This past Saturday, Jews around the world observed the holiest day of the year: Yom Kippur. We read, as part of the long day of prayer, about an odd ritual that is found in the book of Leviticus. In some ways it is far removed from the lives we live today; in others, it is painfully relevant.
It is the story of the scapegoat.
Perhaps Jews have continued to read the account of this strange ritual because we know what it is like to be scapegoated. We know what it is like to have the ills of society placed on our heads.
The story of the scapegoat is an important lesson for those of us living in today’s world — particularly as we listen to the harsh rhetoric of certain politicians who seek to demean others for the ills of society.
The Bible records how, in the ancient world, people needed to find a way to cleanse themselves after they had committed transgressions. Some people committed sins that were so egregious that they would be punished with death or sent away and imprisoned. Those who committed less egregious sins had to atone in other ways. After they had atoned, however, the taint of sinfulness still hung in the air and threatened to contaminate the fabric of society.
The ancient priests devised a ritual. They chose two goats and cast lots to determine each one’s fate. One goat was marked “for the Lord” and was slaughtered and placed on an altar, where they thought that the smoky scent of its burning flesh brought pleasure to God.
The second goat was designated for Azazel (Leviticus 16:10). The priest would lay his hands on the goat’s head and confess the People’s sins over it, then send it out into the wilderness, hoping it would carry their sinfulness away to an inaccessible region.
In time, after the ancient Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, the sacrificial system ended, and the first goat could no longer be offered.
The second one, the one marked for Azazel, however, would still be taken in procession into the wilderness, accompanied by a delegation of leaders from Jerusalem. One end of a scarlet thread was attached to its horns, the other end to a rocky precipice. The goat was pushed off a cliff, and the sinfulness of the People was forever banished from their midst.
Later, this practice too stopped, though the account of the ritual continues to be read every year as part of the Yom Kippur ritual of confession.
Thank goodness, we no longer send goats out into the wilderness and cast them over a cliff. But some continue to make certain individuals or groups the scapegoats of our society.
Psychiatrist and philosopher Neel Burton writes that “uncomfortable feelings such as anger, frustration, envy, guilt, shame and insecurity are displaced or redirected onto another, often more vulnerable, person or group. The scapegoats — outsiders, immigrants, minorities, ‘deviants’ — are then persecuted, enabling the scapegoaters to discharge and distract from their [own] negative feelings, which are replaced or overtaken by a crude but consoling sense of affirmation and self-righteous indignation.”
Burton writes that the one who creates the scapegoat often makes himself into a hero.
“Especially in a time of crisis, unscrupulous leaders and politicians can cynically exploit the ancient and deep-rooted impulse to scapegoat, to deflect, and distract from their own inadequacies and evade, or seek to evade, the[ir] legitimate burden of blame and responsibility.”
No one group is responsible for the ills of our society. We cannot simply lay society’s ills onto the heads of any one group — thinking that they will be removed from our midst and exist no more. Unjust policies and practices share the burden of blame for society’s ills. We all share the responsibility to make our society better.
Unjust policies and practices share the burden of blame for society’s ills. But so do global realities. War, famine, lack of economic opportunity, violence and climate change — all are causes of an estimated 272 million people leaving their countries of birth and seeking a better home for themselves and their families.
Today, both politicians and ordinary citizens are too quick to lay the ills of society on vulnerable people or groups.
They claim that those crossing our borders are eating our pets and taking our jobs, that they are murderers, rapists and drug dealers, rather than vulnerable people desperately looking for better lives for themselves and their families — just as many of our own parents and grandparents were looking for better lives as well. The fact is: most of us living in the United States would not be here today if they hadn’t.
Recognizing and speaking out when some scapegoat others takes courage. It takes courage to investigate where the legitimate burdens of blame and responsibility lie. It takes courage to stand up to bullies who try to scapegoat and demonize others — even when those bullies are running for president.