Azazel

Background: There is some debate about the precise meaning of Azazel.

Leviticus 16: 8-10: 6 Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. 7 Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. 9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

Some traditions believe Azazel to be the name of a fallen angel.

Enoch portrays Azazel as responsible for teaching people to make weapons and cosmetics, for which he was cast out of heaven. The Book of Enoch 8:1–3a reads, "And Azazel taught men to make swords and knives and shields and breastplates; and made known to them the metals [of the earth] and the art of working them; and bracelets and ornaments; and the use of antimony and the beautifying of the eyelids; and all kinds of costly stones and all colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray and became corrupt in all their ways."

In Rabbinic Judaism, it is not a name of an entity but rather means literally "for the complete removal", i.e., designating the goat to be cast out into the wilderness as opposed to the goat sacrificed "for YHWH"

That is...the scapegoat.

Now, on with the show, good health to you:

 photo CN-Lester-headshot-credit-Helen-Bartlett-819x1024_zpsnwyutx6p.jpgCN Lester is author of the book, Trans Like Me: A journey for all of us. They are also an accomplished composer, musician (mezzo-soprano) and academic (music degrees from King's College London and Goldsmiths.

When CN Lester was a child and people inquired as to their gender, they didn’t know how to respond. “I would say, ‘I don’t feel like a boy and I don’t feel like a girl – I don’t know’”. “It can be very frustrating when people who have heard about the topic in recent years weigh in as if they have the answer to every question” This, of course, simply would not do. “People were always trying to push [me] for a definitive answer. All I could think to say was, ‘I don’t know, but I know [that] I don’t know.’”

Lester has been interviewed by iNews:

I think every authoritarian or fascist movement needs scapegoats. Trans people are perfect scapegoats.

Society has been primed by decades of transphobia to regard trans people as freaks and perverts and predators.

Suddenly you’ve got this idea of this deceptive, deviant monster creeping into your public space, possibly to abuse you.

I genuinely think this straw man argument of trans people and bathrooms is a way of stirring up hatred as a way of unifying people.

--CN Lester

Review of Trans Like Me

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zett's picture

And Transpeople make very handy scapegoats b/c any fluidity in gender identification is hard to grasp (including by myself). That which is not understood makes the best monsters.

Thank you for introducing me to such a wise and beautiful voice.

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tapu dali's picture

The ancient Mesopotamians used to examine the livers of two goats to predict the future. I wonder if this is some vague remembrance of that ancient tradition?

Remember, we have little idea of when Leviticus was actually written; some scholars posit its origin as late as post-exilic times (i.e. 500 +/- BCE) whereas the the Babylonian cuneiform with the "livers" inscription is believed to be as early as 1300 BCE.

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There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.