Masada
During our visit to Beersheba for our grand-daughter's batmitzvah we had the opportunity for a trip to Masada, the great natural fortress near the Dead Sea. There we were able to visit the new museum and impressive entrance building that has been constructed since last year. It is certainly an improvement over the earlier situation of merely getting in the cable car and ascending to the top. The museum gives a valuable orientation and shows exhibits of artifacts that were excavated on the site, as well as videos of the primary archaeologist Yigal Yadin.
A notable change from the previous situation is that the "glorified" and somewhat nationalistic fervor that greeted the amazing finds at Masada have given way to a more mature attitude. For example, the finding of ten potsherds with names written on them in Hebrew, which was interpreted as corresponding exactly to the means described in the book of Josephus, the Romanized Jew, as to how the last Jewish survivors on Masada commited suicide rather than be captured and enslaved by the Romans, is now downgraded to a possible correlation.
It is true that most of what we know about the history of Masada comes from one book, "The Jewish Wars" by Josephus, that was written for a Roman audience and is not always reliable and accurate. Nevertheless, the amazing fact that the "three-tiered palace" of Herod described in Josephus' account was found there, as well as numerous details, such as the huge storage rooms for food, the huge water cisterns and the complex system of channels for collecting rain water, and the "false" marble, are all there and are 2000 years old is quite staggering. Also, the remains of the Jewish rebels who occupied Masada for 3 years, as well as the Roman camps and the ramp which they used to batter their way into the fortress are all there to be seen.
During out visit we saw that Masada is a prime tourist site with groups from Italy, Germany, Sweden, Russia, etc. It is to be hoped that these groups will return to their home countries with news of this wonder of the world, which is now a UNESCO heritage site. This should be a counter to all the arguments put out by the PA, our "moderate" Palestinian enemies, that the Jews have no connection to this land. On the contrary, Jewish sovereignty was exercised here until the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 ce and then the last Jewish stronghold, Masada, fell in 73 ce. From then, for a further 1,865 years we had the long bloody interlude of Jewish Diaspora, until the Jewish State was re-established in 1948. During this interlude, the Arabs appeared and conquered Jerusalem in 637 ce, 564 years after Masada fell. Although Masada is no longer routinely used for the induction of Israeli soldiers, it stands as a concrete reminder of the ancient Jewish bond to this land.
A notable change from the previous situation is that the "glorified" and somewhat nationalistic fervor that greeted the amazing finds at Masada have given way to a more mature attitude. For example, the finding of ten potsherds with names written on them in Hebrew, which was interpreted as corresponding exactly to the means described in the book of Josephus, the Romanized Jew, as to how the last Jewish survivors on Masada commited suicide rather than be captured and enslaved by the Romans, is now downgraded to a possible correlation.
It is true that most of what we know about the history of Masada comes from one book, "The Jewish Wars" by Josephus, that was written for a Roman audience and is not always reliable and accurate. Nevertheless, the amazing fact that the "three-tiered palace" of Herod described in Josephus' account was found there, as well as numerous details, such as the huge storage rooms for food, the huge water cisterns and the complex system of channels for collecting rain water, and the "false" marble, are all there and are 2000 years old is quite staggering. Also, the remains of the Jewish rebels who occupied Masada for 3 years, as well as the Roman camps and the ramp which they used to batter their way into the fortress are all there to be seen.
During out visit we saw that Masada is a prime tourist site with groups from Italy, Germany, Sweden, Russia, etc. It is to be hoped that these groups will return to their home countries with news of this wonder of the world, which is now a UNESCO heritage site. This should be a counter to all the arguments put out by the PA, our "moderate" Palestinian enemies, that the Jews have no connection to this land. On the contrary, Jewish sovereignty was exercised here until the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 ce and then the last Jewish stronghold, Masada, fell in 73 ce. From then, for a further 1,865 years we had the long bloody interlude of Jewish Diaspora, until the Jewish State was re-established in 1948. During this interlude, the Arabs appeared and conquered Jerusalem in 637 ce, 564 years after Masada fell. Although Masada is no longer routinely used for the induction of Israeli soldiers, it stands as a concrete reminder of the ancient Jewish bond to this land.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home