I wouldn't say that they're devoid of ethical meaning but rather that their ethical meaning might be unknown or can only be speculated, and whose understanding, in any event, is not pertinent to keeping the letter of the law, which is the central tenet. What you do is what's important, not what you believe or think or even what God thinks. Once His laws were given to humankind, they're out of His hands. There's even a famous story [1] in the Talmud where God argues with the Rabbis over Halakha, and the Rabbis tell God that what they say should prevail because Torah was given to man, and God concedes. From Wikipedia:

> [T]he work of law is a work of human activity, and... the Torah itself supports this legal theory. The Torah is not a document of mystery which must have its innate meaning revealed by a minority, but it is instead a document from which law must be created through the human activity of debate and consensus

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oven_of_Akhnai