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