On Saturday we came back from ten days away from the Kibbutz. This included Gadna, a program to give teens an idea of what it's like being in the IDF, going to En Gedi, lying on the beach in Eilat, and seeing four countries at one time from the top of a mountain. But for me, the most meaningful part was waking up at 2:30 am to climb Masada. Masada is the site of an ancient fortress on top of a mountain in the desert which eventually wound up in the hands of Sicarii group of Jews as the last holdout of the Great Revolt against the Roman empire. After living under siege for three years, the Romans were finally about to breach the walls and capture the Jews. But before this could happen, the last remaining Sicarii decided to commit mass homicide, and eventually suicide, to prevent the Romans from overtaking them. This way, their death was in their hands, and they didn't have to serve under the Romans. After Masada fell in 73 CE, there was never an autonomous Jewish state until the establishment of Israel in 1948, almost two thousand years later.
Today Masada stands as a symbol of Israel's strength. Upon completion of basic training, IDF soldiers used to climb Masada, and they would together shout that Masada will not fall again. To me, it is incredibly powerful that we finally have a Jewish state again, and Masada is a perfect emblem of the Jewish peoples' will to hold on to it. The Sicarii were so passionate about holding on to their land, that they were willing to hold out on a tiny hilltop completely surrounded by enemies. This in itself to me is illustrative of the State of Israel today, a haven for Jews surrounded by countries it often has trouble dealing with. The ceremony for the soldiers on Masada shows that although our situation might be similar, we will never let Israel fall, and we must do everything we can to hold on to it. Thinking about this while sitting on top of Masada was incredibly powerful to me, and it really made me think about the significance of and the necessity for Israel to exist, and also the strength and power of the Jewish people then and now, and how different that is from the two thousand years in between.
Ben: How remarkable for you to have that powerful experience in Gadna and at Masada...this is truly living learning....to be in the land of your people and make that deep personal emotional connection between our brave Jewish ancestors from ancient times to our Israeli brothers and sisters who fight not just for the land of Israel, but for all Jews around the world; they are on the front lines of the battle for Jewish survival, for the preservation of Jewish religious practice, ethics, and culture, and for Jewish unity. The Jewish people are nothing without our belief in G-d, and the one-ness we seek with G-d and with each other.
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