Azazel in rabbinic literature

Azazel is a character in Jewish stories - kind of like a superhero or a villain. In these stories, Azazel is often seen as a kind of scapegoat.

A scapegoat is someone or something that gets blamed for something bad that happened, even if they didn't do it. It's like when a little kid accidentally breaks a vase, and then says "the dog did it!" - the dog becomes a scapegoat.

In Jewish tradition, people would celebrate a special holiday called Yom Kippur. On this day, they would take two goats and do a special ritual. They would cast lots (which is like a kind of game of chance) to decide which goat would be for God, and which goat would be for Azazel.

The goat that was for God would be sacrificed as an offering, to ask God for forgiveness and to make things right. But the other goat - the one for Azazel - would be sent away into the wilderness.

Sending the goat into the wilderness was kind of like saying "we don't want the bad things to stay here with us, so we're going to send them as far away as possible." Some people even imagine that the goat would carry all the bad things with it, like all the sins and mistakes people had made that year!

So, Azazel is a character in these stories who represents all the bad things we want to get rid of. We don't want to blame people for their mistakes, but we do want to acknowledge when we've done something wrong and try to make it right. That's why people would celebrate Yom Kippur, and send the goat away to Azazel.