In this teshuva, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach deals with the question of whether or not doing a mitzva without kavana invalidates the performance of that mitzva. Specifically, he wonders whether someone who eats in a succah but lacks kavana for the mitzva is considered to have eaten outside of the succah, or if someone who wears tzitzit without having kavana for the mitzva is considered as if he failed to wait tzitzit on that garment. Along the way, he raises further possible ramifications, such as whether one would violate the prohibition of kilayim if he wore wool tzitzit on a linen garment (which is normally permitted for the mitzva) without having kavana to fulfill the mitzva. After analyzing the question through the perspective of other mitzvot, such as affixing a mezuza to one's door, slaughtering an animal, and putting a fence around one's roof, Rav Auerbach concludes that while one who wears tzitzit without having kavana for the mitzva does not fulfill the mitzva, he also does not violate a lo ta'aseh, where one who sits in a succah with having kavana for the mitzva may be in violation of something since there is the additional requirement of teishvu k'ein taduru.
In the second section of this teshuva, Rav Auerbach determines that if one loses kavana during a mitzva he can still fulfill the mitzva. His main focus is on someone who is saying Shema or Shemoneh Esrei and his mind wanders. While he wants to say that it does not count, based on the halacha that someone who is not sure which u'chtavtam he is up to can continue with Shema if he instinctively says l'ma'an yirbu (since we assume that that is where he was up to), he infers that it counts at least b'diavad. However, if someone is listening to someone else make a bracha or say a tefilla, he can only fulfill his obligation if he listens to the entire thing.
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