 “Aharon shall place lots upon the two he-goats: one lot ‘for Hashem” (a sin offering) and one lot ‘for Azazel’.” “Aharon shall lean his two hands upon the head of the living he-goat and confess upon it all the … sins
(Israel’s) … upon the head of the he-goat, and send it with a designated man to the desert. The he-goat will bear upon itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land (eretz g’zeiroh – see note 3) …”
The man would take the goat to the high cliff and “push it backwards and (it) would tumble down and it would not reach halfway down the mountain before it was torn limb from limb.”
“(He) would push it off the rocky cliff and it would tumble downward; its bones would be smashed like crushed earthenware.”
One can’t help but wonder at all this which seems like, G-d forbid, wanton cruelty. The answer is, “You shall observe My statutes (decrees). This refers to matters that one’s inclination for bad challenges one
such as not to eat pork, not to wear shaatnez
… sending the he-goat over the cliff. Perhaps you will say these are empty acts. The Torah, therefore, states ‘I am Hashem’ – I Hashem decreed them and you have no permission to question them.”
This is the ultimate answer. Nevertheless, one may attempt to understand them, as we shall soon see from the Ramban, yet always keeping in mind the above ultimate answer.
On Korbanos in General
Although there are various korbanos not depending on chait (sin), for our purposes here we will delve into just this aspect. Seforim (books) state that man is of body and soul (guf and neshamah). An animal is only guf (this includes various instincts). When a person is chotei (sins), it is because of his physical aspect. When a person brings a korban on his chait, the concept is that he himself is liable for the death penalty for transgressing the King’s law. However, the korban, which is only guf, is the exchange, substitute and atonement for the person’s guf.
A korban is only for one chait and only inadvertently. If one committed two or three chato’im, he must bring two or three korbanos. If he did a chait on purpose, then a korban does not even help.
How much more so, therefore, the so’ir on Yom Kippur which atones for the whole nation for all their chato’im, be they few or many and even for those committed knowingly. The atonement needed is much more encompassing and severe.
A Deeper Concept
While the above is true, in actuality the concept strikes much deeper. “Therefore, they would give Saam
a “bribe”
on Yom Kippur that he should not attempt to nullify their korbanos to Hashem
… thereafter, (the bribe) Saam sees that they (Israel) do no sins on Yom Kippur he, therefore, says to Hashem … ‘You have one nation who is like the heavenly angels on Yom Kippur … Hashem hears these words from Israel’s ‘accuser’ and judges accordingly.”
What Does All This Mean?
Now, Yom Kippur is a Day of Judgment for the whole year. How does someone as clever
as Saam allow himself to be taken in by how one is on Yom Kippur? The truth is that “at first the soton (Saam) wanted to nullify their sacrifice” as above (see note 13). However, “…(a) bribe will blind the eyes of the wise …”
He, therefore, now testifies to the merit of Israel.
Before going further to the crux of the matter, we need to clear up one aspect. We do not offer the “bribe” on our own. That would be idolatry. We do it because it is a mitzvah in the Torah. (See later.)
The Crux of the Matter
The main point here is that one can only give a bribe of something that the “bribee” desires and lusts after. If one wishes to bribe a horse to run faster, he doesn’t offer it money or diamonds. He offers it hay (I think). If one wants to bribe a person, he doesn’t offer him hay, but money or diamonds. Chazal (the Sages) tell us that the enticer to do wrong (the yetzer hora) is the same entity as the soton, who is the same entity as the Malach Hamoves (the Angel of Death).
This means that, so to speak, the enticer appears as a “friend” showing a person all the wonderful benefits and pleasures he would have if he only did this or that. “What’s so bad?” If the person allows himself to be seduced, the yetzer hora immediately goes “upstairs” and becomes the accuser, demanding retribution in the worst possible way against the person. If he wins his case he becomes the Malach Hamoves, or of pain, and extracts it from the person whom he enticed, with the utmost glee.
This is what the Torah wants us to see and know. When the so’ir (he-goat) is shattered on the rocks and torn limb from limb, it is because the Torah wants us to know that this is indeed a bribe – meaning this is what Saam (the soton) desires and lusts. Except that he really wants you, not the goat. Keep that in mind when he first entices. Afterwards might be too late. This is the lesson. This is what one needs desperately to know and understand. This is why we have to see and know what cruelty happens to the goat. Be aware! Be forewarned!
Why Animals Eat Other Animals
With this we can understand something else. Why should a benevolent G-d create a nature wherein animals tear apart and eat (alive or dead) other animals, e.g. tigers and deer? In fact they are forced to do so to stay alive.
However, this nature only happened after Odom’s (Adam) chait (sin). That is when evil came into the world and nature changed.
This nature has the same purpose as the “bribe” of above. One would like to think that “life is a beach, a bowl of cherries.” “Live and enjoy.” The animal-eat-animal syndrome teaches one that there are forces that prey on others. Nations prey on other nations. This is the real world. Therefore, be careful. There are also forces (Saam) that are out to hurt a person. Have some cherries by all means. Go at times to the beach (a kosher one). But this is not life. Life is precious. Fill it with the things that really count.
Not a Korban
The Ramban finishes. “Hashem commanded us to send a so’ir into the desert to the angel (the soton) who rules (as it were) in places of desolation where he is “in charge.” From him come (when Hashem allows it) destruction and desolation … sword and blood, wars and divisiveness, wounds and blows … this so’ir is not, Gd forbid, a korban from us to him but we do so because Hashem commanded it.” The above has been an understanding of why Hashem commanded it.
1 The two goats had to be similar in appearance, height and value (Shavuos 13b). They were then picked by “chance” (lots) for their opposite purposes.
2 Leviticus 16:8
3 It is sent to Azazel (Yoma 39a). “It is an austere and harsh mountain, a high cliff as it says (ibid, verse 22) ‘eretz g’zeiroh’ (a cut land – a cliff)” (Rashi, ibid).
4 Ibid 21-22
5 Mishna Yoma 67a
6 Yom Kippur Musaf
7 Saying, “How can the Torah be true if it contains laws such as these?”
8 Clothing containing a mixture of wool and linen (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:11).
9 Yoma 67b
10 See Ramban Leviticus 1:9, “One should feel …that he has sinned to his G-d with his body and life. Accordingly, therefore, his own blood should be spilled … if not for Hashem’s kindness Who instead accepts from him a substitute …” The bringing of the korban is to impress upon the person the severity of his actions.
11 The accusatory and prosecuting force.
12 The So’ir L’Azazel
13 e.g. “Sure they’re big tzadikim today but look what they did a whole year,” etc.
14 Ramban Leviticus 16:8 in the name of the Pirkei D’Rabi Eliezer.
15 As we know only too well.
16 Deuteronomy 16:19
17 Is Saam then a man that we can bribe him? See later.
18 Granted that the “bribe” causes the soton to see Yisroel on Yom Kippur as a holy People, but there are still the actions or lack thereof of the whole year. I refer the reader back to our discussion of last week on Rosh Hashonoh – who is the real person? The one we see during the Yomim Nora’im (Days of Awe) or the way one acts a whole year? We can’t go through the whole proof we brought, again. However, based on the Rambam (Maimonides) in Hilchos Gerushin chp. 2, halachah 20 and other seforim (books) listed there (see note 29 there), the real person is the one we encounter during the Yomim Nora’im. The rest of the year one often succumbs to the “force” applied by one’s inclinations. Therefore, after the bribe, the soton himself admits that since on Yom Kippur they are like angels, that defines their intrinsic nature a whole year (as per the Rambam noted above). However, as we noted last week, this is not a free pass. Our main job is to work and fight our inclinations a whole year. It, however, does define our intrinsic nature – der pintele Yid (the Jewish core).
19 Bava Basra 16a
20 See Genesis 1:29-30; Ramban (Leviticus 26:6).
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