A Transgression for Its Own Sake Is Greater Than a Mitzvah Not Done for Its Own Sake

A transgression committed with the intent of fulfilling a commandment or for some noble purpose is equivalent to performing a mitzvah without proper intent.

("Ulla said: Tamar committed fornication, songs of fornication; Tamar committed fornication—kings and prophets descended from her; songs of fornication—tens of thousands of Israel fell upon him. Rabbi Natan bar Yitzchak said: A transgression for its own sake is greater than a mitzvah not for its own sake" (Nazir 23b). And similarly: "As a result of it, there is one who does it for the sake of transgression, and there are those who sometimes do it for the sake of a mitzvah. And this is what they said: A transgression for its own sake is greater than a mitzvah not for its own sake. From where do we know this? From Yael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, as it is said, 'Between her feet he bowed down and fell,' and they did not suspect her (they were suspicious of her that she did it) for the sake of transgression" (Beit HaBechira to Meiri, Masechet Horayot 10b).)

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