Sam2- I have always respected your erudition but,in the case of the army, talmud torah and pikuach nefesh, you are dead wrong. The gemoro in sottah is explicit, and the Rambam paskens that way: EVERYONE goes out to war when you defend Jewish lives (even money, as the Rambam says). The klal of ‘efshar laasos al jedei acher’ does not apply here.In any case, that klal is very circumscribed- you cannot use it for ‘mitzva shebegufo” (I will not put on tefillin because I am learning torah…). You may have an argument as to whether it is pikuach nefesh, whether the army has sufficient soldiers, but you cannot say ” I am learning, therefore I do not have to save Jewish lives”
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