B'Midbar (In the Desert)

Today we left Jerusalem early in the morning for a day trip to the surrounding desert. A ninety minute drive took us past Bedouin makeshift tents, mountain goats, occasional camels, the biblical city of Jericho, and a lot of dry, rocky earth to our first stop, Masada. We climbed the steep mountain up to the rocky plateau (actually, most of us “climbed” via cable car. But a few of us chose to walk up the winding switchbacks of the Snake Path, with its nearly 700 steep steps. We were rewarded with some magnificent vistas along the way, and a great sense of accomplishment when we finally made it to the top!). The story of Masada and the Jews who chose to die rather than be subjected to becoming Roman slaves is gripping, fascinating, and quite emotional. We marveled at the remains of Herod’s grandiose palace, including the saunas and mosaic floors. We looked down at the Roman road, felt the strong North wind blow, and imagined what battle must have been like under these conditions. And we sat in the remains of the synagogue (considered the oldest post-Second Temple synagogue in Israel), the place where the Jews heard the speech that convinced them to take a vow to kill themselves in the face of Roman conquest, and pondered the meaning of life and death, martyrdom and resurrection.

Our next stop was another archaeological marvel—the caves of Qumram, where only 61 years ago, a Bedouin looking for a lost goat accidently stumbled upon one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th Century—the Dead Sea Scrolls. We learned a bit about the Essenes who created the scrolls, viewed a film and a small exhibit. And then we sat outside looking at the caves themselves in the distance. As I gazed at the rocky cliffs, I wondered how many more secrets lie hidden in how many more caves, and what we will learn in the future about our Torah and its history.

After lunch and a bit of a break, we capped off the day with a visit to the Dead Sea itself. Many of us braved the cold water of the Dead Sea (it wasn’t that bad once you got used to it!) to experience its hyper-buoyancy. It was fun to float along effortlessly, with legs sticking up out of the water. Some of us were so buoyant it was hard to get our feet down when it was time to go! But we did finally make our way back to Jerusalem, tired and full with the day’s experiences.