Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5780

The Lair of Azazel

The generation of the Deluge learned the ways of evil from the fallen angel Azazel. He taught men how to make deadly weapons and women how to arouse the desires of men. They followed his teachings until the whole earth became corrupt. Therefore, at the time of the Deluge, God commanded the angel Raphael to bind Azazel hand and foot and cast him into the darkness. Therefore Raphael made a hole in the desert Dudael, beyond the Mountains of Dakrness, and cast Azazel there, chained upside down in the dark..

From there, Azazel did not repent, but was consumed by thoughts of revenge. Using the power of dreams, he sought out an evil sorcerer, and commanded him to come to him. First this sorcerer had to find his way to the Mountains of Darkness. There he was met by a demon in the shape of a cat, with the head of a fiery serpent, and two tails. The magicians then took a bowl containing the ashes of a white [rooster], and cast the ashes at the catlike demon. Then the demon led him to the place where Azazel was chained. There he lit incense and stepped on the chain of Azazel three times. Then he closed his eyes, fell to his knees, and worshipped the fallen angel. That is when Azazel began to speak, revealing the darkest mysteries for fifty days. By then there was none among the living with a greater mastery of evil. Bowing farewell, the evil sorcerer was led out of the Mountains of Darkness by the catlike demon with the head of a fiery serpent. He, in turn, revealed the secret of where Azazel was hidden to other sorcerers, who sought out the fallen angel, and were tutored by him in the ways of evil. Thus did the black arts make their way into the world.

(Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls)

Covenant & Conversation Acharei Mot 5779

[Why are the two animals required to be as similar as possible to one another?]

Presumably, these elements were designed to inspire feelings of awe and penitence on the part of the crowds that thronged the Temple on the holiest day of the year, but how and in what way?

Over the centuries, the Sages sought to decipher the mystery. Two animals, alike in appearance but different in fate, suggests the idea of twins. This and other clues led the Midrash, the Zohar, and classic commentators such as Nahmanides and Abarbanel to the conclusion that in some sense, the two goats symbolised the most famous of all the Torah’s twins: Jacob and Esau.

There are other clues too. The word se’ir, “goat,” is associated in the Torah with Esau. He and his descendants lived in the land of Seir. The word se’ir is related to sei’ar, “hairy,” which is how Esau was born: “his whole body was like a hairy garment” (Gen. 25:25). When Rebecca urged Jacob to pretend to be Esau in order to take Isaac’s blessing, Jacob said, “My brother Esau is a hairy [sa’ir] man while I have smooth skin” (Gen. 27:11). According to the Mishnah, a red thread was tied to the scapegoat, and “red” (Edom) was Esau’s other name. So there was a tradition that the scapegoat in some way symbolised Esau. Azazel, the mysterious place or entity for which the goat was intended, was Samael, Esau’s guardian angel.

In particular, the phrase “two kids of the goats,” shnei se’irei izim, mentioned in the High Priest’s rites, reminds us of the very similar expression, “two kids of the goats,” shnei gedi’ei izim, mentioned in Genesis 27, the scene of Jacob’s deception. Isaac had asked Esau to catch him some wild game and prepare him a meal so that he could bless him. Rebecca tells Jacob to “Go out to the flock and bring me two choice kids of the goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, the way he likes it. Such verbal parallels are not coincidental in the Torah. They are part of its sustained intertextuality, its finely woven prose in which one verse sheds light on another.

So the two goats of the High Priest’s service evoke in multiple ways the figures of Jacob and Esau, and specifically the scene in which Jacob pretended to be Esau, dressing in his clothes so that he would feel and smell like his brother. It was then, answering his father’s question, “Who are you, my son?” that Jacob said the words, “I am your firstborn Esau,” leading Isaac to say, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau” (Gen. 27:22).