Conscription in a Milchemet Mitzvah (Obligatory War)
„It appears that the tribe of Levi does not wage war, that is, a private war, as it may happen that one tribe wages war for its own inheritance... But when all of Israel goes out to war, they too are obligated to go out. And a war of all Israel is itself the service of God, so that whoever is more dedicated to the service of God belongs to it more than the rest of the people.”From Shabbat HaAretz 13:12
In an obligatory war (milchemet mitzvah) there is no special law for the tribe of Levi, and no exemption for any individual. 'In an obligatory war all go out, even a groom from his chamber and a bride from her canopy,' and so it is made clear, as with the law of saving life, that when the people of Israel fights for its existence there is no special law for anyone. This is unlike wars abroad, wars for the benefit of other nations, and wars within Israel whose aim is expanding borders, taking wealth, and the like, wars that are not existential. Rav Kook even expands the matter: in an obligatory war (a war in which we are engaged day by day, as our soldiers defend our lives), those who should serve more than all others are the Torah scholars who are scrupulous in the commandments, exactly as we would expect them to be the first to every existential mitzvah.
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