What is Azazel?
In modern Hebrew, when we want to tell someone: “Go to hell!” we say, “Lech LaAzazel!” which translates to “Go to Azazel.”
If the word Azazel is familiar to you, it is probably from Yom Kippur, when this week’s portion of Achrei Mot is read.
Our portion describes the Yom Kippur ritual officiated by the high priest as it was done during the years when there was a Tabernacle or Temple:
וְנָתַ֧ן אַהֲרֹ֛ן עַל־שְׁנֵ֥י הַשְּׂעִירִ֖ם גֹּרָל֑וֹת גּוֹרָ֤ל אֶחָד֙ לַיהֹוָ֔ה וְגוֹרָ֥ל אֶחָ֖ד לַעֲזָאזֵֽל׃
‘‘And he shall place lots upon the two goats, one marked for GOD and the other marked for Azazel. ’’
What is Azazel?
The text goes on to say that the goat, which is sacrificed to God, is a sin offering, whereas the goat designated for Azazel will carry away all the sins of the community as it is led to die in the desert. Still, the Torah doesn't really tell us what Azazel is.
A more elaborate description of the ritual appears in the Mishnah, Tractate Yoma: Chapter 6.
מֶה הָיָה עוֹשֶׂה, חוֹלֵק לָשׁוֹן שֶׁל זְהוֹרִית, חֶצְיוֹ קָשַׁר בַּסֶּלַע וְחֶצְיוֹ קָשַׁר בֵּין שְׁתֵּי קַרְנָיו, וּדְחָפוֹ לַאֲחוֹרָיו, וְהוּא מִתְגַּלְגֵּל וְיוֹרֵד, וְלֹא הָיָה מַגִּיעַ לַחֲצִי הָהָר עַד שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה אֵבָרִים אֵבָרִים.
‘‘What did the one designated to dispatch the goat do there? He divided a strip of crimson into two parts, half of the strip tied to the rock, and half of it tied between the two horns of the goat. And he pushed the goat backward, and it rolled and descended. And it would not reach halfway down the mountain until it was torn limb from limb.’’
Still, this does not explain the meaning of the word Azazel.
The Talmud Yoma 67b:6 gives us the first answer:
תָּנָא דְּבֵי רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל: ״עֲזָאזֵל״ — שֶׁמְּכַפֵּר עַל מַעֲשֵׂה עוּזָּא וְעַזָּאֵל.
‘‘The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Azazel is so called because it atones for the actions of Uzza and Azael.’’
Here, shockingly, our sages refer us to a book which they themselves decided not to include in the Jewish canon, the 24 books which we call Tanach or the Jewish bible.
The book I’m referring to is the Book of Enoch.
The Book of Enoch was written in the times of the Second Temple around 300-200 BCE. Its genre is considered part of apocalyptic literature. It is believed to be written in Hebrew or Aramaic (or a combination of both) however very little of it has survived. The only complete copy of the book was found in Ethiopia in the Ge’ez language, and it was probably translated into it from Greek.
The book has five parts to it, and it places in its center, one of the earliest people to walk the earth - Enoch.
The first time Enoch is mentioned in the Torah is in Genesis (Bereshit) chapter 5, which chronicles the lineage of the first man, Adam, to Noach.
וַֽיְחִי־יֶ֕רֶד שְׁתַּ֧יִם וְשִׁשִּׁ֛ים שָׁנָ֖ה וּמְאַ֣ת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת־חֲנֽוֹךְ׃
‘‘When Jared had lived 162 years, he begot Enoch.’’
Enoch was the son of Jared and the father of Methuselah, so he was the great-grandfather of Noah.
There is not much which is said about him, other than two interesting details. The first, was that he lived 365 years, a number which we know from astronomy. The second, is that his actual death was never
mentioned, but rather:
וַיִּתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ חֲנ֖וֹךְ אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֑ים וְאֵינֶ֕נּוּ כִּֽי־לָקַ֥ח אֹת֖וֹ אֱלֹהִֽים׃ {ס}
‘‘Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, for God took him.’’
The only other character in our writings who was described as being “taken” by God, rather than dying, was Elijah, the prophet who is believed to live in both worlds - the dead and the living.
The first part (out of five) of the Book of Enoch is called the Book of Watchers, and it provides us with mythology which explains two fundamental things: The first, is the source of all evil in the world, the second, is the actual reason for the flood in the Noach story.
The Book of Genesis gives us a curious story which it does not elaborate upon:
הַנְּפִלִ֞ים הָי֣וּ בָאָ֘רֶץ֮ בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵם֒ וְגַ֣ם אַֽחֲרֵי־כֵ֗ן אֲשֶׁ֨ר יָבֹ֜אוּ בְּנֵ֤י הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ אֶל־בְּנ֣וֹת הָֽאָדָ֔ם וְיָלְד֖וּ לָהֶ֑ם הֵ֧מָּה הַגִּבֹּרִ֛ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר מֵעוֹלָ֖ם אַנְשֵׁ֥י הַשֵּֽׁם׃ {פ}
“It was then, and later too, that the Nephilim appeared on earth—when divine beings cohabited with human women, who bore them offspring. Such were the heroes of old, the men of renown.”
According to the Book of Enoch, the Nefilim, which means “giants,” were the children of angels who descended and procreated with human women. The Book of Enoch declares that they ate everything in their path. When they finished eating the entire food supply which humans toiled over, they proceeded to eat humans. If that wasn’t enough, it was them who introduced evil to humans, specifically war and vanity. The specific angel who was in charge of that, was no other than Azazel:
“And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all coloring tinctures.”
Later in Enoch, a group of angels come to God and tell him of the evil which befell the earth: “Thou seest what Azazel hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were in heaven, which men were striving to learn;...”
After their description, God sends them down to warn Noach of the flood.
Our sages decided not to include the Book of Enoch, or any of these stories in our sacred texts, but the Talmudic explanation of Azazel proves to us that they were well aware of them. What drove that choice?
What does it mean that the word “Azazel” was preserved in the Yom Kippur ritual as the place to where all of our evil deeds are going?
It appears that Jewish tradition made a clear choice to focus on personal and collective responsibility in this world, to atone, repent and correct as much as we can while we are alive, and not to delegate this responsibility to some force of evil which is beyond our control. Azazel became an unknown spiritual realm to which we can “send” what we no longer wish to be a part of in our lives, and focus on what we can control.
Correction doesn't always mean wiping evil away completely or turning bad into good. Sometimes it means pushing bad away to a place where it can no longer control us.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ye'ela Rosenfeld
