parsha bit: Acharei Mot - Kedoshim

[cellio]

Parshat Acharei Mot describes the ritual of the scapegoat for Yom Kippur. The high priest takes two identical goats and casts lots between them; one becomes an offering to God, and on the other he symbolically places the sins of Israel before casting the goat into the wilderness. Abravanel writes that the two goats remind us of Yaakov and Esav. Esav, like the second goat, wandered into the wilderness, away from his people and God's laws. Yaakov, like the first goat, served God. The ritual of the scapegoat reminds us that we, unlike the goats, can choose which path to follow. (Commentary on Leviticus 16)