Parsha: Acharei Mos/Kedoshim - Acting the Goat

About this episode

This episode explores the significance of the two goats used during Yom Kippur and the deeper messages behind their differing fates.

Yom Kippur is a different day than every other day of the year. It is the holiest day, the day of atonement, a day of fasting and prayer and repentance. When the Temple was extant, the Nations' attention was oriented around the high priest's services in God's holy Temple. This was the one time a year that the high priest walked into the Holy of Holies. Of the many different services performed by the high priest on this day was a most peculiar one: Two identical goats were given very different fates, determined by a lottery: One was offered as a sacrifice to God on the altar in the Temple, and one was to serve as a scapegoat, bearing the sins of the nation. The scapegoat was sent away to the desert, to the wilderness, to Azazel, where it was chucked off a cliff side, thereby expiating the nation's sins. What is the message behind the process of the identical goats? What is the message behind the scapegoat? in this fantastic Parsha podcast, we learned the secret of the goats with a brand new twist. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – This Parsha podcast is dedicated in the merit of a speedy recovery of Yosef Shraga Halevi Ben Esther . May he have a Refuah Sheleima. – – – –…

People in this episode

Host: Yaakov Wolbe

Topics covered

• Yom Kippur
• high priest
• scapegoat
• atonement
• Parsha

Keywords

• fasting
• prayer
• repentance
• sacrifice
• Azazel

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Parsha Podcast, The Jewish History Podcast, The Mitzvah Podcast, This Jewish Life, The Ethics Podcast, TORAH 101

Places: Azazel, HOUSTON, TX

More episodes of Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcast Collection

• Parsha: Behar Bechukosai - The Seven Secrets · May 7, 2026 · 57 min
• Parsha: Behar - Intractable Land (5784) · May 5, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochi and the Lesson of Lag Ba'Omer · May 4, 2026 · 49 min
• Parshas Behar & Bechukosai (Rebroadcast) · May 3, 2026 · 1h 38m
• Parsha: Emor - Matching Man and Mission · April 30, 2026 · 56 min
• Parsha: Emor - Simulated Martyrdom (5784) · April 28, 2026 · 1h 11m