Alex Wang
Day 4 | 2022 Children’s Village Teen Volunteer Program
Today, we began our day in an interesting fashion, waking up in a Bedouin tent in the middle of the Judea Desert at 4:30 AM. The night before was a chilly one, leading to us having traditional Bedouin hot tea as a part of our breakfast that was also composed of crackers. At around 5, we set out in the dark to Masada, a fortress located in the Judean Mountain range. Just as the sun was about to rise, we climbed up the Roman Ramp onto the top of Masada mountain.
This walk was particularly special for me, as I am a Latin student at my school, and the history of Masada was one of the big units from last year. I couldn’t help imagining being one of the Roman legionaries marching up the ramp or one of the Judean rebels defending the fort at the top. When we finished the walk, we watched the sunrise over the Dead Sea.
The sun, only a fiery red sphere at that point, rose through the mountains separating Jordan from Israel. After the sunrise, we began our tour of the Masada fortress. Before delving into the history and technological feats of the Masada fortress, we visited the Southern point of the plateau to enjoy the view. At Southern Point, the altitude of the plateau was exemplified, for our screams were met with echoes of at least 8 repetitions. It was quite surreal, learning about the geographic significance of the Masada in such an interesting fashion.
Before I continue, I’d just like to rewind a bit. On the drive to Masada, we were given the Hebrew word of the day, Meshuga. The definition of the word is a crazy person, but it can be taken in a positive light as well, such as in the case of King Herod and his Masada. King Herod founded his palace on Masada plateau, situated on a high peak in the middle of the Judean Desert and looming over the Dead Sea. Therefore, one of the main issues of building a palace or fort on the plateau is inaccessibility to freshwater. How did the Meshuga King Herod address this issue? Well, in short, Herod was a very smart, ingenious even, Meshuga. We saw several of the windows he built along the walkways that led into rooms called Cisterns, which were meant to collect the rainwater that flowed along the walkways. We went into some of the Cisterns and visualized rainwater overflowing from the walkway into the Cisterns. We also noted how the elevation of Masada and the Judean Mountains was relatively much higher than that of its surrounding lowlands and Dead Sea, meaning that Herod strategically placed his palace in an area that would receive high amounts of rainfall. Although I knew a good deal about the history of Masada, I was very interested in the new knowledge that I gained from being on the site itself.
When we arrived at the North part of Masada, which included the 3 level palace of King Herod, we began to discuss the significance of Masada. Herod originally chose Masada to build his palace to escape the influence of Cleopatra. However, the reason why Masada is so famous were the events that took place after the sacking of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. Facing persecution from the Romans, the Jewish people decided to bunker down on Masada instead of giving in. This rebellion led to a three year long siege of Masada by the Romans. With Roman victory inevitable in the final days, the Jewish people decided to die by their own hands instead of Roman. However, since Judaism prevents suicide, the people of Masada had to draw lots with everyones name. Whosever name was chosen was the person who one would kill. This process was repeated until there was only one person left who had to die by their own hand.
Once the tour was over, we took a cable car down the mountain and had Israeli-style breakfast at a nearby hostel. We then traveled to the Dead Sea to experience a body of water like none other. The Dead Sea has the highest salinity of any body of water in the water. It’s so salty that, when we laid on our backs in the water, we were able to effortlessly float.
Furthermore, the coast and the seabed were made up of salt clumps, painful to walk on without water shoes. We spent a large portion of our day at the Dead Sea, and even had lunch at a local hotel.
Having eaten lunch and visited the Dead Sea, we started our long drive to Jerusalem. Once we drove through a certain tunnel, we had a highway view of the City of David. While the van was moving, we caught a quick glimpse of landmarks such as Western Wall and the Golden Dome, both of which we will be visiting soon.
Jerusalem!