Our Gemara quotes the verse in VaYikra (16:10), ״יׇעֳמַד חַי לִפְנֵי ה׳ לְכַפֵּר עָלָיו״, “The goat on which the lot came up for Azazel shall be stood alive before the Lord, to make atonement over him, to send him away for Azazel into the wilderness.”

The Gemara learns from there that Scapegoat must remain alive until after its counterpart has its blood sprinkled in the sanctuary.

The Shem Mishmuel (Yom Hakippurim 18) elaborates on this concept. The two goats, that is the one that gets thrown over the scape versus the one that gets its blood sprinkled in the sanctuary represent two aspects of sin and forgiveness. Symbolically, and quite obviously, the goat whose blood is sprinkled in the sanctuary represents a drawing near toward God by doing good. While, the scapegoat, represents distancing and throwing off sin.

Logically, one would think that it is proper to discard and distance sin first, and then engage in good and moral activity. However, the Jewish tradition advises the opposite. One can practice עשה טוב, reaching for and performing good, even before the סור מרע. 

Thus, for example, Shem MiShmuel says this was the dispute that occurred between Yosef and Yaakov over Ephraim and Menashe. The name Menashe comes from forgetting the anguish and the difficulty of being in exile (Bereishis 41:51). However the name Ephraim means to be fruitful, in other words to thrive in the new land. Chronologically, and logically, Menashe was the first born and represented a necessary mourning and coping with the loss of the exile.  This was before the expansion of consciousness and success represented in Ephraim. Yet Yaakov disagreed with Yosef, and said that Ephraim must be treated as the first born. In the Jewish tradition, we can reach for the positive even while we still are experiencing negative.

This is reminiscent of the Gemara we saw on Daf 35.  The sinner is held accountable for not studying Torah even while he is sinning.

So too, says the Shem MiShmuel, regarding the two sacrificial goats. We reach for the positive, and perform the sprinkling of the blood in the sanctuary, even before we discard and distance ourselves from the evil of the scapegoat.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation cool

Do you like what you see? Please subscribe and also forward any articles you enjoy to your friends, (enemies too, why not?)