Q&A: The Disappearance of the Commandments
The Disappearance of the Commandments
Question
It seems that as time goes by, more and more commandments in the Torah are completely losing their practical relevance. Everything connected to the Temple and the priesthood has already been irrelevant for years, and apparently nobody really wants to return to a situation in which a caste of priests rules the people and is funded by donations. A lot of the laws concerning women, and almost all of Choshen Mishpat, are in practice not relevant today in any way, and also will not become relevant again. Agricultural laws are already implemented today mainly through various workarounds, and it seems possible that in the future they will disappear as traditional agriculture declines. The laws of kashrut may disappear with cultured meat, and of course in the same way there could be cultured milk and cultured vegetables, or perhaps synthetic food altogether. Doesn’t the disappearance of the commandments indicate that the Torah is not really eternal, and that its relevance to anything depends very heavily on specific times, norms, and technologies? Does it make sense to you that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave a Torah that is quickly losing its relevance?
Answer
The attack implied in saying that the priests rule the people is of course baseless. You can also say that you do not miss that without taking potshots.
As for Choshen Mishpat, some of it is relevant, and some of it could in principle become relevant again.
In general, indeed many of the laws will probably disappear and become irrelevant. So what? The eternity of the Torah is not connected to its actual implementation. Its eternity lies in the obligation, not in the implementation. Maimonides addressed this regarding the commandment to wipe out Amalek and the seven nations, where he discusses why he counts these commandments even though they are not relevant, and brings this distinction.
Perhaps this is the meaning of the saying of the Sages that the commandments will be nullified in the time to come (even if that is not what they meant, in any case it seems they are not disturbed by such a situation).