THE DEAD  SEA AND THE INSPIRING ZEALOT FORTRESS OF MASADA

From hilly Jerusalem to the Dead Sea (lowest point on earth at 427 meters below sea level) takes close to 45 minutes by car.  The elevation drops about 1200 meters.  It is the deepest saline lake in the world with depths of 306 meters.  The Dead Sea’s 35% salinity – which allows swimmers to lie on their back and float in its briny waters – is also one of the highest concentrations of salt in a body of water in the world.  It is in fact 9 times saltier than the ocean.  The harsh salinity makes for an environment in which it is difficult for animal life to survive – thus the foretelling name.

The relatively still body of water is 50 kilometers long, and 15 miles at its widest point.  Numerous salt ponds cradle its edges.  The huge blue water mass is fed by the southbound and slowly meandering Jordan River.  Its salt concentrations can be attributed to an elevated level of dehydration resulting from the intense heat of the Jordan Valley basin and nearby deserts.  Its shores have been utilized as a source of fertilizers and modern cosmetics, for centuries as a retreat, and sometimes as a refuge.

The nearby Qumran archeological site for instance, about a mile from the Dead Sea’s northwest shore, was the scene of discovery for the famous Dead Sea Scrolls – ancient texts discovered in 11 caves from 1947 to 1956.  The scrolls are widely believed to chronicle through over 900 papyrus and sheepskin testaments widely accepted Jewish viewpoints and ways of life, while others attributed to a separatist ascetic group known as the Essenes appear to speak of decidedly non-mainstream Jewish beliefs and practices.

My own experience with a Dead Sea float is brief and more of an endurance feat than anything else.  The sun is oven hot.  The saltwater grinds at every cut, sore, rash, or eyelid that happens to present an opening (you dare not rub your eyes here).  Lying easily just below the surface with arms outstretched exposes you to the burning rays of the sun.  Numerous bathers coat themselves with dark local mud to avoid this crisping.

Still, the sensation of floating effortlessly without arm or foot paddling is highly enjoyable.  About 45 minutes of this and a few select photos is all I can take.  From the beach level, it is back uphill to the showers for a thorough soak, and then off to the beer shack to compensate for the wicking effects of the salt on my hydration levels.

The day’s real prize is approximately 40 kilometers south of Qumran.  It rises defiantly 450 meters above the Dead Sea.  “It” is the ancient Jewish fortress of Masada -- the scene of one of history’s greatest acts of patriotic defiance.  It is where all present-day Israeli police and military recruits are taken for their swearing in ceremonies.  Easily one of the most historically inspiring spots on the planet, this last bastion of a resolved group of Jewish freedom fighters was selected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

Situated on an isolated plateau overlooking the entire Dead Sea, taking advantage of its remote location and natural defensive posture, the 650 by 300 meter plateau was first utilized as a fortress by the Jewish King Herod from 37 to 31 BC.  During his reign ornate palaces, a stout perimeter wall, cisterns and complex storerooms were added.  Three narrow winding paths from below led up to fortified and easily defended gates. After Herod’s death, Roman Legions were continuously stationed there.

When the Great Jewish Revolt of 66 AD broke out against the Romans, one of the first events that occurred was Masada being retaken by a committed group of zealots called the Sicarii (from curved daggers they wore, the sica), led by Eleazar Ben Yair.  The last of the rebels from Jerusalem fighting filtered into the compound in 70 AD, after the destruction of the 2^nd Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

Three years later, the Romans – masters of siege warfare – surrounded the plateau with 8000 troops divided among eight camps.  A mighty siege wall completed the encirclement. A huge earthen attack ramp constructed with slave labor was gradually erected on the west side of Masada to smooth out a rough natural approach corridor.

From this steeply angled ramp the Romans somehow brought up a mighty siege tower with a battering ram its dominant feature.  Eleazar Ben Yair and his 960 surviving followers added an inner wall of earth and wood to solidify that being pounded by the Romans.  But the Romans soon set this new defensive barrier ablaze.  Just as the Romans were on the cusp of breaching the Masada perimeter wall and guard towers, they retreated to their camps for the evening, confident of finishing their deadly work in the morning.

The Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus (Jewish commander in the Galilee during the early stages of the Great Revolt who was forced to surrender to the Romans but later granted his freedom and made a citizen of Rome) gives the following account of what happened next.

When the hope of the rebels had dwindled, Eleazar Ben Yair gave speeches in which he convinced the leaders of the 960 members of the rebel community that it would be better to take their own lives and the lives of their families than to live in shame and humiliation as Roman slaves.  He writes:

“Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself … the time is now that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice.  And let us not at this time bring a reproach upon ourselves … while we formerly would not undergo slavery … but must now … choose such punishments also as are intolerable …”

We were the very first that revolted from them, and we are the last that fight against them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favor that God hath granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom, which hath not been the case of others, who were conquered unexpectedly.  It is very plain that we shall be taken within a day’s time, but it is still an eligible thing to die after a glorious manner, together with our dearest friends.

Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted slavery; and after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually and preserve ourselves in freedom as an excellent funeral monument for us.  But first let us destroy our money and the fortress by fire; for I am well assured that this will be a bitter blow to the Romans, that they shall not be able to seize upon our bodies, and shall fail to our wealth also; and let us spare nothing but our provisions; for they will be testimonial when we are dead that we are not subdued for want of necessities; but that, according to our original resolution, we have preferred death before slavery.”

Each man laid himself next to his wife and children, and then dispatched them lovingly into lasting freedom.  Then, after choosing clay pottery lots (which remain in the fortress museum) to determine which of the men would in final fraternity slay nine others, they were in turn dispatched themselves.  It fell successively to each remaining tenth man to terminate the remainder, until new lots were drawn and the process repeated. At last only one man remained to perform a final duty.  They all died in the belief that they had left not a soul of them alive to fall into Roman hands.

The Romans returned the next morning to the siege tower high point, confident in finishing their assault.  But they did not see the rebels, instead taking note of rampant flames and a crushing silence.  They were at a loss at first to tell what had happened.  After discovering in shock the rows of the slain, instead of exulting over a victory, they admired the Jews’ resolve and the contempt of death so nobly displayed.

According to Josephus, two women and five children who had hidden in Masada’s cistern caverns that fateful night related to the Romans what had happened inside the fortress  – an important consideration, given how little archeological evidence was mustered in the 20^th and 21^st centuries to support the legendary outcome of the rebels’ fate.

The fall of Masada was the final act in the Roman conquest of Judea.  The smoldering fortress was thereafter occupied by the Romans for another 30 years.  It remained uninhabited until the fifth century AD, when a monastery founded by hermits was established among the surviving buildings.  With the arrival of Islam in the Holy Land, the site was abandoned for well over a millennium until rediscovery in 1838.

It took on prominence once again after 1923 with the translation into Hebrew of “The War of the Jews” by Josephus, and publication of the 1927 poem “Masada” by Isaac Lamdan brought the sacrifice which took place here close to the hearts of Jewish young people particularly.

Without elaborating on the virtues of each of the 32 primary features of Masada, it is necessary for the reader to understand the impact such a place has on the human psyche.  I am sure that all visitors who leave do so changed and further resolved in some personal way.  It is like being a witness to “The Greek 300” at Thermopylae in 450 BC, or the defenders of The Alamo in 1936 San Antonio (Texas), or honoring of the samurai bushido honor code by the 47 Ronin in Japan at the beginning of the 18^th century.

All three situations are emblematic of that deep well of loyalty, sacrifice, principle, and honor that sometimes becomes possible to reach down and grab in times of great personal and collective peril.   The great English writer Samuel Johnson once wrote: “It concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully when he knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight.”

While it may be a relief arriving at your end without remorse it still remains a defining moment to first know that line at which you will give, and that perhaps not far-removed barrier beyond which you will not yield.  We don’t know when or exactly how that moment came to be at Masada.  But its defenders were ultimately liberated in being able to draw and take comfort from the certainty of this line.  Better holding to your culture and values, than capitulation.  Better honor, than servitude.  Better death than slavery.