sunrise on masada

Yesterday, at 3:30 AM, I woke up with my thirty-five new best friends and hiked to the top of Masada in the dark. The air was cool and the snake path was full of steps designed for giants, and halfway up I got that feeling in the back of my throat that makes me think of rowing crew, nearly done with a 2k sprint and wanting so so badly to throw up.

It was drama. We watched the sunrise over the Jordanian mountains and I took hazy pictures of the sky. My notes from that morning go like this: coherent printing, slowly deteriorating into cursive, then illegible cursive, then scribbly black lines, and then a really big bloody spot of black ink where I fell asleep. I woke up when Bar started handing out snacks. Exxxxcellent.

Lots of interesting discussion while we were at Masada about what we would have done had we been in the position of the people stranded there. There was a group of about a thousand people who fled from Jerusalem in the face of the Romans and took refuge on top of Masada. They lived normal lives up there for three years, under seige by the Romans but still essentially secure-- even though they were really stranded, and it was only a matter of time before things got ugly. The Romans finally decided to construct a huge ramp to roll all their weaponry up, so that they could really attack. The people living in Masada could have done something-- they had archers, and hot oil, and catapults that they could have fought off the people constructing the ramp with --but the builders were all Hebrew slaves, their own people taken captive by the Romans. So the Jews on Masada did nothing. When it was totally clear that the Romans would breach their defenses, the people decided to kill themselves to preserve their dignity and prevent the Romans from claiming Masada as a victory. So they did-- when the Romans reached the top, they found the entire population, men, women, and children, dead in their homes.

While sitting in a circle at the bottom of Masada's Southern Cistern, we talked a lot about whether or not we would have done the same thing in that situation, whether or not it was even really justifiable. It's a really hard question, and...well, I don't know. I can't really decide how I feel about it. I'll get back to you.

After we climbed back down from Masada, I spent ten shekel on a frigging Prigat (delicious grapefruit drink but totally not worth the equivalent of $2.50) and then bought some exciting giftage at the Ahava store. Oh! And we made friends with our guard. His name is Ron and he wears and headband and he carries his gun everrrrrywhere, which is actually a law or something but I think it's hysterical. One of our other guards would cuddle up with her gun and spoon with it on the bus. Tee hee.

I've got more fun stories to tell, because that afternoon we went to the Dead Sea, too (it BURNS!) but I've got to go take a crack at my English homework. I'll try and post the rest later.

I hope all is well back home, and that none of you are too angry at me for not corresponding. I'm mailing international postal service mensajes today! A.K.A some of you will have letters soon. Be excited!
Much love,
xoxoxoxo