Understanding Se'ir L'azazel

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April 28 2022
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In Parshas Achrei Mos, we learn about the seder avodas Yom ha-Kipurim—all the korbanos brought in the Beis Ha-Mikdash on Yom Kippur. And obviously, the strangest of  all those very unique and special rituals is the Sa'ir ha-Mishtaleach—also called Sa'ir la-Azazel. Its a goat that is sent into the wilderness and thrown off the cliff in the desert instead of being brought as a korban—unlike all the other animals mentioned in this weeks Parsha. And the Chumash says explicitly that the Kohen Gadol confesses all the sins of the Jewish People upon this goatve-nasa ha-sa'ir alav es kol avonosam el eretz gzeirah, ve-shilach es ha-sa'ir ba-midbar. It carries all their sins out to the desert. Many of the meforshim wonder how this magic works. Can you just put your sins on a goat and send them to the desert? It seems just a little too easy.  

There are a considerable number of perushim. Many understand that, of course, you cannot just put your sins on a goat and send them to the desert. Of course, you must do teshuva for your sins. But this goat— Sa'ir la-Azazel—symbolically encourages our teshuva process when we see it on its way to die in the desert. How does it work? The Sefer ha-Chinuch says that we put all our sins on this goat, and we throw it off the cliff. As it rolls down the cliff, it breaks into a million pieces, in the desolate wilderness. Basically, a terrible fate befalls this goat—it dies a horrific death. What does this represent to us? The wages of sin. Some of us are complacent and think that its not so bad to live a lifestyle of sin—its not the end of the world to violate the Torah. Here we see two goats. One of them gets sins. And look what happens to it. It meets a horrible fate. Likewise, whoever sins meets a horrible fate. Its called an "old-fashioned mussar." And therefore, we will, perhaps, do a cheshbon ha-nefesh and decide to mend our ways and not be like that goat that is so full of sin. However, the Rambam in the Moreh Nevuchim explains this with what we would call a more modern mussar, a more positive spiritual and psychological explanation—as opposed to the more fire-and-brimstone explanation of Sefer ha-Chinuch. Rambam says that the two goats come together. One of them we burden with our sins and send it out to the wilderness, while we bring the other as a korban to Hashem. And what does sending away of our sins, never to be heard from again, represent? That we can take all our bad habits, problematic patterns of behaviors, and say that we can actually be free of them. Lest someone think: once I have gotten into a lifestyle of sinbeing a subject to all kinds of bad influencesI cant really get rid of those sins and cleanse myself. I am stuck with them forever; till the day I die. No. That is not true. Just like the Kohen Gadol sends all the sins with the Sa'ir ha-Mishtaleach to the desert, never to be heard from again, likewise, if we do a good job of teshuva, we could also rid ourselves of all our sins, once and for all. For the Rambam, its an inspiring message—if we work hard and do it right.  

The Rav had a beautiful insight into this, which is brought down in Rav Avishai Davids sefer Darosh Darash Yosef. The Medrash has a very clever insight. When the pasuk says ve-nasa ha-sa’ir alav, what is a sa'ir? Of course, it means a goat. But it is also used to describe Eisav as an Ish Sair. And, as a matter of fact, when Yaakov wanted to dress up as Eisav, he put a skin of a sair on his own skin to look hairy like Eisav. Sa'ir is Eisav. But more specifically, its the aspect of Eisav that Yaakov wore. Es kol avonosam, can be read as two words—avonos tam. And Yaakov is known as Ish Tam, yoshev ohalim. The Midrash says: ve-nasa ha-sa'ir alavEisav carries—es kol avonosam—all the aveiros of Yaakov. And thats what the Sa'ir la-Azazel accomplishes. It takes all the aveiros of Yaakov and sends them all to Eisav. There are many levels of understanding this medrash. But the Rav says: Whats the pshat? So Yaakov is Ish Tam, and we hate Eisav. So lets just put all our sins on him. It doesnt work like that. You cant just put all your sins on your enemies, so they are stuck with them. Rather, says the Rav, this teaches us a deeper psychological insight. Why does the Jew sin? He says: inherently, every Jew has a Yiddeshe Neshama. Inside, we really want to do the right thing, come close to Hashem, and serve Him. We really want to grow in spirituality. But what actually happens? There are influences that act upon us. Those influences are called the influences of Eisav. Eisav represents the evil philosophies and forces that permeate human culture. Its the Eisav of the society that influences us to do the wrong thing. We dont really want to do aveiros. We only want to do mitzvos. But those influences come from the outside—from Eisav—just like those hairy goatskins tied to Yaakovs hands and neck, which turned Yaakov into an Eisav-looking character. And says the Rav: What are we supposed to learn from Sa'ir ha-Mishtale'ach? Whats the point? The point is how we believe that we can change, get rid of our aveiros, and how we can become 100 percent tzadikim. He says: We must believe in one thing. Goodness is our fundamental nature, and the aveiros that we do are not. They are caused by the corrupting influences of external forces. We must believe that the good that we do represents our fundamental nature. The good things that we do define us. The bad things that we do not define us. They are just the influence of Eisav—and not the Ish Tam, the temimus which lays within us. And this is an exceedingly deep psychological insight I believe dovetails with the Rambam in the Moreh Nevuchim. How can someone really get rid of all their aveiros if they believe that they define him—if they see their aveiros and think: "Thats who I am?" But if I recognize that its my kedusha, my mitzvos, my sheifos (my desires to grow in ruchnious) that really define me, while my aveiros are just the external influence that negatively impacts me. Then I can say: Let me be my real self and free myself from these external influences.  

And I think that this is a key to teshuva. Ve-nasa ha-sair alaves kol avonosamkol avonos tam. The key to growth is believing that what defines us is goodness, kedusha, and avodas Hashem. And what does not define us are those external influences to which we mistakenly gave in, and the wrong turns we made along the way. And if we could really accomplish that, then we can realize the deepest meaning of Sa'ir ha-Mishtale'ach and send away that which is only an external part of us, never to be heard from again in the wilderness. And that way, we can remain with the other half—kulo la-Hashem—purely ruchnious, a life of kedusha and growth in Torah and mitzvos. Shabbat Shalom.

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    Learning on the Marcos and Adina Katz YUTorah site is sponsored today by Judy & Mark Frankel & family l'ilui nishmos מרדכי בן הרב משה יהודה ע"ה and משה יהודה ז"ל בן מאיר אליהו ויהודית