Explaining the word Azazel TB Yoma 67

 Today’s daf TB Yoma 67 discusses the ritual of the scapegoat from the time it leaves the Temples precincts through its demise by being thrown off a cliff. The person who leads the scapegoat marked for Azazel is accompanied by the prominent people of Jerusalem. Since Azazel is never defined in the Bible, the Gemara provides three potential interpretations.

“§ The Sages taught: The word Azazel indicates that the cliff the goat is pushed from should be rough and hard. I might have thought that it may be located in a settled area. Therefore, the verse states: “In the wilderness.” And from where does one derive that the goat is pushed from a cliff? The verse states “gezeira,” indicating an area that is sharp, like a cliff. It was taught in another baraita: Azazel is a reference to the hardest mountain, and so it says: “And the mighty [eilei] of the land he took away” (Ezekiel 17:13). Azazel is interpreted as azaz-el, with the term el connoting something rough and hard.

“The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Azazel is so called because it atones for the actions of Uzza and Azael. These are the names of “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.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Baruch A. Levine the author of the New JPS Commentary on Leviticus explains the meaning of this word.

“The precise meaning of the Hebrew ‘aza’el, found no were else in the Bible, has been disputed since antiquity and remains uncertain even to the present time. Over the centuries, exegesis of this name has followed three lines of interpretation. According to the first, Azazel is the name of the place in the wilderness to which the scapegoat was dispatched; the term is taken as synonymous with ‘erets gezerah, “inaccessible region,” in verse 16:22. Verse 16:10 may also suggest this interpretation. When translated literally it reads: ‘and send it [the he-goat] off to Azazel, to the wilderness.’ Yoma 67b understands ‘aza’el as ‘a fierce, difficult land,’ taking the first part of the word to mean ’azz, ‘strong, fierce.’ According to the second line of interpretation, Azazel describes the goat. The word ‘aza’el is a contraction (notarikon) comprised of ‘ez, ‘goat’ and ‘azal, ‘to go away,’ hence ‘the goat that goes away.’ This interpretation occurs in both the Septuagint and the Vulgate and underlies the rabbinic characterization sa’ir hamishtalleakh, ‘the goat that is dispatched,’ in Mishna Yoma 6:2. This is, in fact, the interpretation that led to the English rendering ‘scapegoat’ (from ‘escape-goat’), which first appeared in Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible in 1530.

“Both of the above interpretations are contrived. The third line of interpretation is preferable. Azazel in later myth was the name given to the demonic ruler of the wilderness. The derivation of the word is uncertain, but thematic relationship of Azazel to the se’irim, ‘goat-demons,’ of 17:7 suggests that the word ‘ez, ‘goat,’ is represented in it. The form ‘aza’el may have developed through reduplication of the letter zayin: ‘ez-‘el, ‘mighty goat,’ was pronounced ‘ezez’el and, finally, ‘aza’el. The ritual of the scapegoat is discussed in Excursus 4.” (page 102)

רגע של עברית. How do you say “Go to hell” in Modern Hebrew? Lekh le’aza’el

(לך לעזאזל).