Achrei Mos. The Se'ir Azazel

The term "Scapegoat" expresses an error on the part of non-Jewish readers of the Torah. They believed that the Azazel goat was allowed to escape. Our tradition teaches that it was not allowed to escape, it was thrown off a cliff to its death.

Here is the etymology of Scapegoat.

scapegoat (n.)

1530, "goat sent into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement as a symbolic bearer of the sins of the people," coined by Tyndale from scape, a shortening of escape (see scape (v.)) + goat; the whole word translating Latin caper emissarius, itself a translation in Vulgate of Hebrew 'azazel (Leviticus xvi.8, 10, 26), which was read as 'ez ozel "goat that departs," but which others hold to be the proper name of a devil or demon in Jewish mythology

 Indeed, the words of the Torah do not state explicitly that the goat is killed.  But in all honesty, the idea that all the sacrifices are slaughtered, including the Parah Adumah and the Egla Arufa, and davka the goat that symbolically carries the nation's sins would just be set free to wander in the desert, is untenable, even without Torah she'baal peh.  One suspects that they chose to disregard the most likely explanation only because doing so would lend credence to our mesorah. 

Rabbi Dr. Scheiber argues that from taharas metzora (Vayikra 14 4-7) you see that sometimes, an animal used for kapara/exoneration is set free.  Additionally, he points out that just a few perakim separate the paired animals in last week's Parshas Metzora and the paired animals in this week's Parshas Achrei Mos. In the case of Metzora, it is clear that the un-slaughtered bird is set free. On what basis can we be so confident that by Yom Kippur the unslaughtered goat is killed? At least it remains ambiguous, and it would be reasonable to resolve the ambiguity of the shiluach of the sa'ir from the explicit din of the shiluach of the tzipor.

I responded that one must note the differing terminology of the two parshiyos:

וצוה הכהן ולקח למטהר שתי־צפרים חיות טהרות ועץ ארז ושני תולעת ואזב

וצוה הכהן ושחט את־הצפור האחת אל־כלי־חרש על־מים חיים

את־הצפר החיה יקח אתה ואת־עץ הארז ואת־שני התולעת ואת־האזב וטבל אותם ואת הצפר החיה בדם הצפר השחטה על המים החיים

והזה על המטהר מן־הצרעת שבע פעמים וטהרו ושלח את־הצפר החיה על־פני השדה

Five times in four pesukim is the term chaya used. In the last passuk, it says that  ושלח את הצפר החיה על־פני השדה, once again calling it Chaya when he sets it free. But by the seir Azazel, in the last reference, it does not call it the Chay. It says  ושלח את השעיר במדבר.

So yes, we do find a case of shiluach to freedom of the second of paired animals where the first was killed. But both from the sair's job of "carrying sin," and from the fact that Chaya is dropped in the last passuk, I think it is clear that it is not meant to remain alive. This change in the description of the tzipor removes the ambiguity from the Sa'ir.

Rabbi Schreiber responded

All you have proven is that the bird is alive.

The question at hand is :

Is the Torah contrasting the treatment of the bird to that of the goat or is it a saying the goat is to be treated LIKE the other paired animal

However 

I could make this distinction:

The birds are brought after the tzaraas has resolved -presumably the person has done teshuva and learned their lesson.

In contrast the saier works לשבין בין לשאינם שבין.

So the Torah is saying the metzora has redeemed themselves while Klal Yisroel has not yet demonstrated their worthiness for כפרה.

Rashi mentions this as well. 

On passuk 16:10,

והשעיר אשר עלה עליו הגורל לעזאזל יעמד חי לפני יהוה לכפר עליו לשלח אתו לעזאזל המדברה:

Oneklos says

וּצְפִירָא דִּי סְלִיק עֲלוֹהִי עַדְבָא לַעֲזָאזֵל יִתָּקַם כַּד חַי קֳדָם יְיָ לְכַפָּרָא עֲלוֹהִי לְשַׁלַּח יָתֵיהּ לַעֲזָאזֵל לְמַדְבְּרָא:

Rashi explains,

יעמד חי. כְּמוֹ יֻעֲמַד חַי — עַל יְדֵי אֲחֵרִים, וְתַרְגּוּמוֹ יִתָּקַם כַּד חַי; מַה תַּ"ל? לְפִי שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר לְשַׁלֵּחַ אֹתוֹ לַעֲזָאזֵל וְאֵינִי יוֹדֵעַ שִׁלּוּחוֹ אִם לְמִיתָה אִם לְחַיִּים, לְכָךְ נֶאֱמַר יָעֳמַד חַי, עֲמִידָתוֹ חַי עַד שֶׁיִּשְׁתַּלֵּחַ, מִכָּאן שֶׁשִּׁלּוּחוֹ לְמִיתָה (ספרא):

Why does he translate יעמד חי  as  יִתָּקַם כַּד חַי?   The words כַּד חַי mean "while it is alive," and the "while it is" is not in the words of the passuk. Elsewhere, Onkelos translates חי simply as חי. He explains that this is because the verses below do not state explicitly that the goat is sent to its death, but only that it is "sent off in the wilderness."   Psukim 21-22 - 

וסמך אהרן את־שתי ידו [ידיו] על ראש השעיר החי והתודה עליו את כל עונת בני ישראל ואת כל פשעיהם לכל חטאתם ונתן אתם על־ראש השעיר ושלח ביד איש עתי המדברה

ונשא השעיר עליו את כל עונתם אל־ארץ גזרה ושלח את השעיר במדבר

This is why the Targum needs to explain that חי only means that while the other goat of the pair was just slaughtered as a chatas, this one remains alive for the moment. But it, too, will later be killed.  Psukim 9-10 - 

והקריב אהרן את־השעיר אשר עלה עליו הגורל ליהוה ועשהו חטאת

והשעיר אשר עלה עליו הגורל לעזאזל יעמד חי לפני יהוה לכפר עליו לשלח אתו לעזאזל המדברה