INTENT BY A MITZVAH

They sent to the father of Shmuel a halachah that if the Persians forced someone to eat matzah on Pesach night, he has fulfilled his obligation. Rava states that this would indicate that one who blows a shofar on Rosh Hashanah for the purpose of playing a song (or to chase away evil spirits ) and not for the sake of the mitzvah has fulfilled his obligation. The Gemora states that there is a distinction between the two cases. Perhaps one needs proper intent in order to fulfill the mitzvah and he will not have discharged his obligation by shofar but by matzah, he has. The reason offered in the Gemora is that by matzah, even though he was coerced, he nonetheless ate the matzah and derived pleasure from it. The fact that he derived benefit from the matzah attributes the eating to him even though he did not have proper intention for the mitzvah. The Gemora states that it appears from here that Rava would maintain that mitzvos do not require intent in order to fulfill the mitzvah. The Gemora qualifies this ruling that even if one can fulfill the mitzvah without intending to, he must know that a shofar is being blown and it was not merely the braying of a donkey. (28a – 28b)