;Optional War and a War of Mitzva [Commandment]&quot; explores the distinction between voluntary conflict and divinely commanded actions in spiritual contexts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kabbalah\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kabbalahinfo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/kabbalah-rep.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@kabbalahinfo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/\",\"name\":\"Kabbalah | 466. Optional War and a War of\u00a0Mitzva\u00a0[Commandment]\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-17T15:33:30+00:00\",\"description\":\"\\\"Optional War and a War of Mitzva [Commandment]\\\" explores the distinction between voluntary conflict and divinely commanded actions in spiritual contexts.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Books\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/book\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Assorted Notes\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/rabash-assorted-notes\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"466. Optional War and a War of\u00a0Mitzva\u00a0[Commandment]\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Kabbalah\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Kabbalah\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/favicon.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/favicon.png\",\"width\":49,\"height\":48,\"caption\":\"Kabbalah\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kabbalahinfo\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/kabbalahinfo\",\"http:\/\/youtube.com\/@kabbalahinfo\",\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/kabbalah.info\",\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/kabbalahedu\",\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@thehiddenreality\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kabbalah | 466. Optional War and a War of\u00a0Mitzva\u00a0[Commandment]","description":"\"Optional War and a War of Mitzva [Commandment]\" explores the distinction between voluntary conflict and divinely commanded actions in spiritual contexts.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kabbalah | 466. Optional War and a War of\u00a0Mitzva\u00a0[Commandment]","og_description":"\"Optional War and a War of Mitzva [Commandment]\" explores the distinction between voluntary conflict and divinely commanded actions in spiritual contexts.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/","og_site_name":"Kabbalah","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kabbalahinfo","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/kabbalah-rep.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@kabbalahinfo","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/","name":"Kabbalah | 466. Optional War and a War of\u00a0Mitzva\u00a0[Commandment]","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-17T15:33:30+00:00","description":"\"Optional War and a War of Mitzva [Commandment]\" explores the distinction between voluntary conflict and divinely commanded actions in spiritual contexts.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/optional-war-and-a-war-of-mitzva-commandment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Books","item":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/book\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Assorted Notes","item":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/rabash-assorted-notes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"466. Optional War and a War of\u00a0Mitzva\u00a0[Commandment]"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/","name":"Kabbalah","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#organization","name":"Kabbalah","url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/favicon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/favicon.png","width":49,"height":48,"caption":"Kabbalah"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kabbalahinfo","https:\/\/x.com\/kabbalahinfo","http:\/\/youtube.com\/@kabbalahinfo","http:\/\/instagram.com\/kabbalah.info","http:\/\/pinterest.com\/kabbalahedu","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@thehiddenreality"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/12561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/book"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/6246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=12561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}