In the scapegoat ritual of Yom Kippur and the bird ritual of the metzora, sin/impurity is transferred onto an animal and it is sent away. These biblical examples have parallels in Eblaite, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Neo-Assyrian apotropaic rituals.A few PaleoJudaica posts on the possible historical background of Yom Kippur are here, here, and here. For more on the mysterious figure of Azazel, about whom there is a substantial postbiblical tradition, see here.
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