24 Oct AN IDF UNIFORM’S “MITZVAH STAINS”

When we pray, we
talk to the King of
kings. In that spirit,
we should dress as
if we are meeting a
king (see Shulchan
Aruch, Orach Chaim
91:5). Most people today are not as
strict about this as they can be. It is
rare to find men who wear a suit and
tie for every prayer service — three
times a day — even though they
certainly would dress that way if they
would meet a king or other dignitary.
However, many make sure to wear at
least a jacket when praying.
I once forgot to bring my hat and
jacket to shul when I went to learn
at night. I only realized just before
Ma’ariv. I asked Rav Mordechai
Marcus zt”l whether I should run
home and get my hat and jacket, even
though I would end up davening
without a minyan. Does the rule to

dress properly override the desire to
pray with a minyan? Additionally,
if it is my minhag to wear a hat and
jacket for prayer, and a minhag is
binding as a vow, does that mean I am
biblically obligated to wear a hat and
jacket for prayer? This last argument
is suggested based on rulings of the
Chasam Sofer. Rav Marcus told me
that no, it is better to pray with a
minyan without a hat and jacket than
to pray alone with a hat and jacket. A
minhag does not override a halachah,
the Chasam Sofer notwithstanding.
I have since seen that Rav Shlomo
Zalman Auerbach (Halichos Shlomo,
Tefillah 2:15) and Rav Yosef Shalom

Elyashiv (quoted in Tefillah Ke-
Hilchasah, ch. 7 n. 80) rule likewise.

What should a soldier do if he is just
back from an operation or an exercise
and his uniform is dirty? Should
he change into a clean uniform and
miss the minyan or pray with a dirty

uniform? In a short book
on army uniforms, titled
Hilchos Madei Tzahal (p.
36), Rav Shlomo Aviner
answers that ideally a
soldier should change his
uniform. However, if he
is unable to do so then
he should pray as he is
because the dirt, the stains,
are “mitzvah stains.”
The book’s editor, Rav
Mordechai Tzion, quotes
a short entry from Rav Aharon
Ziegler’s Halachic Positions of Rav
Joseph B. Soloveitchik that was
published on Torah Musings, July
31, 2014. Rav Soloveitchik was
once asked by a student serving in
the IDF whose job was cleaning and
maintaining tanks whether he had to
change his clothes before praying
Minchah. Rav Soloveitchik replied,
“Why would you need to change?
You are wearing bigdei Kodesh,
holy clothes!”
Rav Tzion further quotes an
amazing passage from Rav
Yitzchak Zilberstein’s introduction
to his Chashukei Cheimed on

Eruvin. Rav Zilberstein’s father-
in-law, Rav Yosef Shalom

Elyashiv, once got his clothes dirty
while searching for chametz. One
of the grandsons came to wipe off
the dirt, knowing how strongly
his grandfather felt about wearing
clean clothes. Rav Elyashiv
stopped him, saying that this was
a “mitzvah stain.” Just like the
Gemara (Pesachim 65b) praises
the priests who got dirty from
the blood of sacrifices, so too we
should be proud to get dirty from
doing mitzvos.
Rav Zilberstein continues that
presumably this thinking also
applies to a rabbi who dirties his
clothing while checking and fixing
the local eruv. Often, that involves
walking in mud and climbing up
poles. While normally a rabbi

must be careful not to wear dirty or
stained clothing, this does not apply
to dirt and stains from checking an
eruv. Rav Zilberstein also quotes
his brother-in-law, Rav Chaim
Kanievsky, who applied this to
someone painting a shul. Even if his
clothing gets dirty with paint, he can
pray in that dirty clothing because
the stains come from the mitzvah of
beautifying a shul.
So, too, suggests Rav Tzion, a
soldier in a uniform that is dirty from
IDF activity. Because the soldier is
engaged in a mitzvah, the dirty on
his uniform is a “mitzvah stain” just
like someone checking for chametz,
fixing an eruv or painting a shul.
Perhaps, I suggest, even more so,
because the soldier is engaged in
piku’ach nefesh, saving lives, which
is so great a mitzvah that it overrides
all other mitzvos. While it is always
best to wear clean clothing when
praying, it is perfectly acceptable to
pray while wearing an IDF uniform
with “mitzvah stains.”