Azazel

In the scapegoat ritual of Yom Kippur and the bird ritual of the metzora, sin/impurity is transferred onto an animal and it is sent away. These biblical examples have parallels in Eblaite, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Neo-Assyrian apotropaic rituals.

Leviticus 16 – ויקרא טז

Reading Acharei Mot (“After the Death”) as an opportunity for infusing life into the biblical text.