But Rabbi Eleazar said: "Those sent [to perform] a religious duty do not suffer harm"! — Said Rav Ashi: "He may have lost a needle and come to look for it." ... "Where the injury is probable it is different"
In discussing searching holes for leaven, the gemara says that one is exempt because of danger. But surely those in the process of doing a mitzvah are protected by God's aegis, says Rabbi Eleazar. Surely someone actively engaged in doing God's will is safe from accidental injury!
This viewpoint seems rather naive, albeit appealing. We know that anyone can suffer harm, even in the process of doing the greatest of mitzvot. The gemara in Chullin 142a, for example, has a striking story of the origin of Elisha ben Avuya's heresy, when he sees a boy obeying his father's command to send away the mother bird before taking the eggs, that tragically falls to his death. Not only was this boy fulfilling two mitzvot, but these are two mitzvot that the torah promises long life for. Our naive sense that God looks after someone doing a mitzvah just does not cohere with the universe as we experience it.
But the gemara offers us two ways of holding this view, while trying to reconcile it with the messy world where even those doing mitzvot suffer. Rav Ashi suggests that no one can guarantee they are exclusively doing a mitzvah. Other motivations always creep into your mind, self-centred or even selfish thoughts may lie behind even the most important of mitzvot, leaving one vulnerable.
The Talmud later limits the principle still further, stating that when injury is likely, the principle doesn't apply at all.
It seems to me that the Talmud wants us to hold the principle as a serious one, as a motivator to take some risks for the sake of fulfilling mitzvot. Take risks, have faith in God! Chase after the mitzvot! But don't be stupid about it. The world is still a dangerous place, and there is still danger out there.
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