For the first part of day 3 we left the hotel at 8am traveling 2 hours by bus to go to Massada National Park, a large plateau, in east israel next to the dead sea. To get to the top we took at cable car. There is a path to the top that I wanted to walk but we did not get there early enough and it was too hot.
On top of Massada there is a fortess that had been excavated and partially restored to give a more clear idea of the buildings atop the platuea. The fortress were really 2 palaces the crazy King Herid had built and fortified around 30 BCE. Around 70 CE the plateau was occupied by Jews, they fled to Massada after the destruction of The Second Temple. The Romans came to take it from the Jews. The Jews knew there was no way to beat the Romans so in the night the all committed suicide. We as group put on tefelin and prayed on top of Massada before taking the cable car back down. Although historians arent 100% if the jews committing suicide is a true story it is seen mainly as the symbol for Jewish people to never give up and that Israel wont be defeated. Overall it was an extremely fun and interesting part of the day.
-Daniel Mahoney
Cantor Lichterman 