Massada: A Fight to the Bitter End

     Today, after a very very early wake-up we spent some time at Massada, one of Israel's best known tourist sites. We struggled up the snake path, whose name accurately describes the narrow, winding trail up the mountain, just in time to catch the sun rising over the Dead Sea. A few students then led us in shacharit (the morning prayer). Even though I've done it nearly a dozen times, praying on Massada at sunrise is an incredibly beautiful experience. It's one of those things that never seems to get old. I can only imagine how meaningful it must have been for the students.

An Overview of Massada, with the Roman ramp in the foreground

     Having arrived, enjoyed the view and prayed, we then began class. While we were looking out over the Dead Sea the students noticed that it's actually two smaller bodies of water. This is because, over the last few dozen years the Dead Sea has been drying up. The various countries bordering the Jordan River (including Israel), which feeds into the Dead Sea, have been extracting the water for domestic uses, with the result that less and less water arrives at the Dead Sea. Several solutions have been proposed to try and mitigate issue. One of the main solutions Israel has employed is to try and find alternative sources of water, allowing more of the water from the Jordan River to flow into the Dead Sea. For example, a large percentage of our water comes from desalination; and we lead the world in the percentage of waste water that is treated and reused (Israel does this with ~70% of our water, second place in the world is Spain at around 25%).
     These attempts to increase the flow of the Jordan have so far proven to not be enough. As a result, a project called the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal, which has been floating around for years, was recently approved. The idea is to build a canal from the Red Sea, at the Southern tip of Israel, to the Dead Sea. Since the Red Sea is at sea level (surprise!) and the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, mostly it will be gravity doing the work. In theory, Israel, together with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, will use the downward flow of the water to generate electricity, which will be used to desalinate part of the water for the desert communities in the region. The remaining very salty water will then flow into the Dead Sea. All of this sounds great, but it is likely to be expensive, require the cooperation of multiple entities among Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, and will have a variety of environmental and social consequences that we're still trying to evaluate. Basically, it sounds great, but it's in the early stages and who knows what will happen.
     Massada itself seems to have been some sort of fortress for thousands of years. It overlooks the Dead Sea, always a site of curiosity and mineral wealth. It's also on the road to Ein Gedi, an important nearby oasis in ancient times, both for its springs and for the special perfume that was created there. But most of the ruins that we see today are from the time of Herod the Great, the brilliant, crazy, paranoid "King of the Jews" from 37-4 BCE. As part of his paranoia he built multiple fortresses outside of Jerusalem, just in case there was an uprising and he needed to flee. He also worried that perhaps Cleopatra, the charming, charismatic (though, according to the historical record, not beautiful) ruler of Egypt would convince one of the Roman leaders (whom she was in the habit of seducing) to giver her part of Herod's kingdom. In another situation, you might expect Massada to have simply been a military fortress, but not when Herod's in charge. He built himself multiple palaces, including an especially spectacular multi-tiered one on the northern edge of the mountain. Also, as an avid Hellenist, he couldn't live without a traditional Roman bath house, which he installed even though he was in the middle of the desert Even today it's clear what a beautiful, extravagant place Massada must have been in Herod's time.

A model of Herod's Northern Palace 

Remains of Herod's Northern Palace

     Several dozen years after Herod his desert fortress was appropriated by Zealots (the sect of Jews who supported an armed revolution against the Romans) fleeing Jerusalem during the Great Revolt. According to Josephus (the historian upon whom much of our Second Temple period knowledge is based) about 1000 Zealots inhabited Massada and continued to hold out against the Romans until the year 73 (three years after the destruction of Jerusalem and Beit HaMikdash). We spent a couple of hours walking around the site, trying to understand how first Herod and then the Zealots were able to live in the middle of the desert (I think the students will agree the system of aqueducts that brought water to Massada was particularly impressive).
     Unfortunately, the story of Massada has a very bitter end, as many of the students already knew. After a lengthy siege the Romans finally built an enormous ramp (which you can see on the first picture up above), allowing them access to the mountain top. Before they could finally break through the Zealots decided to commit mass homicide, drawing lots to determine which ten people would kill the rest of the community. One of the final ten then killed the other nine and then, finally, committed suicide.
     On the one hand, these Zealots were incredibly brave and committed. They really meant it when they said "Give me liberty or give me death." (obviously a misappropriated quote from the American Revolution and not an actual quote from the Zealots) I find it easy, in general, to respect people who have the courage to act in accordance with their beliefs. When Jews began returning to Israel in the modern era (~1880) trying to shed the image of the "ghetto Jew" and create a new, strong independent identity, the story of Massada spoke to them. For many years the IDF held swearing-in ceremonies on Massada, in which they would say "Massada will not fall again. The people of Israel live."
     But it also seems reasonable to think about the Zealots as religious/nationalist extremists who dragged Am Yisrael into a war we had no chance of winning. This is especially true given the fact that the Roman Empire, on the whole, was a reasonably tolerant place to live. When we think about it like this, the story of Massada sounds very different. If, today, we heard about a group of religious extremists in Pakistan (or anywhere else) who barricaded themselves into a fort, held out as long as they could, and then committed mass homicide (including women and children) in order to avoid captivity it's hard for me to believe we'd have the same respect that we tend to have for the defenders of Massada (and of course the situations aren't 100% the same).
     Do you think the Zealots, given their options, made the right decision by committing mass homicide? Do you think they were brave, noble Jews, or crazy, religious/nationalist fanatics? Is it possible to respect them and denigrate them at the same time? Should Massada be such an important, respected site in Israel?