Parshat Acharei, (Leviticus 16:18-16:24), 4/7/14

“21. And Aaron shall lean both of his hands [forcefully] upon the live he goat's head and confess upon it all the willful transgressions of the children of Israel, all their rebellions, and all their unintentional sins, and he shall place them on the he goat's head, and send it off to the desert with a timely man.”

What a great idea to put all the sins on the goat and then to send it off to the desert. Yet, if one were to focus compassionately on the goat, they might think that someone has made the goat a scapegoat (which maybe is where the word came from). Even with the ten commandments, people still go astray. Rabbi Baker told us the other day that if one has urges to do something wrong they should take it to another village so they won't cause harm to their family. How is this that people know the right thing to do, and yet do the wrong thing? Maybe someone should start renting out scapegoats so we can all feel better about our transgressions.