Middle East Memoirs: Day 6

Date: Tuesday, April 5
Location: Masada and Qumran
Temperature: Surprisingly chilly
Excitement Level: ** (Sorry, I saw stairs)
New Discoveries: Stairs are a direct result of sin. Lots and lots of sin.

Let's review where we've been so far, shall we?

Pyramids of Giza
The Sphinx
The Nile River
Luxor, Egypt
Valley of the Kings
The Sinai Wilderness
Camel rides
Mt. Sinai
The Red Sea
Taba Border Crossing
Somewhere in the Israel wilderness
A mock-Tabernacle
A wadi-washout
The Dead Sea

And the trip is only half over. Oh boy.

And now, Day 6. Today, we began our day at Masada. Masada is significant for three different reasons.

1. This is the place that King David ran to in the Psalms.
2. King Herod the Great, a master builder, built one of his three palace fortresses here as a refuge for himself in an event of a revolt.
3. After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, a group of Israeli Zealots fled to Masada and used the mountain top as a base. This was the beginning of the Jewish Revolt, and in 73 AD, the Romans' Tenth Legion established camps at the base of Masada and began building a ramp consisting of thousands of stones in order to reach the top of the fortress. In 74 AD, the Romans moved a battering ram up the ramp and breached the wall of the fortress. What they discovered at the top, however, was far from what they expected. The Zealots, rather than falling victim to the Romans, had already taken matters into their own hands. Literally. So, what the Romans found was a mass suicide. Because Judaism discourages suicide, the Zealots cast lots and chose 10 men to kill everyone. Then, those 10 men chose 1 to kill the remaining 9. The last man standing fell on his sword. I'll give you a moment to process.

OK. Moment over. Let's move on, shall we?

As we piled off the bus early that morning, the first thing that some of us noticed was a set of cables running from the base to the top of the mountain. Could it be? Yes. There were gondolas. Obviously, those were for “tourists” who preferred to avoid any and all physical exertion whatsoever. Sissies. We were “investments” and therefore, would begin the grueling hike up the Snake Path. Bring it on. I did Sinai. How hard could THIS be?


Stairs.

Lord have mercy.

WHY DO THERE ALWAYS HAVE TO BE STAIRS! WHY DO I HAVE TO BE A VICTIM OF ASTHMA! WHY DO I ALWAYS PACK SO MUCH CRAP IN MY BACKPACK! Sorry. It was brutal, and this picture doesn't even show the stairs that so fondly became the bane of my existence. This picture showcases the wide-I can still breath-steps. But obviously I survived, and now have the opportunity to reflect on this particular hike with such fondness.


The halfway point. I would like to take this time to give a special shout-out to God for sending an absolutely beautiful “sun rays shining through the clouds over the Dead Sea” photo-op, resulting in a mass halt, which allowed a certain someone time to look around the mountainside for the breath she had lost. And once the lost was found, it was time to take another puff of Albuterol and hit the path. After all, it was 8:30 a.m. Daylight was burning, people!


The top! Aside from the “sun rays shining through the clouds over the Dead Sea” photo, I have absolutely no pictures from the hike up the mountain as I was a little preoccupied with breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. At the time, that seemed to take priority over documenting yet another near-death experience with pictures. Now, not so much. I want those pictures! In fact, the very first picture shown isn’t even mine. It belongs to my “dad”, Roger. I stole it off his blog. Do you see what asthma does to me!? I’ve become a thief of pictures! And that’s the worst kind. Shame on me.

We spent some time walking through Herod’s bath houses. The vibrancy of the colors on the wall tile as well as the meticulous laying of all the tiles in the mosaics was amazing.









After a “flat and fast” walk across the top of the mountain, we came to a ledge overlooking a wadi.




Our Rabbi George told us that he usually has his groups shout something over the valley and listen to the echo; however, it was rather windy on this particular day, so he wasn’t sure if it would work. Um, that sounds like a challenge. Bring it on. On the count of three, we all shouted, “Shalom!” And what came back to us was unlike anything I had ever heard before: “Shalom…..shalom…..shalom….shalom….” It kept going and going and going. For miles. It was amazing. And then, because I was the Rabbi’s favorite, he decided to have everybody shout, “We love Emily!” on the count of three. It was at that point that I backed away from the ledge as I began to fear that another investment would “accidently” push me off. And I told George that he was to not, under any kind of circumstances, EVER gift me with a coat of many colors. Because we all know how that would end.

Off another ledge, we could see the Roman ramp.

Can you imagine the amount of man-power that went into building something like this? Ugh. I’d rather hike up a mountain. With stairs.

We began hiking downhill along the ramp, walked around the base of the ramp to the other side, and continued walking downhill until we reached an ancient cistern. Some of us even walked down into the cistern.

Photo courtesy of my "father". That's now two stolen pictures.

During Herod’s reign, as it would rain, water would run down the mountainside and into the cisterns; supplying Masada’s inhabitants with water. Notice I said “cisternS”. There were many. All cut by the hand of man. Again, I’d rather hike up a mountain. With stairs.

Wish granted. After our visit to the cistern, we got to hike back up along the ramp to the top of the mountain as we had a few more things to see before hiking all the way back down.

Down below is what is left of Herod’s palace.


This is one of the Roman camps at the base of the mountain.


And then, because we were short on time, we all piled onto a gondola and were back on solid ground at the base of the mountain in 2.5 minutes. Almost as long as the hike up. Almost.

Our next stop of the day was Qumran. Due to the recent rain, we were not allowed to go past a certain point. That meant no hike up the highest mountain. We could only look. And imagine. And say a silent prayer of thanks. We spent some extra time walking through the remains of the settlements at Qumran and then took a look at some very significant caves.




These caves are the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Later, on our last day in Jerusalem, we would visit the Israel Museum and have the opportunity to actually see some of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

But that would have to wait, because first, we were to make our way up north to the Galilee. The place where Jesus spent most of His earthly life teaching, preaching, and healing. I couldn’t wait.