<div>I want to thank my friend Akiva Miller for his thoughtful reply. It is well done!</div>
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<div>Just a few additional comments:</div>
<div>He wrote:</div>
<div><br>"> If someone holds be down and forces me to eat a kazayit<br>> of treif, does that cause timtum halev, while if I<br>> voluntarily consume a minuscule amount it doesn't?</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div>> I would think that maybe the timtum caused by inadvertent<br>> consumption (or inadvertent failure to perform a particular<br>> mitzva correctly, such as wearing tefilin you didn't know<br>> where not kosher) is the fact that the person did not care<br>
> enough to be careful enough, which, therefore causes a<br>> chisaron in his neshama.</div>
<div>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?"</div>
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<div>D. Cohen: </div>
<div>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. </div>
<div>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. </div>
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<div>David I. Cohen</div>
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