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How do we help the scapegoat?
What is our responsibility as Jews, and as human beings, to be Upstanders (one who acts when a wrong is
being committed) rather than Bystanders?
Suggested activity
Make a classroom agreement on how to use the lessons of the film and their learning to address bullying and
scapegoating when they see it.
Reflection and Art Piece
Have the students reflect on their “sins” for the past years – behaviors that they would like to discontinue or
improve on for the coming year. You could have them focus on the theme of bullying and being a bystander versus
an Upstander from the movie or be more general. Have them make a list of these. Give them a drawing of a goat
and have them put their sins on the goat. They could write them or draw pictures. Discuss what to do with these
“goats for Azazel” so that their past misdeeds are “sent away to the wilderness.” You could tie this to a discussion
of the Tashlih ritual done on Rosh Hashanah.
An add on piece, focusing more on how Rabbinic Judaism sees teshuvah, could be done with some goal setting for
what their future behavior will look like now that they have created a scapegoat and sent away their negative
behaviors.
RESOURCES
Information about the word “Azazel”
(from Wikipedia)
The Brown–Driver–Briggs Hebrew Lexicon gives Azazel as a reduplicative intensive of the stem
azel
"remove", hence
azazel
, "entire removal". This is supported by the Septuagint (Jewish Greek Bible
translation) as
the sender away
n his Hebrew lexicon concurs with this. According to Rabbinic
interpretation, Azazel is
combined of the words "
Azaz
" (rugged) and "
El
"
(powerful/strong/of God) in reference to the rugged and strong rocks of the deserts in Judea. The Talmud,
explaining the laws of Yom Kippur, states that the term "Azazel" designated a rugged mountain or
precipice in the wilderness from which the goat was thrown down, using for it as an alternative the word
"
Ẓoḳ
" (Yoma vi. 4). "Azazel" is regarded as a compound of "
az
,” strong or rough, and "
el
,” mighty,
therefore a strong mountain. This derivation is presented by
cited Yoma 67b, that Azazel was
the strongest of mountains.
The Jewish Encyclopedia (1910) contains the following entry:
The Rabbis, interpreting "Azazel" as
Azaz
("rugged"), and
el
("strong"), refer it to the rugged and rough
mountain cliff from which th
was cast down o
when the Jewis
tood.
67b
Aḥare, ii. 2
Jerusalem Lev. xiv. 10, and most medieval
