[Avodah] Making an Avodah Zarah out of it

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

Recently, someone quoted a friend as saying something about how doing
something for the wrong reason could constitute making the Mishna
Burah into an Avodah Zara. Or something like that, I don't remember
exactly, and I spent almost an hour trying to find the post, so that's
why I can't quote it.

Anyway, that person was wondering where the idea came from, and I
found the following in the current issue of Jewish Action, also
available online at
https://www.ou.org/jewish_action/06/2017/rabbis-son-syndrome-religious-struggle-world-religious-ideals/

> Love of Torah does not always translate into love of
> people — or even love of God. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
> caustically noted that increased religious observance is not
> always for the purpose of worshipping God, but rather
> sometimes it is for the sake of “worshipping the Shulchan Aruch.”

Akiva Miller