Negev Part Gimmel

This field study was by far the most fun and the most exhausting! We got up early to get on the road and drive to the base of Masada. Once we got there we began to climb. It was nice to have already hiked up that wadi beforehand, because after that Wadi, this seemed like it wasn’t going to be a big deal. We hiked up the Roman Siege ramp. It was really cool to be able to see where the camps had been that surrounded Masada. I was asking my professor about how a siege ramp would be built and why the Israelites at the top of Masada did nothing about it. I had this picture in my mind of Monty Python and the Holy Grail of the Israelites taunting the Romans while they were building the ramps tell them that their “mothers were hamsters and their fathers smelled of elderberries.” I didn’t understand why the Israelites would let the Romans build a ramp in the first place. But then my professor said that it was because the Romans most likely used slaves to build the ramps and their slaves were Israelites. So, the Israelites at Masada would and could not do anything to the people building the ramp because they were their brothers, cousins, fathers, etc… Masada was amazing and reading the stories of Josephus at the top was incredible. Josephus writes a story of the Jews living at Masada knowing that the siege was coming and they could not do anything about it. So they had a meeting and the leader of the group decided that it would be better to die than have the Romans steel the wives and children violently and kill the men, so the men had to kill their wives and children and then kill themselves and burn everything that could be looted by the soldiers. Josephus painted the people of Masada as these valiant Jews. You may wonder, well, how did Josephus get the story if everyone died? Well, it was said that a few women and children survived and told the story to the soldiers who came up to siege. After exploring the cisterns and palaces of Masada, it was time to climb down the other side of the cliff. Holy Toledo Cow! It was forever down. But amazing! Then we went to the Dead Sea to go swimming! It was one thing I was looking so forward to! The Dead Sea is super slimy and gross and you are so darn buoyant. It is like you are surrounded by life jackets. It is really funny because you can’t really control our body. You randomly roll over and have a hard time keeping your balance. I really don’t recommend tasting the water. I did it a few times because it splashed on to my face. The water is so salty and nasty and minerally (I don’t think that’s an actual word, but go with me on this one). It is disgusting! And it burns. Ouch! After that we went across the highway to En Gedi springs. This was absolutely beautiful! There were waterfalls and gorgeous pools of fresh water where we hiked up to and went swimming! It was amazing! It is so cool because they are surrounded by desert wilderness, but wherever the water mist hits is green. So beautiful! After the springs we went over to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. It was a pretty neat place and so awesome to see the different caves where they were found. Then we climbed (because that is what we do) up a rock crag to the top to hang out and take pictures. It was a blast! It was really hard… and my pants ripped on the sharp rock on the inseam near my knee, but it was fun!