Reply To: Understanding the reasons for mitzvos

DaasYochid, the Maharal (Chiddushei Aggados Chullin 91a) says the Avos only kept the positive commandments but not the negative ones, and the RamBam says in Iggros HaRambam that the Avos did not keep the mitzvos, but rather got to their lofty spiritual level by “having understood everything there is to understand in true wisdom and corrected themselves in every way.” Rav Osher Weiss explains this to mean that each mitzvah achieves a certain spiritual effect/tikun, but the Avos had the ability to be able to tap into creating these effects and tikkunim without necessarily performing the technical details of the mitzvah.

This would actually strengthen the question, because it would mean the the Avos were able to understand how to attain this level of holiness even without performing the mitzvos themselves, which would imply that there is a reason for doing the mitzvos beyond “Hashem said so”.

Also, I never said the Frum Rabbis reject mitzvos, rather, they often use the logic put forth by dafbiyun in his post in order to pasken shailos. Namely, if there is a halacha about something and someone is unsure of what to do in a particular case, a Rabbi will often determine whether or not the halacha applies in that case based on individual circumstances of that person. For example, a pregnant woman does not need to fast on many taanaisim because of Rabbis determining, through details of the halachos of fasting, that the individual circumstances of this woman make her exempt. It’s not, as you or dafbiyun said, “Abandoning” halacha or mitzvos. It is simply determining if a halacha or a mitzvah applies or not.

On a grander scale, though perhaps not under the precise realm of mitzvos or halachos but rather one of ideology, are the relatively recent phenomena of the Mussar movement, chasidic branches of Judaism, and Bais Yaakov education for girls. These were all enormous changes in the focus of Frum Judaism that were done as a result of changes in the cultural climate.