 | There are two ways to view human life, as mutually exclusive as they are fundamental. Our existence is either a result of intention, or of accident. And the corollary follows directly: Either our lives are meaningful, or they are not...
With all that was said, the fate of the goat thrown off the cliff of Azazel still seems pretty gruesome. Why cant we just slaughter it or do something like we do with Kaparot or even tashlich? It seems so cruel to throw off this goat, and its bones break...there has to be a better answer to this whole episode...
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I agree. If it were up to me, none of this would happen. In fact, if it were up to me, lions and wolves would be vegetarians, volcanoes would never harm people and the entire universe would be organism-friendly.
But what can I do, I'm not G_d and He calls the shots.
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You make a very good point, but sorry, i dont buy it..our Torah is profound and part of our obligation as Jewish ppl is to know our G-D, to know before whom we stand, not to just throw our hands in the air. There's lots of meaning behind our rituals and it's definitely a worthy pursuit!
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I feel you pain emma.
The same question could be asked about the holocaust. The difference is that the holocaust was evil done by people who chose to do bad.
The goat is being killed in by command of G-D.
It funny that abraham was considered righteous for his willingness to offer up his son as a sacrifice by gods command.
In my mind this all seems barbaric - dropping goats of mountains and almost killing ones child.
My human mind is to limited to fathom any sense or reason to this all.
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This question can be asked with regards to all sacrifices. But the truth is that a sacrifices alone will not atone for their sins until they repent and make a verbal confession as the verse states with regards to sin offerings (Leviticus 5;5) : "He shall confess the sin he has committed upon it."
As soon as you regret what you did and resolve that it will never happen again, you are forgiven and completely exonerated from the judgment to come.
Nonetheless, in order that one be acceptable before G-d, as beloved of Him as before the sin, one brings an offering to G-d.
For more on this see:
Getting Forgiven
Tanya, Iggeret Hateshuva chapter 2
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