Israel, Part V: Wrestling with Questions atop Masada

Out in the middle of the Judean desert there are the remains of an old fortress resting high atop a mountain with sheer cliffs on all sides.  It is called Masada.  It was built by Herod the Great, who ruled the land of the Jews in the last decades before the birth of Jesus.  He was a cruel, megalomaniac of a ruler, but he was also a master builder, who greatly expanded the Temple in Jerusalem, and built a palace on the shores of the Mediterranean.  But Masada may be his most impressive work.

Today getting there usually involves either taking a long arduous hike up the Snake Path or riding in a cable car.  We took the later route.  At the summit we heard the story of a time after Herod, when the Jews made there last stand against the Romans follwoing the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.  One thousand men, women, and even children, holed up and for a time withstood the assaults of the thousands of Roman soldiers who surrounded the mountain.  But finally they could hold out no longer.  They faced a choice:  be captured and enslaved, or take their own lives.  Having vowed to serve no one but God, the chose to take their own lives.  Lots were drawn and ten men were given the horrific task of killing their comrades before until just one was left to bring to an end his own life.  They had burned everything--weapons, possessions, leaving only a store of food so that the Romans would realize they had not starved them out.  Instead, they had chosen their own fate.

As we talked about the story, as we considered what we might do if faced with such a choice ourselves, we found ourselves wrestling with ethical questions including such things as engaging in assisted suicide in the face of painful and terminal cancer.  Which is better--to boldly resist enslavement, regardless of the cost, or to cling to the understanding that as long as there is life there is hope? Rabbi Fuchs and I left the question open for our fellow travelers.  For each one of us must decide such things for ourselves.  Yes, consulting our sacred texts for guidance, looking to history and tradition for examples to emulate, praying for the wisdom to discern God's will.  But in the end, such decisions are ours and ours alone.

Photo:  Steve Fuchs and John Danner on Masada, followed by other fellow travelers.
(Photo Credit:  Roy Gibson)