Wednesday, January 19th

Masada
Dead Sea
Ein Gedi Oasis
Qumran – Dead Sea Scrolls’ site


I climbed the Snake Path at Masada today.  1300 vertical feet - or as my roommate helpfully put it, "a quarter mile straight up."  Of course, the actual path is constructed with a score of switch-backs and with stone-cut stairs, making it much longer.  There's a perfectly serviceable cable car ride as an alternative, but some combination of pride and misplaced enthusiasm made me decide to hoof it instead.  (I can't imagine what I was thinking.)  In a pathetic attempt to justify a short rest break, I mentioned to one of my fellow hikers on the way up that the whole point was to make the fortress as unaccessible as possible.  "Okay, we get the point," she answered.  "You think they could send a rescue basket down for us now or something?"

Most of what I knew before today about Masada came from tangental references and from the miniseries, which our guide helpfully pointed out was telecast over 30 years ago.  I hadn't realized that the fort was originally constructed by Herod, the Judean king famous for his building zeal and equally famous for his bloodthirsty insanity.  The Sicarii simply made efficient use of the structure in their attempts to resist the Romans in 73 C.E.  And the structure really is brilliantly designed and remarkably well preserved, from the ingenious cisterns which provided water reserves to the richly decorated tile floors and plaster walls.


We wandered around the site for a bit, learning more about history and absorbing the general impressiveness of it all.  Then we took the cable car down (I can be taught, although this was more about time constraints) and headed over to the public beach on the shores of the Dead Sea.  The water was wonderfully pleasant, almost viscous - and tasted absolutely foul when a splashed droplet landed on my lip.  We'd been warned about its effect on cuts and just generally advised to keep it away from eyes, mouth, and any other sensitive areas.  I'm fairly buoyant anyway, but in that water it was almost impossible to tread water or do anything else except float - the water just kept pushing me out.  Think of what would happen if you tried to float a doll vertically in a tub, and you've got the basic idea.  Still, I could have stayed there much longer . . . maybe set up a cabana and order some mojitos.  Then again, I might have been still recovering from the earlier climb.

Instead of continuing to collect salt on our skins until we glittered like the shore, our guide loaded us back on the bus and headed across the road to the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, where there was more hiking available for the intrepid and beautiful waterfalls and fresh water for the rest of us to play in.  You may have read about this place in a little book we like to call 1st Samuel 24:
When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, ‘David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.’ Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to look for David and his men in the direction of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheepfolds beside the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. The men of David said to him, ‘Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, “I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.” ’ Then David went and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. Afterwards David was stricken to the heart because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. 


To round out the day, we stopped at Qumran, the site of the caves which had hidden the Dead Sea Scrolls until their discovery in the last century.  I'm told there is an actual exhibit of the scrolls in one of the Jerusalem museums, and am planning to go see them over the weekend.


Tomorrow we will take a sharp left turn, moving away from the static and towards living history.  We will be traveling to Bethlehem, which is in modern-day Palestine.  We will see the separation barrier (or security wall) and talk with residents of a refugee camp.  Our group will be split up and fostered overnight by one of several host families, abandoning our comfy hotel for the night.  We've been warned that there is much to hear and much to learn, and that it will be an emotional experience for all involved.  We are not to try to solve problems or offer solutions - we are there to listen, not to fly in with our capes waving behind us and play "fix it."  I'm sure it will be a deeply moving experience.


NOTE:  Our host families may not be able to offer internet access, so posting of Thursday's blog report may be delayed.  Thanks for your patience.