Aharei-Mot-Kedoshim (Leviticus 16:1-20:27)
OVERVIEW
Acharei Mot begins "after the death" of Aaron's son Nadav and Abihu and proceeds with a lengthy elucidation of the laws of Yom Kippur, directed to Aaron and the priests. The service is described, including the sequence of sacrificial offering, ritual purification, expiation, and the sending of the "scapegoat" into the wilderness. Further rules are then given about offerings, including the prohibition against the consumption of blood, and other dietary laws. Finally, the parashah presents a list of forbidden sexual relationships, concluding with the general prohibition against following the abhorrent practices of other nations.
IN FOCUS
Aaron shall take the two he-goats and let them stand before the Eternal at the entrance to the tent of Meeting, and he shall place lots upon the two goats, one marked for the Eternal and one marked for Azazel. Aaron shall bring forth the goat designated by lot for the Eternal, which he is to offer as a sin-offering, while the goat designated by lot for Azazel shall be left standing alive before the Eternal, to make expiation with it and to send it off to the wilderness for Azazel. (Leviticus 16:7-10)
PSHAT
The opening chapters of this parashah present the rituals commanded to be observed by Aaron the High Priest in the Mishkan on Yom Kippur. Since Yom Kippur is the most important and holiest day of the year, it is critically important that these rituals be observed properly. When Aaron enters the innermost sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, he is instructed to bring a bull as a sin offering for himself and his household. He is also to bring an offering on behalf of the people of Israel, and for this offering he is instructed to bring two male goats. After offering his bull, Aaron is to stand at the entrance of the sanctuary where he is to mark one of the goats "for God" and the other "for Azazel". This latter goat is the famous scapegoat, appointed to be the bearer of the sins and misdeeds of the people. The goat designated for God is offered up in the sanctuary as a sin offering. The other goat is not slaughtered, but rather is sent off to carry away the sins of the people into the wilderness.
DRASH
So what (or who) is Azazel? Our tradition has always asked this question, and has responded with many different interpretations. This passage, which W. Gunther Plaut refers to in his U.A.H.C. Torah Commentary as "The most embarrassing feature of the ancient ritual [of Yom Kippur]...," is curious at best and seems so "un-Jewish" in so many ways.
Read on one literal level, Azazel seems to be simply the name of the place to where the goat is being sent. The idea is that this goat, loaded with the sins of the people, is sent off to some distant place, never to return, thus freeing the people of their sins as part of the process of repentance. The exact location of Azazel is uncertain, if indicated at all, but some commentators make a parallel between the word Azazel and the phrase, "A land which is cut off" (Lev.16:22), which follows shortly after in the Torah text. The classical commentator Rashi supported this idea as well, borrowing from the Talmud (Yoma 63b) in reading Azazel as a compound of 'azuz ("strong") and el ("hard"), indicating a a towering peak or a precipitous rock in the desert. This also harmonises with the actual practise during the Second Temple when the scapegoat was take to a cliff and pushed over.
But another literal reading makes it seem that Azazel is not a somewhere, but a someone. Clearly, in the ritual of designating which goat is which, one goat is marked "For God" and the other "For Azazel." It would seem then that Azazel is some force or power that stands in contrast to God. This might make sense in the context of the times, when the Israelites, surrounding by paganistic and polytheistic cultures were influenced by their practises. It was the widespread belief that the wilderness was the habitat of demons (see Leviticus 17:7) and it would have seemed natural to banish sins back to their evil source. Several late midrashim and the apocryphal Book of Enoch (composed in the pre-Christian era) also associate Azazel with Azzael and Uzza, leaders of the angels who desired the human women in a retelling of a story found in Genesis 6:1-4. These accounts credit these rebel angels with introducing wickedness to humanity. The goat then, again, can been seen to carry the sins back to the source of sin.
But the idea of an evil force that stands opposed to God is profoundly uncomfortable for most streams of our tradition, so other commentators sought other answers. Maimonides stated that the scapegoat is an active allegory meant to make the sinner understand that sin will ultimately lead the sinner to a wasteland. Abravanel sees the two goats as reminders of the conflicting character of Jacob and Esau. Jacob, who remained in the camp, was marked "for God," while Esau was a brute hunter, destined to wander the wilderness.
We may never know the truth about Azazel, and, thankfully, the ritual itself ceased to be practised with the destruction of the Temple. The only remnant that remains today is the somewhat controversial practise of Kapparot, a custom practised in some traditional communities where, just before Yom Kippur, a fowl is swung three times around the head and then slaughtered, as a way of purging oneself of sin. It is doubtful whether, even in biblical times, our tradition actually believed that one could purge oneself of sins by transmitting them to another (the goat). However, the concept of the scapegoat still regrettably exists in our society today. In common usage, the English term "scapegoat" refers to someone whom others blame, and often persecute, for their own misfortunes. It has to be noted though, that in its original form here in Leviticus, the goat destined for Azazel was acknowledged just as a symbol, and was sent away accompanied by the community's acknowledgement of their own sins, and their continued efforts for repentance.
