Live every day like itโs your last is a popular saying. The Talmud makes a similar statement, but its concept of living life to the fullest is more sobering.
The focus is on being mindful about the opportunities for repentance. This is because each day may be the last opportunity to repent and even on that last day, by repenting, a person can earn eternal life.
This notion may help explain one of the Bible’s most mysterious rituals, which is reported in this week’s Torah portion and is a central feature of the Yom Kippur service. It involves a pair of look-alike goats, one of whom is sacrificed on the Temple Altar and the other is sent to ‘Azazel’, accompanied by an ‘Ish Iti’. What do these terms of art mean? Why the elaborate ceremony, in which lots were drawn by the Kohen Gadol, designating one goat to be offered on the Temple Altar and the other to be sent to Azazel? After all, despite the different destinations, both goats were, in effect, sin offerings slated to die that day; why should the one sent to Azazel be singled out as a so-called scapegoat?
It is suggested that the ritual has been mislabeled as the sacrifice of the scapegoat. This is because sins can’t be divested merely by transferring them to someone or something else. Each person is personally responsible for his or her own actions. Removing the stain of sin is a painstaking process. It requires introspection, recognition of our personal failings and genuine repentance. Absolution is not just sometime artificially conferred; it must be earned.