[Avodah] Timtum halev

[Beth & David Cohen]

I want to thank my friend Akiva Miller for his thoughtful reply. It is well
done!

Just a few additional comments:
He wrote:

"> If someone holds be down and forces me to eat a kazayit
> of treif, does that cause timtum halev, while if I
> voluntarily consume a minuscule amount it doesn't?
Well, given that "chetzi shiur assur min haTorah", voluntarily consuming a
minuscule amount WILL cause timtum to a small degree. Whether it is smaller
than your example of oness, or not quite as small, is far above my pay
scale.
> I would think that maybe the timtum caused by inadvertent
> consumption (or inadvertent failure to perform a particular
> mitzva correctly, such as wearing tefilin you didn't know
> where not kosher) is the fact that the person did not care
> enough to be careful enough, which, therefore causes a
> chisaron in his neshama.
I totally agree that in such a case, the causes and effects are exactly as
you describe. But what would you say about a case where a person *did* care
enough, and *was* very careful, but stumbled nevertheless? Even the very
best of hechsherim is not perfect; if someone totally innocently ate such
food, and it turned out to be treif, would you say that it is not m'tamtem
his lev even a tiny bit? What about someone whose tefillin had been checked
over the years by a dozen expert sofrim, and only decades later was it
discovered that an entire word was missing; Hashem can give him all sorts of
credits for trying, but do you think that he'll really get full credit as if
the word had been there all along?"

D. Cohen:
I would have to say, yes, if you have done everything that the halacha
demands of you, with the required intention and attention to detail, with
the required care, then, if circumstances occur it has no effect on your
neshama. i would hold that we combine correct actions with correct intention
to affect our neshamot. A totally inadvertent, unknowing, accidental swallow
of treif should have no effect.
I would concede that emotionally the knowledge that there's treif in what I
ate might cause a visceral reaction, I might want to run and vomit. But
doesn't that contradict those who claim my attitude towards the forbidden is
that, if not for the command of HKBH it is very desirable.

David I. Cohen
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