Today is our second day waking up on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. And our last day here. We spent Day One walking the Old City of Jerusalem, and in the interest of variety Day Two will be spent on an excursion to Masada and the Dead Sea. Nice balance, no? One day in the city, another day in the country.
I thought it was about time that I showed you the delights of the buffet itself, and not just the results once they are on the table.
Like so. See that big plate of fruit? I was thinking that starting every day with a ton of fruit would make my entire body feel better. You know what? Not really.
We loaded onto a bus and headed straight to Masada.
That would be the view we saw from our bus for the first part of our ride. Now the bad news. Barbie feels truly sick. And it smells like someone on this bus, perhaps the cruise ship employee sitting in front of me, has on that perfume which makes Barbie sicker.
Around halfway to Masada we stopped at a gas station cafe for restrooms and beverages. I ordered a mint tea.
This is an Israeli mint tea. Hot water thick with mint leaves. It was actually quite good, and made me feel better because I too am feeling sick from all the perfume floating up from the ships carpets and now filling the bus air.
See those trees? Those really are the actual trees in Israel that were bought by parents in the USA for their kids, as a sort of gift to the kid that he would never see and not really appreciate. But the hope was, of course, to instill a feeling of connection to the newly re-established Jewish homeland.
It took me many tries, but I got a sign that indicates where we are headed.
The drive through the mountains toward the Dead Sea and Masada looks not unlike the drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
Camels! Apparently wild camels cruising along the mountain ridges is common.
Cropped. Can you believe that the above picture was taking with an iPhone from a great distance on a moving bus through that bus's window? I cropped this while sitting on the bus and I honestly cannot believe it.
There it is, the Dead Sea. In Israel they call it the Salt Sea, but everywhere it is spelled in English they call it Dead. I am sure that everyone knows this is Earth's lowest point of elevation on land at 1,338 feet below sea level. At over 1,200 feet deep it is also the deepest hypersaline lake in the world, and has a salinity of 33.7%. (There are other lakes with a higher concentration of salt, but most are in Antarctica where you are not likely to visit.) The math says that the bottom of the Dead Sea is 2,500 feet below sea level, almost a half-mile. Madness.
Cruising along the banks of the Dead Sea.
I did my best to get you a Masada sign, but it did not work out as well as I would have hoped. And check out the bus stop. Can you imagine sitting there? This is one hot desert to sit at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere.
Looking at Masada, which means fortress, you can see why King Herod chose this place to turn into his fortified refuge. King Herod was born in 74 BC in Jericho and he was well-connected and savvy enough to manipulate his way into a throne as the client king for Rome. In other words, this thing the West has done where we invade a country and install a puppet dictator is nothing new.
Herod was brutal and cruel and corrupt, and he knew a fortified refuge outside Jerusalem would be a good idea for a guy like him. A fortress with royal palace was built atop this mountain between 37 and 31 BC, and sure enough the war that Herod predicted came to be 70 years after he passed away. At the opening of the First Jewish-Roman War in 66 AD, sometimes called The Great Revolt, the Jewish rebels overran the Roman garrison of Judea and the Romans had to retreat and regroup, bringing in troops from surrounding areas.
During this early period of Jewish success, a group of extremist Jews from Jerusalem known as the Sicarii took Masada in 66, overcoming the Roman garrison stationed there. Unfortunately, when you win a battle against Rome, you are very likely to lose that war. More on the Sciarri next.
A look at Masada taking the cable car up.
The Sicarii were Jewish zealots named after the Latin word for dagger-men, because they were known to hide small daggers (or sicae) under their clothes. The Sicarii would go to large public gatherings and sneak up behind Roman soldiers and wealthy Jews and stab them, and then blend back into the crowd. The Sicarii are reported by the historian Josephus to have staged destructive acts to force the Jewish people toward war, including destroying food supplies so that the Judeans would be attack in reprisals. They were true zealots. And, yes, I find it chilling to think how easily a small minority can bring about full-scale war with these tactics. It happens today and it happened two thousand years ago. More to come.
I was not the only one taking pictures on the ride up. In fact, the earlier picture was taken with me holding my arms at full-length above my head for a clear shot above all the outstretched cameras.
Back to the story. The Sicarii took Masada early in the conflict. The Romans gathered troops from surrounding territories and re-invaded Judea in the year 70 AD. Negotiations occurred, with the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus mediating, but peace could not be negotiated. Shockingly there are differing accounts of who sabotaged the peace process.
The Roman army destroyed the Second Temple and this defeat sent the remaining Sicarii to Masada to join their compatriots. At this point the Jewish people were essentially massacred and banished from Jerusalem, only allowed to enter the city once per year on Tisha B'Av to commemorate the destruction of the two Temples. The Jewish people at this point became stateless and scattered throughout the Roman empire, mainly as slaves. From the first century AD on, more Jews have lived outside Judea than inside, even today. This is what people mean when they refer to the diaspora. It means exile.
Now comes the part of the Masada story I am sure most of us know.
The walking path up Masada is not what you would call an easy stroll.
Jordan is THERE.
Jordan the country, not a guy I met on the bus. As someone who lives in the USA, I always find it novel to look across a body of water and see another nation.
This is the view of the top of Masada. You would have to imagine it quite differently when people lived here, with wooden structures and even gardens. Back to the history.
By the year 72 the Romans had taken back control of all Judea except Masada. When it came to taking Masada, they were not exactly in a hurry. They knew how well fortified Masada was, and they wanted to do it right. And it is not like the Sicarii could run raids from Masada or have any influence on the area, since the remaining Jewish people were all enslaved or fled into hiding.
The Romans set up camps, took their time, and built a ramp up to the top. It made the most sense to do this, so that they would have a true advantage when battle began.
Members of our group looking down at the ramp that the romans built, stone by stone, to reach the top of Masada.
See it? This 1,939 year old earthen ramp is still recognizable today. This is what the Romans built to capture the last of the Jewish rebels. If you look in the upper right hand corner, you can even see the remains of the Roman camp.
See the square? That is what remains of the camp of Roman soldiers who came here to finish off the Jewish rebellion.
This model recreates what Masada looked like at the time it was built, with Herod's palace running down the hill. It was as luxurious as any Roman palace, with hot and cold baths, servants quarters and anything else a king would need.
The man near the doorway was our guide for the day. As he told the story, he said that when the ramp was completed and the Jews of Masada knew that they were finished, they had a, "genius idea." That idea was choosing suicide over slavery and rape.
I have a problem with this. I understand this desire to have this heroic imagery that their suicide represented the ultimate rebellion against Rome. But I have to think about it this way. Had every Jew in Roman occupied Judea chosen suicide over imprisonment, slavery, rape, and banishment, would there even be 15 million Jews today? No. The only reason the Jewish people are not forgotten to all but historians, the reason that they exist, is because people chose to survive no matter how difficult or degrading their life was going to be. The only reason this mass suicide can be romanticized is because the contemporaries of the Jews of Masada chose a more difficult path.
And my criticism of the Sicarii goes further. The people of Judea who chose the arduous route of survival endured centuries of diaspora, forced migrations, inquisitions and a Holocaust, but somehow manage to claim back this land over which they fought three rebellions against the Roman Empire at the Roman Empire's peak of power. From the year 63 AD until 1948 AD, this land was controlled by others and through a series of both awful and amazing events, the Jewish people claimed back this land.
So... screw this guide calling their mass suicide genius. He should call it what it was, cowardice.
One more opinion to make some people angry. The Jewish zealots who fought against Roman occupation? Had they accepted Roman occupation and simply waited for Rome to weaken and fall from the inside, what would have happened? They would have lived under the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and a British Mandate... until they ended up with their own nation again. In this alternate history there is also quite likely no Christianity with its followers pointing the finger at the Jews for killing their savior. In this alternate universe there are also no Arab Israeli wars, because the Jewish people would have never left Judea would have been the majority there for the last two thousand years. The Jewish/Palestinian problem that makes Jerusalem a nasty little piece of humanity would not exist.
Look at the history of people who lived under Rome and ask yourself what would have been better for Judea and its people? Fighting Rome or waiting it out?
Okay. Time to leave Masada and head to the Dead Sea.
That sea is dead, my friends.
Another Leonardo Hotel lunch buffet in Israel that is edible. Actually, the best dish was the spaghetti and meat sauce.
We did not come to a hotel on the shore of the Dead Sea to eat. I am proud to say that out of a hundred people or so, several busloads in fact, Barbie and I were the first to head to the locker rooms. The locker rooms felt dirty like a junior high school, but I suppose you do not put much into locker rooms when their sole purpose is to get people near massive amount of salty water.
There it is, the Dead Sea up close.
There I am, floating. It was pretty cool. Based on pictures I saw as a kid, I expected to be higher above the surface level. Ah, expectations. It was still pretty cool. The niftiest effect was to jump up and then feel myself get pushed back up much higher and faster than normal, but there is no way to share that in a picture.
A close-up! The good news is that this very nice woman from the ship identified for us today that the Israeli tour buses have air fresheners that blow a horrible perfume into the air. Other passengers were covering their noses with their shirts. We asked to have it turned off and the driver complied. Barbie still feels very sick and I am taking massive amounts of Dayquil to appear close to healthy, but at least we are no longer being assaulted by perfumed air on the bus like we are on the cruise ship.
On the shore you see salt crystals everywhere.
Hopefully this picture demonstrates buoyancy. Hands and feet in the air, but head still above water. Try that at home.
Soon enough we were back on the bus and headed to the port of Ashdod.
Not a bad sunset.
The bus ride home was very long, and Barbie and I both sat and listened to music. And then the following song came up in my iPhone's shuffle.
Yes! The song Israel was played for me, and I got to look over the Israeli countryside while listening to Ween repeat, "Israel, Isreal, is real."
Then it got interesting.
The bus took us by large walls with barbed wire and security towers. It was very dark outside, but I tried to get you a picture of it. After all, not many people see this side of Israel. I had hoped to see the wall that Israel has put up between their territory and the West Bank, and I used to iPhone's GPS to learn more.
According to Google maps I was adjacent to the Shuafat refugee camp. I now regret not being smart enough to make the iPhone snap a picture of the map screen. Boy, a Palestinian refugee camp. That introduces a whole new topic that requires an even more focused two thousand year history lesson to clear up the last century of confusion and bias. I did get pretty involved earlier in the whole the Jewish people got this land back deal. Perhaps I should anger all my Jewish friends by discussing the people who watched an unprecedented influx of immigration into their land and the soon lost their home deal. Nah. I think that one statement was enough for me to kick up the blood pressure of some friends.
We returned home to our floating hotel, parked at Ashdod. Guess what? The map of Israel that they gave us on the bus shows me that Ashdod is just 8 miles from the Gaza Strip border. Another ugly topic to avoid!
Barbie feels very sick but joins me atop the ship to dine by the pool.
Barbie got the escargot starter.
I started with a soup of some sort.
Barbie got the lamb chops.
I got a salmon of some sort.
See. Food descriptions are much better when I take a picture of the menu.
Until tomorrow.
We loaded onto a bus and headed straight to Masada.
Around halfway to Masada we stopped at a gas station cafe for restrooms and beverages. I ordered a mint tea.
Does this not look like the desert mountains on the way to Vegas?
Wait... you do not see signs like that on the way to Vegas. Are you like me and wondering what the odds are of seeing a camel?
Herod was brutal and cruel and corrupt, and he knew a fortified refuge outside Jerusalem would be a good idea for a guy like him. A fortress with royal palace was built atop this mountain between 37 and 31 BC, and sure enough the war that Herod predicted came to be 70 years after he passed away. At the opening of the First Jewish-Roman War in 66 AD, sometimes called The Great Revolt, the Jewish rebels overran the Roman garrison of Judea and the Romans had to retreat and regroup, bringing in troops from surrounding areas.
During this early period of Jewish success, a group of extremist Jews from Jerusalem known as the Sicarii took Masada in 66, overcoming the Roman garrison stationed there. Unfortunately, when you win a battle against Rome, you are very likely to lose that war. More on the Sciarri next.
The Sicarii were Jewish zealots named after the Latin word for dagger-men, because they were known to hide small daggers (or sicae) under their clothes. The Sicarii would go to large public gatherings and sneak up behind Roman soldiers and wealthy Jews and stab them, and then blend back into the crowd. The Sicarii are reported by the historian Josephus to have staged destructive acts to force the Jewish people toward war, including destroying food supplies so that the Judeans would be attack in reprisals. They were true zealots. And, yes, I find it chilling to think how easily a small minority can bring about full-scale war with these tactics. It happens today and it happened two thousand years ago. More to come.
Back to the story. The Sicarii took Masada early in the conflict. The Romans gathered troops from surrounding territories and re-invaded Judea in the year 70 AD. Negotiations occurred, with the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus mediating, but peace could not be negotiated. Shockingly there are differing accounts of who sabotaged the peace process.
The Roman army destroyed the Second Temple and this defeat sent the remaining Sicarii to Masada to join their compatriots. At this point the Jewish people were essentially massacred and banished from Jerusalem, only allowed to enter the city once per year on Tisha B'Av to commemorate the destruction of the two Temples. The Jewish people at this point became stateless and scattered throughout the Roman empire, mainly as slaves. From the first century AD on, more Jews have lived outside Judea than inside, even today. This is what people mean when they refer to the diaspora. It means exile.
Now comes the part of the Masada story I am sure most of us know.
Jordan the country, not a guy I met on the bus. As someone who lives in the USA, I always find it novel to look across a body of water and see another nation.
By the year 72 the Romans had taken back control of all Judea except Masada. When it came to taking Masada, they were not exactly in a hurry. They knew how well fortified Masada was, and they wanted to do it right. And it is not like the Sicarii could run raids from Masada or have any influence on the area, since the remaining Jewish people were all enslaved or fled into hiding.
The Romans set up camps, took their time, and built a ramp up to the top. It made the most sense to do this, so that they would have a true advantage when battle began.
A panorama that shows the Roman ramp to the left and our group to the right.
I have a problem with this. I understand this desire to have this heroic imagery that their suicide represented the ultimate rebellion against Rome. But I have to think about it this way. Had every Jew in Roman occupied Judea chosen suicide over imprisonment, slavery, rape, and banishment, would there even be 15 million Jews today? No. The only reason the Jewish people are not forgotten to all but historians, the reason that they exist, is because people chose to survive no matter how difficult or degrading their life was going to be. The only reason this mass suicide can be romanticized is because the contemporaries of the Jews of Masada chose a more difficult path.
And my criticism of the Sicarii goes further. The people of Judea who chose the arduous route of survival endured centuries of diaspora, forced migrations, inquisitions and a Holocaust, but somehow manage to claim back this land over which they fought three rebellions against the Roman Empire at the Roman Empire's peak of power. From the year 63 AD until 1948 AD, this land was controlled by others and through a series of both awful and amazing events, the Jewish people claimed back this land.
So... screw this guide calling their mass suicide genius. He should call it what it was, cowardice.
One more opinion to make some people angry. The Jewish zealots who fought against Roman occupation? Had they accepted Roman occupation and simply waited for Rome to weaken and fall from the inside, what would have happened? They would have lived under the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and a British Mandate... until they ended up with their own nation again. In this alternate history there is also quite likely no Christianity with its followers pointing the finger at the Jews for killing their savior. In this alternate universe there are also no Arab Israeli wars, because the Jewish people would have never left Judea would have been the majority there for the last two thousand years. The Jewish/Palestinian problem that makes Jerusalem a nasty little piece of humanity would not exist.
Look at the history of people who lived under Rome and ask yourself what would have been better for Judea and its people? Fighting Rome or waiting it out?
Okay. Time to leave Masada and head to the Dead Sea.
We did not come to a hotel on the shore of the Dead Sea to eat. I am proud to say that out of a hundred people or so, several busloads in fact, Barbie and I were the first to head to the locker rooms. The locker rooms felt dirty like a junior high school, but I suppose you do not put much into locker rooms when their sole purpose is to get people near massive amount of salty water.
Barbie and one of the ship's crew enjoying the buoyancy.
Soon enough we were back on the bus and headed to the port of Ashdod.
The bus ride home was very long, and Barbie and I both sat and listened to music. And then the following song came up in my iPhone's shuffle.
Then it got interesting.
According to Google maps I was adjacent to the Shuafat refugee camp. I now regret not being smart enough to make the iPhone snap a picture of the map screen. Boy, a Palestinian refugee camp. That introduces a whole new topic that requires an even more focused two thousand year history lesson to clear up the last century of confusion and bias. I did get pretty involved earlier in the whole the Jewish people got this land back deal. Perhaps I should anger all my Jewish friends by discussing the people who watched an unprecedented influx of immigration into their land and the soon lost their home deal. Nah. I think that one statement was enough for me to kick up the blood pressure of some friends.
Barbie feels very sick but joins me atop the ship to dine by the pool.
Barbie is sick. I am sick, but at least we are finished with Israel before we get even sicker.
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