The company was losing money. The price of its stock was sliding, and the corporate board was grumbling. So the president, desperate to do something, fired the vice-president in charge of sales.
In a similar situation, a college basketball team was mired in a losing season after 6 consecutive successful years and three visits to the NCAA Tournament. Attendance was down and the alumni were howling. So the university fired the coach.
In both cases, good people were released because the organization needed a scapegoat. They focused the blame on one person, even though many were at fault. Did you know that the term scapegoating comes from this week’s Torah reading?
In Acharei Mot, we read about the special Yom Kippur service of the two goats. One goat was offered up as a sacrifice and the other was the scapegoat. The High Priest symbolically laid the sins of the Israelites on its head and then it sent off into the wilderness.
Mordechai Kaplan understands the true meaning of the scapegoat quite differently than common parlance. He writes:
“Like so many other things in the Bible-the scapegoat is not at all what people think it is. They apply the term ‘scapegoat’ to any person or group that is falsely charged with being the cause of the evils that befall them. No one ever thought of holding the goat responsible for the sins it carried to Azazel. The meaning of the ritual was that you had to get rid of the evil before you tried to do good.” (From High Holiday Bible Themes: A Resource Book, Vol.II, complied by Rabbi Sidney Greenberg)
Now that Passover is
behind us, the High Holidays are only 6 months away. Avoid the last minute holiday rush and get
rid of your transgressions now, so you can focus on doing what is right, good,
and just.
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