In Leviticus, chapter 16, there is a strange ritual that takes place on Yom Kippur. The high priest takes two goats. After a lottery, the one designated for Hashem is sacrificed as a חטאת. On the other one, the high priest puts both hands on its head and confesses the sins of the entire nation. He then sends it לעזאזל via an appointed man who takes it to the “midbar.” The goat ends up taking all those sins to an “eretz gezeira” (a land that is cut off).

In the Torah, we are told four times that the goat is sent off. There is nothing at all about it being killed. But in the mishna (Yoma, sixth chapter), the end of the procedure is that the goat is pushed off a mountain cliff to a certain death. (But the mishna, Yoma 6:8, does recognize that the official ritual was over once the goat reached the “midbar.”)

A widespread explanation for the different endings is that in biblical times, it was possible to send the goat to an area where it could not wander back. But in later times, this was no longer possible, so the animal had to be killed.

There is a statement in Sifra Acharei Mot 2:6 that derives from verse 16:10 that the goat needs to be killed. It is paraphrased in the Rashi on this verse. But the statement in the Sifra is most likely merely a homiletical justification for what had become the accepted practice. This ritual of a goat escaping is the origin of our word “scapegoat.” This word first appeared in Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible in 1530.

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What about that word עזאזל? At 16:8, we are told that Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats, one goat “to Hashem” and the other לעזאזל. Based on this verse, it seems that Azazel is a demon or spirit. Based on other verses, if it is a demon or spirit, it would seem that it resides in the desert. This is the view of many rabbinic figures and scholars, and I agree. (The word עזאזל only appears in Tanach in this chapter—appearing four times.)

As to the etymology of the word עזאזל, there have been many suggestions. In one view, it is a later modification from an original עזז + אל, “strong god.” See, e.g., H. Tawil, ZAW 92 (1980), and “Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible,” page 128. (The “god” being the god of evil or something to that effect.)

An original “aleph-lamed” ending is also the view of Rabbi Saadia Gaon. See how he is quoted in Ibn Ezra, in 16:8, and also in his “Emunot veDeot” 3:10. Rabbi Saadia cites verses referring to mountains which have an “aleph-lamed” ending: Psalms 36:7: “… keharrerei el,” and Kings 2 14:7: יקתאל. (But Rabbi Saadia thinks that “Azazel” is a mountain of God and not a place of a demon.)

There is support from the Dead Sea text of Leviticus 16:26 for the spelling עזזאל. (There is no Dead Sea text on the earlier verses.) There is also support from the Dead Sea text, known as the “Temple Scroll” for this spelling.

Samuel David Luzzatto thinks the word is based on עז + עז + אל (mighty, mighty is God).

Here are some other (less likely) approaches to the etymology of עזאזל:

עזאזל is a combination of עז plus אזל: “the goat went.” This is the view of Radak and many others.

There is a root in Arabic עזל that means “remove.” A reduplicative form of this root would be עזלזל. The reduplicative emphasizes, so the meaning is: “entire removal.” Our word derived from this. See, e.g., Brown-Driver-Briggs and Rabbi Joseph Hertz.

Yoma 67b has two etymologies: וקשה עז and שבהרים קשה. (See also Rashi on Leviticus 16:8.) It is unclear whether these statements are based on עז only, or on אל as well, which also means “strong.” (But these approaches seem to be proposed only to give the word an etymology consistent with the mountaintop practice described in the mishna. In Leviticus, chapter 16, the goat was led to the “midbar” and to “eretz gezeira.”)

Most creative is Rav S. R. Hirsch: He views the meaning of the word as: firmness has disappeared (עז + אזל), and that Azazel represents a “sinking into the power of sensuality, in contrast to attachment to God (and) obeying His laws of morality.” See also his commentary to 17:7.

See also “The JPS Torah Commentary:” Leviticus on verse 16:8.

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If Azazel was a demon/spirit of the desert, what was the purpose of the original ritual? Was the goat meant as a gift for Azazel? Why would Azazel be given a gift laden with sin? Does the gift reflect homage to Azazel? Or perhaps it reflects a complete rejection of Azazel? Is there room in monotheism for a demon/spirit of the desert?

In the view of Nachmanides, the sin-laden goat is not a rejection of Azazel, but neither is it homage to him. Rather, we are merely following God’s instructions to send sins to the Sar who rules these matters and is their source.

A very interesting verse is Leviticus 17:7. Here, we are told that the Israelites are no longer to sacrifice to “seirim.” (But see Chronicles 2, 11:15 mentioning such worship in the time of Rechobam.) Rabbi Hertz writes that the worship of the goat prevailed in lower Egypt at the time the Israelites were there. It is, at least, possible to suggest that the sending off of the goat to Azazel (without any sacrifice) was a lesser form of worship—as part of a weaning process from old rituals. But since the goat is a sin-laden one, it would be an unusual form of worship and homage.

The simplest understanding of the ritual is that it is a way of sending away the sins of Bnei Israel. This is stated at Leviticus 16:21-22. Similarly, at Micah 7:19, we have an idea that God can cast away all sins to the depths of the sea. The fact that the goat was sent to a place called “Azazel” does not have to mean that it was sent to a demon.

Rambam (Moreh 3, 46) writes that the sin removal is only symbolic. But he explains that it does serve to encourage people to repent because it impresses upon them the idea that their sins have been removed as far as possible. I have also seen the suggestion that it was a pre-monotheistic ritual retained for its dramatic effect.

Many have observed that the ritual of sending sins to a distant place is similar to a ritual involving the cleansing of the metzora at Leviticus 14. One bird was slaughtered and the blood was sprinkled on the metzora. The other bird was sent off “al pnei hasadeh.” (But in the metzora ritual, the bird was not sent to Azazel. This makes our ritual more difficult to understand.)

For parallel goat rituals among Hittites and Akkadians, see Encyclopaedia Judaica 3:1001. For more on the biblical ritual, see Yehuda Nachshoni, “Studies in the Weekly Parsha,” “The JPS Torah Commentary:” Leviticus, excursus 4, and “Dictionary of Deities and Demons,” pages 128-131.

Mitchell First can be reached at [email protected]. Abby Leichman of Maaleh Adumim advises that there is a tradition that the cliffs there (specifically the area now referred to as E1) are where the goat was sent. Those cliffs were barren and they were directly east of Har Habayit.