[Avodah] Timtum halev

[Beth & David Cohen]

"(He answers that the spiritual gains in obeying the mitzva of following
the Sages counteracts the harmful consequences of the rare instances
where the Sages may be wrong.) The point relevant to this discussion is
the Ran's presumption that anything forbidden (things or actions)
carries direct spiritual damage regardless of intent. Also relevant, of
course, is the role of innocent intent (if one may generalize from
intent of following the Sages--maybe not?) of counteracting the damage.
Zvi Lampel"

This then would seem to come down to the ultimate question as to the purpose
of mitzvot.
If the purpose is perfect us spiritually and bring us as close as possible
to Hashem, then totally inadvertent non or incorrect performance of a mitzva
should have no effect on the realization of that goal.
Perhaps, what (I have called) the mechanistic interpretation of timtum halev
really says that in the real world there is no such thing as totally
inadvertent.
However, I still have trouble with the non-Jewish wet nurse. Perhaps, since
the parents are responsible for the aveirot of a child, they're lev is
somehow affected by the child's ingestion of milk that stemmed from treifot.
Frankly, I am not convinced by my own hypothesis.

Shabbat shalom
David I. Cohen
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