[Avodah] The Forces Within Man

[Saul Mashbaum]

RYL quoted RSRH on the two s'irim, who explains that virtue is
dependent on the possibility of sin. The s'irim represent man's moral
choice:

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We all are faced with the decision between Ha Shem and Azazel . We all stand
at the Sanctuary entrance — to choose between God and the power of
our senses. Inside, in the Holy of Holies, rests the Torah as the holiest
of holies. With our eyes on the Torah, we make our decision.
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What bothers me about the s'irim is the lottery, which seems to
indicate that not conscious, moral choice, but mere chance and fate,
as it were,  determines whether a s'ir becomes la-Shem or la-Azazel.
There is a precursor of the s'irim in the previous parsha, M'tzora:
the 2 tziporei m'tzora, one of which is sent away and the other used
in the purification process. There are several similarities between
the 2 tziporim and the 2 s'irim, but one element which they do not
hold in common is the goral, the lottery, present in the s'irim but
not in the tziporim. If anything, this difference emphasizes that the
lottery is a unique, intrinsic element of the 2 s'irim. however, I am
unable to fathom what its symbolic message is. In the absence of any
rational or moral decision regarding the s'ir selection process, it is
hard to see how they symbolize, in RSRH's  words "With our eyes on the
Torah, we make our decision."

I hope that I have made clear that my question is not on RSRH, but
about  the Torah itself, k'vayachol. RSRH's profound explanation only
deepens my perplexity about the central, crucial role of the goral in
the atonement process.

Saul Mashbaum