PBA: You think Chazal and the Mechaber intended for us to do something that is K’ilu being Oved Avodah Zarah?
Yes. I do think so. As many of the poskim explicitly hold. And as you admitted Rav Yisroel held.
For an explanation of why chazal did this, I once saw an essay in the sefer ???? ???????? by Rav Dovid Leibowitz, who was a talmid of slabodka and founded yeshiva chofetz chaim.