[Avodah] is it better to do a vaday mitzva

[saul mashbaum]

The Encyclopedia Talmudit indeed cites the principle "chalitza b'makon yibum eina mitzvah" (regarding yibum for chayvei lavim), and then says  "not that chalitza is not a mitzvah *at all* (kol ikkar), but it is not the preferred mitzva in the face of yibum." The footnote cites the Tashbetz. This is what I have been saying all along (before seeing it in the ET). It seems that some may disagree, but the quoted statement seems to be the predominant one. 
In Kovetz Shiurim  Ktuvot siman 214,  REBWasserman hy"d brings a proof to each side of the question if chalitza is a matir, like get, or a mitzva kiyumit. He does not decide the issue.
It seems to me that even if chalitza is "only" a matir, the fact that in the 5 yavam case each yavam did chalitza ktikuna, and was matir his yevama (although indeed we do not know which one she is) constitutes enough of a mitzva to distinguish the yibum case from the one in which by following a certain procedure one may not be doing any mitzva at all, like going to a city with a shofar where there is a safek if one can get to on time, thus running the risk that no mitzva of any kind will be done.
Saul Mashbaum
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