Masada

by Noya Shenhav,      12^th grade   from Israel

At 4:15 in the morning, the students of Heller High, formally NFTY-EIE, started their day. We grabbed our bagged lunches and listened to announcements. Our tiyul began in the dark at the bottom of Masada. At the bottom we prepared ourselves for the challenging hike we were about to have. Before starting we all huddled into a close knit circle and sang a song for morale, after this we were ready to go.

The hike up Masada for me was challenging but not the hardest thing ever. The hike started off amazing because it was still dark and nice outside and you could see all the stars and the moon. I found it so relaxing to walk and then look over your shoulder and just see the whole sky lit up by millions of stars, I personally prefer stars and moon over the sun and clouds. I was able to be one of the first 10 to make it up to the top. The entire way to the top I was singing “Make a Man Out of You” from the Disney movie Mulan, that gave me all the motivation I need.

Once I made it to the top of Masada I took out my bottle and hydrated because if you don't hydrate then you “die-drate”. The feeling of accomplishment rushed through me. While waiting for the rest of my classmates to make it to the top I went to the edge to find me a spot to watch the sunrise, slowly more and more classmates joined me, we sat together making jokes, taking pictures, and watching the sun wake up. When we look down we are able to see our starting point and the journey we've made. After watching the beautiful sunrise, we had a wonderful Tifillah service led by Sammi and Kate, after that we split into our two classes and got down to work.

When you translate the word Masada from Hebrew to English it translate to “fortress”. This makes a lot of sense because it is high up on a plateau which makes it safe from danger, in addition to that you can keep an eye out on the world around it.

During this time there was a king named king Herod and he had a goal that everyone on Masada could live on the top for ten years without coming down for supplies, how crazy is that! In order for this to actually work he had to make a few necessary modifications. He started by digging trenches from Mt. Hevron to Masada so that there would be a reliable water source. After that he added twenty-nine storage units to hold items such as dried fruits and weapons. The last thing he did wasn't exactly a necessary modification, he constructed his palace. He placed his palace facing north in order to get a cool breeze. There were three main layers to King Herod's palace. At the bottom of his palace he had a guest room that had its own bath house. Going up to the next layer, the second layer, its purpose was to have a place where Herod could entertain his guest, most of them being or Roman or Jewish. Finally we have the top layer, this layer was where King Herod slept, the actual palace.

At the end of the great revolt, the Zealots from Jerusalem (the warrior-rebel sect) fled to Masada. They were able to do this by climbing up the side of the mountain, vowing that if they fell they would do so quietly. They picked Masada because they knew that it was a place where they could sustain life for a long period of time.

In order to make Masada feel more like home after the Zealots conquered it, they had to add a few things. They started by adding mikvehs, the main reason for it wasn't for praying at the temple, but for the women to bathe in after their menstrual cycle, since it is considered an interaction with death. The purpose of this was so that the Jewish people could reproduce. Besides the mikveh, they also added synagogues. The synagogues were made so that the Jewish people could sit facing each other, making it feel more like a community. They already had bath houses, so they didn't need to build those, but they did go and make sure that all the art in them were kosher (which they were) and that there weren't any figures on them. The purpose of all of this was so they could make sure they sustain and Jewish life and keep Judaism alive. Within this comes the vision of the dry bones. The prophet Ezekiel’s vision of dried bones is how the Jewish people will rise up again from their ashes, and God will breathe air back into them.

Eventually, the Romans got their revenge. They surrounded Masada and built a ramp in order to siege the top, but when they finally got to the top they were meet with all 960 inhabitants of Masada dead, according to Josephus Flavius. Even though it is very difficult to try to understand their actions many people inferred why they did what they did. One of the reason people have inferred was that they killed themselves because they didn't want to become slaves as they were in Egypt. At the time, the Rabbis didn't recognize the fall of Masada. All though we do not know for sure why the rabbis do not recognize it, there are a few inferences. Their were people that said that the rabbis didn't approve of what the Zealots did because it was going against the ten commandments. Other people said that it was because they didn't want to say something so terrible about Masada. The last reasoning behind this is that they didn't want to disrespect anyone, but we cant know for sure because these are all speculations.

Today we often vow to “not let Masada fall again.” When we say this it is like saying that the Jewish people will fight through thick and thin in order to preserve our land and our religion. To me, Masada represents Israel and when we say this it means that we won’t let anyone come and take it from us again.