Temple Beth Zion/Westminster Presbyterian Church Travel'Blog'
January 22, 2010 – Greetings from Masada
(Tel Aviv, Sea of Galilee, Mount of Beatitudes, Jerusalem, Old City Jerusalem, Yad Vashem,Ben Gurion Airport)
Today’s visit to Masada is one I’d been anticipating since our trip was planned. I remember being there in 1971 and hearing the moving story of Israel’s courage in the face of insurmountable odds. Masada, “fortress”, was first developed as Herod’s mountain top defense when Cleopatra was instilling her neighbors with fear – wanting to restore the glory of Greece under Alexander the Great from which she descended. Herod had not one but seven “masadas” in the desert region by the Dead Sea.
Given the supreme architect that he was, Herod created a fortress fit for a king. The mountain he developed is about 1,000 feet above the Dead Sea which is the lowest point on earth. The fortress includes 29 grain storages, 12 cisterns (filled by an ingenious system of channels cut from the rock face of the mountain) bath houses for the royal family and staff, a worship center, and two palaces for Herod one on the south side (sort of a ‘western wing’ of the White House) and one on the north (not unlike the living area of the White House). The north palace is as opulent as anything I have seen – three levels or tiers cut from the side of the mountains looking down the sheer cliff onto the desert floor and out to the Dead Sea and mountains beyond. We were so high up birds of prey could be seen circling the desert floor far below the palace porch lookout.
Jewish rebels commandeered Masada in the Maccabee revolt against Roman occupation in 70 CE. Nine hundred of them occupied the 
fortress for three years but were finally pursued by the Romans who positioned 10,000 troops at the base of Masada and sealed the circumference so that no one could escape. Because the defense from the top was impossible to penetrate, the Romans built a land bridge from the neighboring mountain by painstakingly piling dirt until they had the proper vantage to use their battering ram at the gate. By the time they broke through early one morning they discovered that the rebels had taken their own lives rather than submit to Roman torture and slavery. The rebels’ use of the fortress is as impressive as Herod’s architectural brilliance.
On our way north along the Dead Sea we stopped for lunch at Qum Ran – where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a small cave in the side of the mountain that looks today just like it did when the scrolls were found by a shepherd boy in 1947. After lunch we went to a nearby beach and ‘floated’ in the restorative waters – 30% salt and other minerals (vs. 2% for your average ocean saline content). We were warned not to put our heads under water since it could be lethal. We smeared ourselves with the black mud along the shoreline, let it bake to a crisp crust then eased into the waters. The mud stung my face – like a bad sunburn – drawing out toxins and floating in the water was surprisingly easy. In fact some in our group had trouble putting their feet down. We felt great after our afternoon spa and even thought we looked younger!!
The day was capped off by a moving service of Shabbat at a Jerusalem synagogue known for its singing and informal style of worship. The pews were packed by the second prayer – children milled about everywhere and teenagers with seniors looking about in delight. Once again though we didn’t know the words we understood the meaning of what we were doing and communed with the worshippers. Tomorrow ‘free time’ in the Old City.
Photo Atrribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seiffert/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0;