Go Up
by Brad Scott
This scriptural word, 'allah (אלּה), is used primarily to express the act of "rising or going up". In everyday Hebrew language, this word would be used to express "getting up and going to a destination".
In the Tanakh we read:
Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 2:3Come let us go up to the mountain of YHVH ...
In the New Testament, this word describes the act of Yeshua‘ ascending into the clouds. This word is also used to describe the act of going back to Jerusalem. When someone makes aliyah, they are saying that they are going back to Jerusalem. In Hebrew thinking, to "go up" is to go to Jerusalem, to go anywhere from Jerusalem is to "go down" (Yesha’yahu 52:4), for Jerusalem is a city set on a hill.
Our English word alley comes from this same Hebrew word. In this culture, there are many alleys or ways to go. Some are quite dark and dangerous. Most are dead ends. From our Creator's point of view, there is only one alley, one way to go. It is a narrow alley, that to this day still leads to Jerusalem.
(This is not the Hebrew word for a curse or for the Islamic god Allah (עלּה).)Shalom Alecheim! ◊