Masada

A day without churches today! We drove south from Jerusalem towards the Dead Sea to go to Masada on the top of the cliff central in the picture. There is a cable car to take you to the top or a walk up the snake path, because it zigzags and it takes sbout 45 mins if you are young and fit! Two of our group walked down.

Masada was the setting of one of the Israeli tragedies. Herod had had a temple built on the mountain because he could and it was spectacular. The mountain itself could hold water as it is limestone which is porous and has caves/ spaces for water to be held! It therefore became a place where Jewish rebels could retreat to escape the Romans! However thd romans sent a j legion of soldiers who built a siege tower and broke through to capture the mountain. What greeted them was silence as the people living there about 1000 souls had decided that death was preferable to slavery with the Romans and had killed their women and children and then themselves! It is a story of courage and is used today as a symbol and a saying’masada never again! To rally the country to offer their service in the army to protect their country in case of war! A sad tale! Oddly no bodies have been found when excavating the site during archeological research!

Next we went to Qumran to find out about the Dead Sea scrolls which were written on animal hide by a group of people slled the Essenes who were a religious extreme! They felt that the people had forsaken their traditions and faith and so they withdrew to the desert to follow their ascetic way of life. They paid attention to ritual bathing and purity! They left a great legacy in the library they kept hidden in jars in caves which were discovered because a child threw a stone into a hole and heard something crack. He went in and discovered the scrolls.

Having looked around the site we had a break for lunch which I had taken from the breakfast table the day before but not eaten.

“Last call of the day was to a Dead Sea bathing sight. The wind was up and there were waves on the water which was unexpected. It was difficult to get in for the waves and there was a wall obstructing the way. We managed to get out there and float but I felt I was being pushed out to sea by the waves and the current so made my way back in! Waited till I got home to have a proper shower! Skin felt very silky when we got out of the water!

Today we left Jerusalem in the rain and came back to jerusalem in the rain.. we were blessed with dry weather when we were at Masada and Qumran! But the wind was strong all day!

On the way to the bathing we say a group of ibex, tomorrow is another day. Need to sleep so will catch up tomorrow! Sleep well