Israel Trip: Day 10

Me on top of Masada overlooking the Dead Sea to the North

So, this is the 10th and final ISrael trip update. I hope these updates were interesting and enjoyable, and more or less readable considering how fast I wrote them and put them up.

Jim/Hopps

For our final day in Israel we left the Bedouin camp and drove north along the Dead Sea to just south of En Gedi, the spring near where David fled from Saul, to the mountain fortress of Masada. Masada is a fortress built on top of a butte, a stand alone mountain top separated from near by hills standing far above the Dead Sea Valley, while it is only 50-100 feet above sea level, the Dead sea is nearly 1800 feet below sea level.

Masada from the West with the Roman ramp leading to it (It was wider and higher when used)

It is thought to have been first constructed by Jonathan the brother for Judah the Maccabee, it was especially fortified by Herod the great during the first century AD as a stronghold for him to flee to in case of a Jewish revolt. It is most well known because Jewish rebels took it by surprise from a Roman garrison when the Romans were quelling the Jewish rebellion around 70AD. This was the last Jewish stronghold to fall to the Romans. The Romans surrounded it and built a siege wall and eight encampments around it to ensure no one could get in or out.

The square is the remains of a Roman encampment, in front of it is the siege wall

They then used 30,000 Jewish slaves to build a ramp up the side of the mountain to allow siege equipment up. The Jewish slaves were used for many tasks, about 5,000 of them daily would walk several miles north to the spring at En Gedi to bring water back for the camp. When the Romans had the ramp built and started using siege equipment the Jews built a construction of two layers of wooden beams with sand in between behind the area being battered to act as a shock absorber. So, the Romans fired flaming arrows to burn it, but the wind was blowing the wrong direction and blew it back towards the Romans, the Jews were ecstatic about this change in fortune. However, the wind changed abruptly and burned the defensive structure away. The Jewish leader, playing on the emotions of the moment, spoke to the men and convinced them to not let themselves be captured by the Romans, that the Romans would abuse them and their families, death wasn't the issue, they wanted to die free. So 10 men were picked to kill everyone, and then lots were drawn for one man to kill the rest and then kill himself. This was very much against the Jewish beliefs, there is no stipulation in the Jewish religion for killing other Jews or yourself unless being forcibly made to change your religion. Even on the very important day of atonement, Yom Kippur, fasting is the very important custom, but if a doctor says you need to eat or you might die, then you must eat. When the Romans made their way into Masada the next day they were surprised to find all the Jews dead, they were not expecting that, they acted more like the Romans would have. Masada was rediscovered in 1838 by Edward Robinson though it wasn't excavated until later. Masada is kind of like remember the Alamo was to the Texans, it is a symbol of Israel, it is their saying that Masada shall never fall again, though of course there are many opinions as to how this should be accomplished. This is a place that every single Jewish school kid will visit at some point in his education. As was mentioned when I spoke about the Holocaust museum, for the Jews, if you say you will kill them, they will try to kill you first.

On top of Masada looking South

Cable car for those not wanting to walk

We got to climb Masada, first from the side of the Roman road, and then back down the snake path on the taller Eastern side.

We then went to Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a very important archeological discovery, they are dated from between 150BC-70AD, the oldest previous Biblical manuscripts were form the 6^th century AD. They include at least portions of every old testament book along with Jewish sectarian communal writings and apocryphal books. This is a big deal particularly for Christianity because copies of Isaiah 53 were fond from before the time of Christ. This chapter is a prophecy of the coming of the messiah which for Christians is Jesus, so this disproves previous claims that this was added after the time of Christ as part of the 2^nd portion of Isaiah by Christians wishing to bolster their claims. At Qumran are some ruins from the Jewish sect who lived here, believed to be the Essenes. They were a Jewish sect with strict laws and purification rituals who devoted themselves to the studying of the scriptures. Some say that it is possible Jesus spent some of the time between 13 and 30 at Qumran studying, since he probably was studying somewhere to become and ordained Rabbi and many of teachings are very similar to those of the Essenes, though there is no proof either way.

After Qumran with our academic portion finished we went to a beach on the Dead Sea and went floating. It is quite an odd sensation to float so easily, It is just like floating in an inner tube, minus the inner tube. The mud is supposed to be very exfoliating and soothing from the Dead Sea, I tried rubbing it on myself, it pretty well felt like mud, but it was fun nonetheless. Being in such a heavy salt solution (28%-30% compared to ~7% in the ocean) causes you to know if you have any small cuts or abrasions, thats for sure. Once you get out and walk towards the showers the water dries and leaves a nice salt crust on you. Overall, quite an experience.

Then we drove back to Jerusalem for a farewell dinner at an old Monastery that is also a restaurant now. We had chicken and lamb kabobs, then we headed to the airport. Once at the airport Israel does things a little differently. When you first get there you get in line for a few questions and a possible interview depending on your answers and profiling. Then they scan your checked luggage, and possibly you might take it to a counter to opened and searched. Then you check in and go to passport control and then personal security, with several quick passport checks along the way. Rather intense security, definitely more to leave than to enter the state of Israel. We had two hours to do it and thankfully everyone got through, though it was close. Me and Chuck Kopp heard the flight was overbooked and tried to volunteer to get bumped since we would probably 1^st class back to the states and a free ticket, but apparently, either in Israel or for international flights, you have to volunteer at check in time, so it was too late sadly.

This was a very fun and informative trip. I am very happy I went on it, it was nice having the logistics organized for me, and the amount of learning from a trip like this, in comparison to a self trip, is vast. Mishi's incredible knowledge of all these things and the previous research done in preparation for this trip really made it very profitable. On a trip like this there is also a huge building of friendship and community among those who go; I was able to meet new people and get to know people better I only kind of knew. It makes me sad to come home, to break up that community, we had been in close proximity for a long time, for 11 days, and now we are split back up to our respective lives. While life must continue, it is always a little sad and depressing for a few days as that feeling wears off.