Dead Sea Scrolls and Masada

Passing though a tunnel out of Jerusalem lands one in the Judean desert, one of the smallest deserts in the world and in a rain shadow that give it no precipitation.  We are on highway 1 heading east back toward Jordan. The Palestinian are permitted to drive on this road and plans are being made to build a parallel road for the Palestinians.  Technically, this is the West Bank and Palestinian territory but the highway is under total control of Israel.  Again, these opinions are those of our guide, David if I am recalling them correctly! There are large, what the rest of the world calls illegal West Bank settlements on the land around us. They look like the crusader forts looming along tops of  hills for miless.  Most Jews would say it's a suburb of Jerusalem and wouldn't dream of giving it up. 

We are viewing two Jewish groups today that don't exist anymore. The Essenes and the Zealots.  First stop is at Qumran on the Dead Sea to visit the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947 as he was looking for a lost sheep.  In a cave in the side of the hill, he found large clay jugs with the parchment scrolls .  This is the cave where they'd been wrapped in linen  for almost 2000 years.

Archaeologist have found a village of Essene Jews nearby.  They were a small sect who were obsessed with ritual purification and big on good vs. evil in the world.  They lived a communal life of supposedly just men, but two women were found during the excavation.  John the Baptist is believed to have stayed here for some period of time. All of this is prior to Jesus' appearance. 

Leaving Qumran, we went though another military check point since we were reentering Israel--this part recognized by the UN and everyone else.  The Dead Sea is drying up and shrinking at an amazing rate.  Lots of land and not much Dead Sea!

Part of the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan gave both countries rights to the Jordan River which feeds the Dead Sea.  Irrigation is pulling so much water from the river, there's not much left when it reaches the Dead Sea. 

We're on our way to Masada.  This is looking over the Judean Desert at the flat top of Masada.

This hilltop palace/fort started as a palace for Herod the Great, paranoid schizophrenic and greatest builder of his time.  Even though he was a Jew, he loved all things Roman including their decadent lifestyle and tried to emulate it , but out of the sight of the Jews of Jerusalem, so Herod came here to get away and he entertained the likes of Anthony and Cleopatra at his palace here.

This is the original plaster and frescos in one of the room.  The black line in this picture is around every structure and wall in Masada.  Below the black line is original and above it is a reconstruction.  Much is in ruins, but the synagogue remains fairly intact and is the site of American bar mitvah!

The palace was abandoned and in 73 CE,  960 Zealots, a right wing sect of the Jews moved into this place after the fall of Jerusalem when the Roman burned the Second Temple and drove the Jews. After they realized fighting the Romans was a lost cause, the Zealots decided to kill the children first, then women, and each other to avoid capture and becoming slaves of the Romans.  The Roman story of this tells of the drawing of lots among 10 men for the last one to die since that person  will have to commit suicide and suicide is one of the worst sins that a Jew can commit, and this way, only one man would have to commit suicide.  A few years ago, an Israeli archaeologist found ten pot shard with names written on them giving credibility  to the story.  The Israeli Defense Force used to hold their military swearing in on Masada  finding the bravery and resolve of the Zealots something to admire, but now the Zealots are viewed as more of an embarassment and not people to glorify--much having to do also with their behavior in Jerusalem before it fell--they burned the grain stores to make the Jews fight the Romans and killed other Jews who were not militant enough.  Swearing in of military officers is now done at the Western Wall. 

 

A stop at the Inn of the Good Samaritan and a look at the ancient Samaritan mosaics.  The Samaritans lived north of Jerusalem in the area of Israel that was the home of the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel.  There are about 800 remaining Samaritans who write an ancient form of Hebrew, do not associate with their Arab neighbors, consistently side with the Israeli and have a Torah similar to the Jews.  DNA testing shows markers that would indicate a common recent ancestor with the modern day Jews of Israel.  A very interesting photo display of the Samaritans was in the mosaic museum.  

 

This is a map of this part of Israel and I know it's hard to read.  The grey/brown areas are under full Palestinian control, both military and government.  The yellow are Palestine for civil matters, but Israel security forces are still there. The beige/ light yellow area is under Israel control.  It looks like swiss cheese with no way for the Palestinians to get between their various properties.

Last night in Jerusalem.  Of to the coast tomorrow.