• One who intends to perform a mitzvah, but an accident happens and he cannot accomplish the mitzvah, is regarded as if he did the mitzvah.
  • Some mefarshim say that he only gets rewarded in the World to Come, but not in this world, since this is a world of actions. Others explain it differently.
  • The Meiri in Shabbos (63a) says that he receives complete reward.
  • The Sifri (15:10) states that one who intends to perform a mitzvah and does it, he receives reward for his intentions and his actions; however, one who intends to do a mitzvah, but an accident happens and he cannot accomplish the mitzvah, receives reward for the intention as if he has performed the mitzvah. It would seem that he does not receive reward for both, the intention and the action. The Gaon's version is that he receives reward only for the intention.