aliya and the sin of the spies - parasha Shlach

In this weeks parasha Shlach the sin of spies (meraglim) is told. In short, Bnei Israel asked Moshe to scout the land before conquering it. They come back and report that the inhabitants are too strong and Bnei Israel have no chance to beat them. They sinned because they did not have faith in haShem who promised them the Land. There are many beautiful explanation of the story but today I'd like to focus on the word aliya עליה that means to go up. Today we say that we make aliya when we move to live in Eretz Israel. We also get aliya when we are called to read from the Torah on Shabbat or Yom Tov. 

Let's see how is the surveillance trip described -
In verse Num 13:17 Moshe tells the spies to

 … וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם עֲלוּ זֶה בַּנֶּגֶב וַעֲלִיתֶם אֶת הָהָר

Go up this way in the south and climb up the mountain ...

then we learn that the spies indeed did go up (Num 13:21)

… וַיַּעֲלוּ וַיָּתֻרוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ

So they went up and explored the land ...

but here is what happens when they return. This is how the Torah describes their mission (Num 13:26)

… וַיֵּלְכוּ וַיָּבֹאוּ

They went, and they came ...

and again (Num 13:27) this time directly from the spies:

וַיֹּאמְרוּ בָּאנוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר שְׁלַחְתָּנוּ 

We came to the land to which you sent us

In other words, the spies were supposed to go up (13:17) and indeed they did (13:21) but in their own eyes they simply went and returned (13:26). This was part of the problem of how they saw their mission and that is why they failed.

It is our job to see everything we do as elevating. I think that is the lesson for us.

This post is based on talk by Rav Ezra Bick.

Shabbat Shalom

teshuva

In last week parasha we had description of what to do when one sins, which korbanot to bring, There is an interesting question on Rambam's opinion on t'shuva (repentance). In his book 'Mishne Torah' he writes (link)

If a person transgresses any of the mitzvos of the Torah, be it a positive command or a prohibition, whether intentionally or unintentionally, he is required to confess before G-d when he repents and returns from his sin, as the verse states, “If a man or woman commits any sins against [another] man...they should confess the sin they committed,”1 which refers to a verbal confession. This confession is a positive command from the Torah...

It seems that Rambam counts confession of sins as one of the 613 mitzvot, however, he does not enumerate t'shuva as one of the 613 mitzvoth. This requires explanation. In one of the Rebbes sichot he discusses that there are really 3 possibilities

1. there is no mitzva of t'shuva but if one decides to do one this is the formula, i.e. one has to confess etc. This is compared to the laws of divorce, one is not obligated to divorce but if he decides to do so there are rules of how to do it.
2. mitzvah of t'shuva is one where one accepts (or re-accepts) the yoke of mitzvot. Since this includes all mitzvot it cannot be counted as one of the mitzvot. In a similar way when it is written "and you will follow my rules" this is not a mitzva.
3. it is one and the same mitzva to repent (do t'shuva) and to confess (viduy). As there is no t'shuva without viduy (the simple reading of Rambam) but also there is no viduy without repentance. This is compared to one who dips in mikve while holding a dead sheretz (dead bug which renders the mikva not effective)

It seems that Rambam agrees with explanation #3.