Message from the mount

Masada is more than just a place. Its a myth that sustains Israels ideology

Masada is more than just a place. Its a myth that sustains Israels ideology
Its in Masada that Israel begins to make sense. If there are only two extreme identities in this regionof the oppressed and the oppressorin Masada,the roles are reversed.
As we drove into the desert towards the fortress,our guide Zivit Sari stuck her neck outside and shouted,I can see Masada. All we could see looming in the distance was a cluster of sandstone-coloured mountains. Somewhere in the middle was a flat-topped mountain,the Dead Sea in front and the desert in between them. Then it began to slowly emergethe three terraces of King Herods palace,precariously balanced on the rocks,like the gardens of Babylon.

The First Jewish War 70 AD was among a series of revolts by Jews against the Roman Empire. Jewish rebels captured the mountain as they fled from the Romans after the fall of Jerusalem. But Masada remained inviolate because it was built to intimidate and it was inaccessible. But three years later,Roman General Flavius Silva struck backhe laid siege to the fortress and camped there for months. The Jewish refugees,as the myth goes,chose suicide over being captured by the enemy. Zivit tells us that they left the food storage area intact to show the enemy and the world that they had enough food to last them for years,that they didnt commit suicide because of the enemys threat but chose freedom and pride over enslavement. A thousand Jewish refugees died,defending the last stand of Israel. The Roman armies destroyed the wall around the fortress and burnt the new wooden wall the refugees had built.

The battle of Masada was lost. But the settlers saw that the idea could help in recruiting a force,and Masada resurfaced,and remains as important as it ever was. It is in Masada,perched on a flat-topped limestone mountain,that the Israeli Defence Force recruits held swearing-in ceremonies shouting,Masada shall not fall again,a line from the 1927 poem by the Ukrainian poet Yitzhak Lamdan.
Surprisingly,Masada was largely undiscovered until Lamdans poem generated interest. Then,in the 1960s,archaeologist Yigael Yadin started to excavate the region. Over the years,the idea of Masada fuelled soldiers to do anything; it became a symbol of Israel surviving among enemies and occupied a place in the nations collective memory.

But Israeli historians like Nachman Ben Yehuda have debunked the Masada myth of courage and sacrifice,saying only a few skeletons were found in excavations and the Romans could not have waited out the whole night to get into the fortress,whose walls they had already burnt.
Nevertheless,Zivit has internalised Masadas tragic story and passed it on to her children. On holidays,she packs her children in the car and drives for over two hours to Masada; the children climb up the Snake Path a treacherous path built by Herod to ferry people and supplies to listen to the narrative of the Jewish refugees. They need to be inspired,to look forward to their time in the army. They need to believe in the cause and feel sorry for the victims, she said.

Because this is the age of doubt and doubt corrodes faith,she added. Because then they will never turn their backs on the army and fight, she said. Thats how we raise our children.
As we waited for the cable car that would take us up the mountain and into the fortress complete with a Roman bath and a palace overlooking the Dead SeaI found the narrative getting to me. It was Masada enchanting me with its sadness,its magnificence and its fate. The Dead Sea,the Jordanian mountains reflecting in its waters,changing colours,stretched across from the fortress. The desert was beneath it. The hills closed in on it,the rains had carved the limestone mountains when they gushed forth in the rainy season. This place had everything and maybe thats why Herod came here,lured by its promise of everything. Masadas appeal has only increased over the years. Conde Nast Traveller magazine rated it as the worlds most popular tourist spot recently.

It is here in Masada that I began to understand why Israel can fight the way it does,aggressively,ruthlessly,to defend the piece of land that is a refuge to Jews from all over the world. Dozens of children still climb up to the fortress,their mothers prodding them on,their teachers exhorting them to climb faster.
I had been to Jerusalem,walked along the Via Dolorosa,the path that Jesus took when he walked to his crucifixion; stood outside the Al Aqsa Mosque and watched in silence the hundreds of Jewish women reading the Torah facing the Wailing Wall,the last remnant of the second Jewish Temple. In the Old City,religion hung heavy on us. But even in the tears of the Jewish women praying at the Western Wall,the idea of Israel was not convincing enough.

In Jerusalem,past the security checkpoints,past the heavily-armed gunmen,it didnt take much to see why Palestine needed its own place. This was their space denied to them. In Masada,one knows why Israel needs to exist. Because here I saw how the Jewish refugees struggled to defend Israel after everything else had been taken away.
According to The Jewish War by Josephus,they killed each other while the walls burnt around them,believing that God was punishing them for not being able to defend Israel.
Centuries later,when Israel was reclaimed,they knew they were trying to get back what had been theirs. Its another story that in the intervening 2,000 years,others had come to inhabit the region the Palestinians.

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FAST FACTS
How to get there: Either you can take the Royal Jordanian flight from New Delhi to Tel Aviv via Amman,or board the Israeli airlines,El-Al,from Mumbai to Ben-Gurion Airport at Tel Aviv. It is a seven-hour flight. Security measures are stringent on flights to Israel and make sure your documents are in order. Be prepared to answer a lot of questions.
From Tel Aviv or Jerusalem,you can hire a cab to Masada,stop by at Dead Sea and enjoy the tour of Ein Gedi,a kibbutz near Masada.
Best time to visit: A good time to visit Israel is in November and March. Rest of the year,it is very hot,and December is too chilly.
To stay: Masada is in the Judean Desert. You could stay at rooms at Ein Gedi or more luxurious hotels near Dead Sea,including Crown Plaza.
Dont forget to: Take photographs,swim in the Dead Sea and buy mineral salts,bathing bars and mud. Visit the Old City in Jerusalem and talk to the locals. In Masada,remember to carry water or fluids with you. Food is excellent in Israel and you can opt for kosher and non-kosher meals. Street food is quite good; and Israeli breakfasts are great with their extensive menu of salads.