Up to Jerusalem!

We checked out of our beautiful hotel on the Dead Sea this morning. The only good thing about that is that we’re headed to Jerusalem later today. This morning we began at Masada. What an unbelievable feat of building and engineering Masada was. Imagine a huge fortress built on the top of a flat mountain. This mountain isn’t the type of we’re used to in most parts of the US. This is a rock mountain. The fortress was built by Herod the Great between 30—20 BC. It’s in a very  strategic location halfway between Jerusalem, where Herod spent much of his time, and Edom, his home country. For Herod, Masada was the perfect location to flee if there was ever any danger, like an uprising or an attack. He was a passionate, paranoid and brutal leader. But he was a master builder and sought to leave grand structures as his legacy. Masada was about a half mile long and had pools, gardens, opulent living quarters, and bath houses. Bath houses were so expensive to build, many cities didn’t have one—Masada had four.  

After Herod’s death, a small Roman garrison was stationed on top of the mountain. In 66 AD there was a small Jewish rebellion that began in Jerusalem and a group of Jewish zealots were able to easily overtake the Roman troops at Masada. As the situation in Jerusalem grew worse, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. Those fleeing Jerusalem sought refuge at Masada, growing the population to almost 1000 people. After Jerusalem was destroyed, the Romans destroyed two other remaining fortresses. The last target for the Romans was Masada and it wasn’t as easy to conquer.  The Romans spent 2 months building a ramp. They used Jewish slaves to prevent the people of Masada from attacking the builders. A battering ram was also built to breach the walls of the fortress. As those living at Masada realized their capture was imminent and knowing the barbaric treatment they would suffer, all but five took their own lives.

Today Masada is a very large tourist site and in the earlier days of the modern state of Israel, those enlisted in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) marched to the top of the Roman siege ramp carrying torches before the sun rose. At the top of Masada the soldiers were sworn in with five words, “Masada will not fall again.” Although this is not done by those in the IDF today, it is a requirement for all soldiers to visit Masada.

Next stop, Jerusalem! The road to Jerusalem passes by Jericho and what is believed to be the mountain where Jesus was tempted by Satan. We headed up to the city from the east. As we drove, our driver played the old classic O Jerusalem.

Our first stop was at the Jewish Agency for Israel. It began in 1929 and served as a quasi government until the formal government of Israel was established. Today they work with the government to assist Jewish people seeking to return home to Israel. This is known as making Aliyah. There were 500,000 Jewish people in the land in 1948 and today there are more than 6 million. The motto born out or the holocaust, “never again,” means that Jewish people will never again not have a safe place to call home.

We then stopped at the Friends of Zion museum. Even though I’m a history buff, I must confess that I don’t love museums. I find them overwhelming, often chaotic to try to follow with the story being told. But the Friends of Zion museum gets an A+ in my book.  It is located in Jerusalem and portrays the history of ancient Israel and modern Israel in interesting stories with a hi-tech presentation.

We checked into our last hotel of the tour, the Mt. Zion Hotel. I have loved seeing all of Israel but I’m excited to spend a few days in Jerusalem. Tonight after dinner we are headed to the Western Wall.

Links where we visited today:

Masada: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/masada-desert-fortress

Jewish Agency for Israel: http://www.jewishagency.org/

Friends of Zion Museum: https://www.fozmuseum.com/

Western Wall: https://www.bibleplaces.com/westernwall/