Masada, Judean Desert, Israel

Every country has its defining moments. Moments that test the mettle of its national character, challenge the resolve of its people and expose the values they hold dear. For Israelites, this defining moment was the events that took place at Masada.

First a bit of historical background: Remember King Herod, the nasty king who killed all the babies in Israel because he heard of the birth of Jesus, the King of the Jews promised to the Israelites by the prophets? Well, it is fair to say that he was a bit paranoid. Many heads rolled during his years of reign between 37 B.C. and 4 A.D. and it wasn’t because he didn’t like his opponents’ haircut. So, what is a fearful king to do? One looks for an isolated rock in the middle of nowhere and builds a fortress on top. Oh, and while we are at it, we might as well add a bit of luxury and make it into a winter palace.

He found the rock on the eastern fringe of the Judean Desert, just west of the Dead Sea. It was perfect! A huge plateau measuring 650 m (2,130 ft) x 300 m (980 ft) extended on top of the mountain, 450 m (1,470 ft) above the Dead Sea. And there was no way to get to it. The rock was totally isolated from the rest of the escarpment and surrounded by natural defenses.

The only challenge: there is no water in the desert – especially on top of a mountain. The Judean desert experiences about 4 – 5 flash floods every year, but the water must be dammed, diverted and collected in cisterns. No problem! After all, what are slaves for?! The end result was an elaborate water collection system made up of water channels and 12 cisterns that could hold 40,000 cubic meters (40,000 metric tons or 10.6 million gallons!!!) of water. Everything was chiselled into the rock and covered with plaster. Sounds excessive? Not if you want to go for a swim in your pool before you retire at night. Then there were the saunas and baths houses with hot air flowing underneath the floor and steam rising up through clay vents embedded in the walls. All floors and walls were covered with beautiful mosaic tiles and frescoes.

However, most impressive was the Northern Palace. Here, Herod built his palaces on three rock terraces. This is where a fresh breeze blows, where you can have a sweeping view of the Dead Sea and from where you can see your enemies coming. The top palace contained living and sleeping quarters for Herod and his family, the other two were designed for receptions and banquets.

Food, liquids and weapons were stored in 29 store rooms. The delicacies in the store rooms included wine from southern Italy, fish sauce from Spain, dates from Galilee and apple liqueur from Cumae, Italy. The dry climate kept the stored food fresh and edible for years.

Now, imagine this: the fort is completed and Herod dies. The year is 4 A.D. In 6 A.D. Romans annex Judea and take over Masada. They station a garrison there and harass the Jews in their own country. This eventually leads to “The Great Revolt” against the Romans in the year 66 A.D. The situation is getting bad in Jerusalem. The Jewish rebels decide to use Masada as their stronghold, they kick out the Roman garrison, take over the fortress and form a rebel community up on the hill. It’s a diverse bunch of people – Essenes and Samaritans with soldiers, civilians, women and children, 960 of them. As they open up the store rooms, they realize: there is enough food here for years to come. By 70 A.D. Jerusalem is destroyed and the Israelis are devastated. In the meantime, the rebels at Masada have moved in and made themselves comfortable. There is no turning back now. They changed the layout of the fort to include ritual baths and constructed a synagogue, raised pigeons for food and fertilizer, they grew vegetables and ate from Herod’s and the Roman’s food supplies.

The rebels were like a thorn in the Romans’ side. Rome needed to make sure that ALL of the rebels were flushed out of their hiding places and eradicated. So, they laid siege to Masada in 73 A.D., built eight camps around the rock and moved in 8,000 troops. Their leader, Flavius Silva, was confident: cut the water supply and in a couple of weeks the Jews will surrender. (He didn’t know about those 40,000 cubic meters of water in the cisterns.) After several months, Flavius grew impatient. He decided to build a ramp on the west side of Masada, push a battering ram up to the wall and breach the defences. The rebels realized: defeat was just around the corner.  

And here is the amazing end to this dramatic story: the rebels, rather than surrendering to the Romans and subjecting themselves to torture, murder, slavery and rape, committed suicide. It was all well planned: the men killed their families first, then they lied down beside their wives to be killed themselves by the last ten men alive. When all was done, one man was chosen by lottery to kill the rest before putting a sword through his own heart. When the defences were breached, the Romans entered Masada to found total silence and the fortress on fire.

In his last speech before the mass suicide, the rebel leader Eleazar Ben-Yair told his community:

“Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself, who alone is the true and Just Lord of mankind, the time is now come that obliges us to make the resolution true in practice. … We were the first that revolted against them (the Romans) and we are the last that fight against them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favour that God hath granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom, which hath not been the case for others, who were conquered unexpectedly. It is very plain that we shall be taken within a day’s time, but it is an eligible thing to die in a glorious manner, together with our dearest friends. … Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted slavery; and after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually and preserve ourselves in freedom as an excellent funeral monument for us. But first let us destroy our money and the fortress by fire; for I am well assured that this will be a bitter blow to the Romans, that they shall not be able to seize upon our bodies, and shall fail to our wealth also: and let us spare nothing but our provisions; for they will be a testimonial when we are dead that we are not subdued for want of necessaries; but that, according to our resolution, we have preferred death before slavery.”

By Josephus Flavius in “The War of the Jews”, VII, 320 – 336

Two women and five children were found alive in one of the cisterns. They told the Romans what had happened.

The significance of these events has been engraved in the psyche of all Jews. Over the years, Masada has become a symbol of resistance. It has shaped the identity of the Israeli nation and sustained its people throughout history. Moshe Dayan, the famous Israeli military leader of the 1960s and 70s, used to conduct night time swearing-in ceremonies for his troops at Masada after basic training. His slogan “Masada will never fall again!” is still used today.