Q&A: Commandments That Are Not Carried Out
Commandments That Are Not Carried Out
Question
I read your responsum https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%d7%a1%d7%aa%d7%99%d7%a8%d7%94-%d7%91%d7%99%d7%9F-%d7%94%d7%AA%d7%95%d7%A8%D7%94-%d7%95%d7%94%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%A8.
Regarding commandments such as wiping out Amalek, "they are cast down but not brought up," and so on, you wrote: "In my view they are valid, but in practice most of them will not be carried out (just as they were not carried out in the past)."
So what, then, is the meaning of these commandments? Is this God's will, which we are uncomfortable with, and therefore we find a way to evade it? Or does the Holy One, blessed be He, want us to evade it—and if so, why command it in the first place?
Answer
There are halakhic instructions whose purpose is declarative / educational (such as the stubborn and rebellious son, or the idolatrous city, according to the opinion that they never were and never will be). This requires further elaboration, and perhaps I will do so soon.
Beyond that, it is possible that under certain circumstances these instructions are meant to be carried out in practice (for example, in the past, when the rules of the morality of war were different).