Jewish loopholes

Researching the siyum post (below) I came across an old OrthoMom entry (find it here) in which the famously frum mother discusses the siyum loophole. She makes some good point. In the comments, though, Enigma4u broadens the discussion:

While you were enjoying your carnivorous meal during the Nine Days, you should have gone all out and allowed yourself a glass of whiskey, preferably one that is chametz which was sold to a non-Jew over Pesach. I hope you also had some Israeli pickles with your hamburger, probably ones that grew during a Sh’mitta year in a Jewish-owned farm which was temporarily sub-leased to an Arabin order not to transgress the laws of Sh’mitta. I’m assuming you haven’t been negligent about your personal hygiene this week; Halakha clearly states that one should not bathe this week, but loopholes such as the one you’re using to avoid feeling and smelling like a homeless person were invented to make this decree more bearable. While you’re benefiting from halakhic loopholes, enjoy the rising interest rates your CD is earning at your Jewish-owned bank.

Halakha is replete with loopholes because reforms are an integral part of any social system which seeks to stay viable. The issue that I have is that Orthodoxy refuses to acknowledge loopholes as necessary reforms, thereby making it an obsolete system for today’s life..... [and she continues in a subsequent comment] All of the loopholes I listed (and many which I didn't - Pruzbul is one -) were established centuries ago and adopted by mainstream Orthodoxy; Contemporary Orthodoxy has stubbornly impaled itself deep in the dark ages, refusing to adapt to the needs of evolving society. It has effectively disabled its only means of maintaining viability by closing the books on any changes necessary in am ever-changing world. Orthodoxy is unable to help itself out of this miserable position because it dictates that no changes be made since its adherents have decided that Chazal are the only ones allowed to tamper with its set of laws. Since Chazal are no longer with us, Orthodoxy has closed the books on any necessary alterations.

In practical terms this means that although women in general society have been making great strides in reaching equality, Orthodoxy continues to serve as an insurmountable obstacle to this goal. It also means that Orthodoxy has remained with stone-written Halakhot which are racist, sexist, xenophobic, cruel and unusual, with no means to excise them other than offering the rehashed apologetics to reconcile them with modern thinking.

As I said at the time:

The loopholes to which Enigma objects certainly exist, and Orthodox Judaism would be stronger is we would just admit it already and get over ourselves. Orthodoxy benefits from changes in law and practice, without admitting that these changes in the law and practice have occur ed. That's fundamentally dishonest. (and yes, of course Orthodoxy doesn't change law and practice as promiscuously as Reform and (to a lesser extent) conservatives do, but it happens, and we gain nothing by pretending otherwise.