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The
Abarbanel on the Yom Kippur Service
in the Beis Hamikdash
The
Scapegoat
Rendered into English
by Rabbi Elimelech Lepon
QUESTIONS:
7.How could the nation of Yisrael sacrifice a goat to Azazel,
whether Azazel is a name for the heavenly hosts (Ibn Ezra), or for the destructive angels (Ramban)? In both cases, it is clearly improper to offer
a sacrifice to Azazel, as it says, "He that
sacrifices to any god, other than to Hashem
alone, shall be utterly destroyed!" Furthermore, if this offering was
slaughtered to appease the prosecuting angel Samael
and to keep him from accusing, it raises another problem. "Behold, a
man's fate is up to Hashem" -- what effect
can a prosecutor have? Will Hashem heed the voice
of accusing angels? Is it not written, "He who puts his faith in Hashem shall be protected"?
8.Why did the Torah command
that the Kohen Gadol
cast lots upon the two goats; that they should be equal in appearance,
height, and cost; and that they should be purchased on the same day? Are Hashem and Azazel of equal
stature so that their sacrifices should be equal and chosen according to a
lottery? Wouldn't it suffice to bring a goat and put it aside, saying
"to Azazel," without casting lots and
equating the goats in this astounding manner?
9.Why did the Kohen Gadol confess the sins
of Yisrael on the scapegoat and not on the goat
of atonement that was sacrificed and whose blood was sprinkled in the Holy
of Holies? Moreover, he made two confessions on the bull and one on the
scapegoat, but on the goat of atonement there was no enumeration at all.
Indeed, the Rambam has written that sins and
offenses cannot be transferred from one person to another, so how can one's
sins be transferred onto the back of a goat
COMMENTARY:
The scapegoat (sair l'Azazel) is the third service of Yom
Kippur.
In my opinion the two goats represent Yaakov and Esav,
who were two brothers, sons of the same parents, twins born in the same
hour. Therefore, the goats were similar in all aspects. The Mishnah explains that they were goats (seirim)
because Esav my brother is a hairy man," and
Yaakov was the younger of the two -- the word "young" (tsair)
is interchangeable with the word "goat" (sair)
* In their
youth, Yaakov and Esav were indistinguishable (Midrash Rabbah 63:19, Tanchuma Ki Tetze 4)
The casting of lots showed that both were intrinsically equal in nature and
spiritual stature.* It was only through Hashem's
providence that Yaakov was designated for the inheritance of Hashem and Esav was removed
from serving and loving the Creator. As it says, "'I have loved you,'
says Hashem. Yet you say, 'In what have You loved
us?' 'Was not Esav Yaakov's brother?' says Hashem. 'Yet I loved Yaakov and Esav
I hated.'"The
casting of lots symbolized this idea as it says, "[Although] the lot
is cast into the lap, the [actual[ decision is
from Hashem."
The goat was destined to go to Hashem was
sacrificed on the altar, and its blood was brought into the Holy of Holies
and into the heichal,
just as Yaakov was separated because of his perfection and became worthy of
coming close to Hashem. He and his seed merit the
next world which is symbolized by entering the Holy of Holies
The scapegoat represented Esav. Esav is Edom, the bitter, powerful,
and evil force. This goat was exiled to the wilderness because when Esav was young he was a hunter, a man of the field. He
and his inheritance were pushed away from the inheritance of Hashem. As the prophet Malachi says, "I shall make
his hills desolate." Our Rabbis commented on the verse "And the
goat carried upon itself all their sins [avonotam]."
"The goat" refers to Esav, and "avonotam" can be read "avonot-tam,"
the sins (avonot)
of a perfect man (tam)
who was Yaakov.
It is clear that the scapegoat was not an offering to "Azazel." Consequently, it was not sacrificed on
the altar, but its fate was to be sent into exile, as far away as possible,
into a deserted land. This served as a prayer to Hashem
that thus should He treat His enemies, so they should not be prosecutors
against Yisrael and their seed not be an obstacle
and enemy against us
* As it
says, "Yaakov was a perfect man [ish
tam]" (Bereshis 25:27)
The Kohen Gadol's
confession of Yisrael's sins on the goat was
meant to instill fear in the soul of the people so that they repent, for by
this deed the Kohen Gadol
showed that the people's transgressions were not worthy of the seed of
Yaakov, but rather of the wicked Esav; that
defilement and sins should fall upon the seed of Esav.
Thus it says. "The goat that was destined for Azazel
will remain alive before Hashem to atone for it,
to send it away...."
This doesn't mean that Hashem will atone for Azazel or forgive its sins, but that the Kohen Gadol was to
"atone" upon it, that is, to confess upon it. Since confession
beings atonement, the confession itself is called atonement
Similarly, it is said concerning the bull for the sin offering of the Kohen Gadol that immediately
after it was taken, "it atoned for the Kohen
and his family." The Torah indicates that atonement took place before
the bull was slaughtered and before the blood was sprinkled. But how can
atonement be achieved before the sprinkling of the
blood? The "atonement" referred to here is actually confession
There is also no doubt that, although it is not mentioned in the Torah, the
Kohen confessed the sins of the children of Yisrael on the goat of atonement as well as on the
scapegoat, for every sin offering was accompanied by confession, as is
explained in tractate Zevachim
In my opinion, still another, more valuable interpretation can be offered.
Both goats represent aspects of the congregation of Yisrael.
Whey they are good and honest, following Hashem
and clinging to Him -- then they are offered "to Hashem."
The inner organs and sacrificial parts of the animal, representing Yisrael's innermost thoughts, are sacrificed on the
altar; the blood is brought into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on and in
front of the ark. All this symbolizes devotion to Hashem
and shows that the nation will merit the next world and will come under the
wings of the Divine Presence
Regarding this it is said, "One lot cast to Hashem,"
for a "lot" (goral)
refers to the reward given to a man according to his righteousness or
wickedness. The word goral
is used for reward in Daniel, "You go your way until the end comes,
for you shall rest and stand up for your allotted portion [goralcha]
at the end of days."How
can a lot cast at random be synonymous with the portion allotted to a man
as his deserved reward? This is because the decision of the lottery also
comes from Hashem's intervention and not by
chance
However, if the children of Yisrael are wicked
and sinful, not guarding the honor of the Beis Hamikdash, then their lot is to Azazel,
meaning far from Hashem. They become a shameless
nation and are forced into exile by the enemies. Azazel
is constructed from the words "az" (shameless)
and "azel"
(gone, dispersed). This connotes that the nation is sent away from its land
because it became devoid of shame. Their punishment in this world is to be
torn away from the land, to be far from the land, to be far from the
pleasure and light of the Divine Presence. All this is implied by the name Azazel; the shameless (az) will go (azel)
to everlasting destruction
The construction of the verses verifies my hypothesis. First it says,
"From the congregation of the children of Yisrael
he shall take two goats for a sin offering."
This indicates that they both represented the nation -- one for when they
are saintly and one for when they are sinful. Then it says, "And Aharon shall take the two goats and stand them before Hashem in the entrance to the tent of meeting."
Why would both goats, including the goat to be sent to Azazel,
need to be facing towards the Holy of Holies? This was as if to say to the
children of Yisrael: Look at the place of your
holiness. If you choose to listen, Hashem is
waiting to be gracious to you. And if you turn from Him, His hand will be
against you and He will send you away from His land. Similarly, "And Aharon shall place lots upon the two goats, one to Hashem and one to Azazel."
The goats were identical, for both represented the nation. Yet one lot
describes Divine reward, while the other expresses the opposite, when the
congregation sins
The correlation between the goats and the Jewish people is reinforced
again, "And Aharon sacrificed the goat which
had the lot to go for Hashem and made it a sin
offering."
This means that when the nation is with Hashem,
it will be drawn near to Him, dwelling in His land, serving in His Temple,
and taking pleasure in being beneath His throne of glory. However, the
other goat, which had the lot to go to Azazel,
symbolizes the people of Yisrael who had become
arrogant -- they shall be sent away into exile, as it says, "But the
goat, on which fell the lot for Azazel, will
remain alive before Hashem to atone over it, and
to send it to Azazel, to the wilderness."
How great is this utterance! It tells us the goat that represents the
sinful congregation of Yisrael will not perish in
exile, but will stay alive before Hashem. This
means that we will continue to keep our faith and fulfill the Torah until
the time comes, at the end of our dispersion, when we shall receive
atonement by having suffered such evil in exile.
Additionally, we can interpret the letter lamed in "lishalach" (to
send) to mean "from" instead of "to", as if it were a
letter mem,
reading "mishloach."
This usage is found in many other places. For example, :
"And Shlomo came from Bama
[leBama],
which was in Giveon, to Jerusalem."
Or, "[They] fled from the sound of them [lekolam]."
Or, "All vessels from gold [lezahav] and from
silver [lekesef]."
Or, "Blessed is Avram from G-d on high [leKel Elyon]."This
usage has been recognized by the Hebrew grammarians. According to this
interpretation, the verse is saying that the goat will remain alive before Hashem to receive atonement from, or because of, its being sent to the wilderness. This alludes to the
atonement the Jewish nation will receive as a result of its exile, which
will lead to redemption
Another way to understand the letter lamed
is that it means "for", a well-known usage of this letter. For example,
"And David asked for Yoav's well being [leshlom Yoav]."
Or, "Say for me[li], 'He is my
brother' " Or,
"And Pharoah will say for the Children of Yisrael [livnei
Yisrael]."According
to this interpretation the verse is saying that by being sent to Azazel, the goat will atone for the Jewish people. This
alludes to our exile, for exile atones for sin
The correlation between the goats and the Jewish people is reiterated once
again when it says, "And Aharon laid both
his hands on the live goat's head and confessed upon it all the sins of Yisrael, their rebellious acts and inadvertent
misdeeds, and put them on the head of the goat...."
Now why would he rest his hands on this goat and confess the sins of Yisrael if not that the goat represents Yisrael? Regarding this it is said, "He put them
on the head of the goat and sent it in the hand of an appointed man to the wilderness."This
symbolizes that the sins of Yisrael will be the
cause of their exile from the holy land, which will take place at the hand
of "an appointed man." Alluding to a powerful person of the time,
namely, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, who punished Yisrael.
To further hint at the exile, it is said, "And the goat carried upon
itself all their sins to a desolate [gezeirah] land." This
is the land to which it was decreed that they be exiled, which is like a
desolate desert when compared to Yisrael from
where they came.
This is clear what the two goats represent. They symbolize the people of Yisrael and all that is
in store for them: reward if they follow Hashem
and keep His Torah, the punishment of exile and the evil He decrees for
them when they transgress His covenant. It also shows what will come in the
end -- atonement and redemption. This answers questions 7, 8, and 9.
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