On Yom Kippur two goats are placed before the High Priest. He draws lots and designates one goat for the Lord and the other goat for Azazel. Who or what is Azazel?
Azazel in the Bible
The name Azazel appears only 4 times in the Bible. Let’s start by looking at those verses.
8. And Aaron shall place lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and one lot for Azazel…
10. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be for Azazel, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to send it to Azazel into the wilderness…
26. And he who let go the goat for Azazel shall wash his clothes, and bathe his body in water, and afterwards come into the camp.
To better understand Azazel, let’s look at 2 other verses. The goat mentioned in these 2 verses is the one that will be sent to Azazel.
21. And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of an appointed man into the wilderness;
22. And the goat shall bear upon it all their iniquities to a land not inhabited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
The Procedure on Yom Kippur
On Yom Kippur the High Priest brought many animal offerings. At one point two nearly identical goats were placed in front of him.
The High Priest didn’t decide on his own what to do with them. Rather, he drew lots and used those to designate the goats: one for the Lord and the other for Azazel.
The goat “for the Lord” was a sin offering for the Jewish people. After it was slaughtered, its blood was sprinkled in the Holy of Holies and on the incense altar.
The goat for Azazel was not slaughtered by the High Priest. He placed his hands on it and confessed the sins of the Jewish people. Then the goat was led out of the Temple and sent to Azazel.
The Word Azazel
Azazel is spelled in Hebrew ayin-zayin-aleph-zayin-lamed. The 3-letter root of this word is not clear.
One opinion is that it’s ayin-zayin-zayin which is the idea of being strong, hard, or firm.
Others suggest that the root is ayin-zayin-lamed expressing the concept of removing or creating distance.
The Gemara
The Gemara presents several statements of the Sages with ideas about the meaning of Azazel.
Our Rabbis taught: Azazel — it [the cliff] should be hard and rough…
Another [beraita] taught: Azazel, that is, the hardest of mountains…
The School of Rabbi Ishmael taught: Azazel — [it was so called] because it obtains atonement for the affair of Uza and Aza’el.
Torah Temimah asks why the Sages of the Gemara are going to such effort to understand the word Azazel. He explains that most Hebrew words have a 3-letter root. It’s not clear that Azazel is based on a 3-letter root. Therefore, they use other tools to understand the meaning of the word.
Maharsha in Chidushei Agadot explains the reasoning of the sages and how it relates to their understanding of the root of the word.
According to the first beraita, Azazel is composed of 2 words: az azel [Hebrew: ayin-zayin aleph-zayin-lamed]. Azel is an Aramaic word that means “to be gone, to leave, to go.” This means the goat should be taken [azel] to a place that is hard and rough [az].
In the second beraita, Azazel is understood to be composed of the words azaz el [Hebrew: ayin-zayin-zayin aleph-lamed]. In other words, consider that the aleph is between the second zayin and the lamed.
As I mentioned above, ayin-zayin-zayin is the idea of being strong, hard, or firm. The word “el” here connotes something rough and hard. Hence, the idea of Azazel being the “hardest of mountains.”
Rashi on this Gemara explains that Uza and Aza’el are the names of the “sons of God” who sinned with “daughters of men” (Genesis 6:2) and thereby caused the world to sin during the generation of the Flood.
Leviticus 16:8
Here’s how the opinions in the Gemara are applied by commentators to Leviticus 16:8.
Rashi explains that Azazel “is a mountain that is strong and hard, a high cliff, as it says (Leviticus 16:22) ‘a land not inhabited [a land cut from habitation]’.”
It appears that Rashi is based on the first beraita.
Rav Saadia Gaon (in HaEmunot v’HaDayot 3:10 and apparently based on the second beraita) says Azazel is the name of a mountain.
Ibn Ezra (quoting an unnamed source) says Azazel is a mountain near Mount Sinai. That’s where this goat was taken when the Jews were in the wilderness. When they came into the Land of Israel they were no longer close to Azazel and they needed to use a different mountain.
In other words, God’s command to Moses includes both of these ideas. So long as you are camped in the wilderness, use the mountain called Azazel. Later, when you come into the Land of Israel, use a mountain similar to Azazel, a mountain that is strong and hard.
Summary and Conclusion
What was the purpose of sending a goat to Azazel?
Here’s how the Rambam summarizes it:
III-46: Inasmuch as the he-goat that was sent forth into the wilderness served wholly to atone for great sins, so that there was no sin-offering of the congregation that served as atonement in as great a measure as that goat, which was as it were the bearer of all the sins, it was not to receive at all such treatment as being slaughtered or burnt or sacrificed, but had to be removed to as great a distance as possible and sent forth unto a land that is cut off, I mean one that was separated from habitation.
More recently, Rabbi Steinsaltz wrote:
Apparently, Azazel is a term for evil or the forces of impurity, which are also known as sitra ahara, “the other side,” that which is dark, desolate, and fierce. These forces are symbolized by the uninhabitable wilderness. The goat is not slaughtered and is not classified as an offering; rather, it is sent to Azazel, which, whether it is a place name or a state of being, is in the wilderness.
Further Reading
There are aspects of this goat for Azazel that I have not tried to explain. If you want to dig in more deeply, then a good place to start is the commentary of the Ramban on Leviticus 16:8.