Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Daf Ditty

A wide-ranging commentary on the daily page of Talmud.

Yoma 65: Fallen Angels

jyungar June 16, 2021

For the source text click/tap here: Yoma 65

To download, click/tap here: PDF

Our daf looks at the rabbis' considerations around this circumstance with particular attention given to the pair of goats consecrated on Yom Kippur - one to Azazel and the other as sacrifice. How might one of those goats become lost? Should one goat or both goats be replaced? Should there be a new lottery for this new pair of goats? When should that lottery happen? What if one of the first pair of goats has already been sent off to Azazel when the other is lost?

Rashi states that according to both of them, the sending of the goat does not withhold the atonement. The Gachalei Aish is bewildered as to how this can be. Klal Yisroel's atonement seems to be dependent on the sending of the goat off the cliff?

This leads us to an exploration of fallen angels such as Aza’el and Aza (also known as Shemhazai) who saw the terrible sins of the people in the pre-Flood generation and scoffed at the pathetic humans. God told them that if they had been on Earth and given free will, they would succumb to their evil inclination far worse than people do. The angels wanted to prove God wrong, and asked Him to send them down to Earth into a physical body. God complied, and just as He had said, the angels quickly fell into all forms of evil.

We then examine the work of Andre Orlov as he follows these myths into intertestamental literature.

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Julian Ungar-Sargon

This is Julian Ungar-Sargon's personal website. It contains poems, essays, and podcasts for the spiritual seeker and interdisciplinary aficionado.​