<p>"(He answers that the spiritual gains in obeying the mitzva of following<br>the Sages counteracts the harmful consequences of the rare instances<br>where the Sages may be wrong.) The point relevant to this discussion is<br>
the Ran's presumption that anything forbidden (things or actions)<br>carries direct spiritual damage regardless of intent. Also relevant, of<br>course, is the role of innocent intent (if one may generalize from<br>intent of following the Sages--maybe not?) of counteracting the damage.</p>
<div>Zvi Lampel"</div>
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<div>This then would seem to come down to the ultimate question as to the purpose of mitzvot.</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div>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. </div>
<div>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.</div>
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<div>Shabbat shalom</div>
<div>David I. Cohen</div>