THE MASADA in Israel's History and Today

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

One mile West of the Dead Sea lies a lofty, isolated rock in Israel.  It's called Masada.  It's where all the IDF are sworn into the service of becoming the Israel Defense Force.  Why here?  Because of its history of Zealots being the last to stand for Israel.                                                                    

 Zealots were a Jewish political party in 2nd Temple Times founded in 6CE b Judah the Galilean and Zadok the high priest who demanded non-compliance with the Roman demand for a census which was their assessment of property on the grounds that this would constitute an acknowledgment of subjection.  Most likely they joined or already were Essenes who were living in caves.  They claimed that the sole ruler of the Jewish nation was G-d.  Their numbers were increasing.          

Their presence endangered another group, the Sicarii, a rebel group in the late 2nd Temple Period.  They were called after the dagger (sica-Latin) that they carried beneath their clothes.  They were against those desiring peace with Rome because of what they would be forced to lose in the process-their own religion, Judaism.  Menahem ben Jair and ELEAZAR BEN JAIR were known Sicarii.  

During the period immediately preceding the revolt against Rome in 66 CE, the Zealots won adherents from all social strata.  After the conflict with Rome had been sparked off, Menahem, son of Judah the Galilean, a member of the Sicarii, went to Jerusalem and appears to have claimed messianic status, and was slain by the captain of the Temple, Eleazar ben Hananiah.  His comrades, led by his kinsman, Eleazar Ben Jair, fled the city to Masada.   

                                                                 

It was originally a fortified area by the Judean king Alexander Yannai who was also the Cohen-the high priest,  who reigned 103-76 BCE, who was the son of John Hyrcanus, a Hashmonean of our Chanukah days,  and then served as a refuge for King Herod's family in 40 BCE when it was unsuccessfully besieged by Antigonus Mattathias.  Later, Herod built a palace there.                                   

Masada is on a massive plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. A cable car and a long, winding path climb up to the fortifications, built around 30 B.C.E.  Among the ruins are King Herod's Palace, which sprawls over 3 rock terraces, and a Roman-style bathhouse with mosaic floors.  Recognizing the defensive advantages of Masada, Herod built his complex there as a winter escape and haven from enemies, complete with castle, storerooms, cisterns and a foreboding wall.   

                                                                   

                      

It became a Roman garrison.  It was annihilated by the zealot,  Eleazar ben Jair in 66 CE and Masada was a Zealot fortress  Rome destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's 2nd Temple in 70 CE.  Zealots had escaped to this high mountainous fortress with their wives and children who lived up there until the Romans came for them, ready to kill them all as they had done to Jerusalem.  The Zealots held out until 73.  What happened then was formidable.  The garrison of 960 Zealots and their wives and children under Eleazar, committed suicide in order to avoid capture by the Romans who were sure to do more savagery than just kill them with one blow.  They expected the worst; punishment for living.  Books have been written about it.  The one I read told of an older woman and child who was left alive, and the Romans let them live.                                              

Led by Flavius Silva, a legion of 8,000 Romans built camps surrounding the base, a siege wall, and a ramp on a slope of the Western side of the mountain made of earth and wooden supports. (Peter O'Toole on TV)

After several months of siege without success, the Romans built a tower on the ramp to try and take out the fortress’s wall. When it became clear that the Romans were going to take over Masada, on April 15, 73 A.D., on the instructions of Ben Yair, all but two women and five children, who hid in the cisterns and later told their stories, took their own lives rather than live as Roman slaves.                        

According to Josephus’s account in The Wars of the Jews: “They had died in the belief that they had left not a soul of them alive to fall into Roman hands; The Romans advanced to the assault … seeing none of the enemy but on all sides the awful solitude, and flames within and silence, they were at a loss to conjecture what had happened here encountering the mass of slain, instead of exulting as over enemies, they admired the nobility of their resolve.”

In later centuries, the site became a Roman post, a Byzantine chapel, and a Crusader stronghold.  A survey in 1955-6 uncovered the remains of Herod's palace as well as another palace dating from the Hasmonean Period. 

In 1963-5, extensive excavations were under Yigael Yadin--and the finds included scroll fragments and the site of the earliest known synagogue in Israel. 

Now an Israeli national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the 840-acre complex holds well-preserved ruins attesting to the history of the ancient kingdom of Israel and the courage of its people in the face of a Roman siege.  The Masada Museum has archaeological exhibits and recreations of historical scenes for today's visitors.  

Resource:  

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-new-political-religious-judean.html

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/masada

What is Jerusalem's Temple Mount? Why All the Violence?

Nadene Goldfoot                                          

The Temple Mount is the site on Mount Moriah where King Solomon(961-920 BCE)  built the first Temple which was used as a shrine for the ARK, the sacred vessels and offerings.  It was built with a court for worshippers.

In 586 BCE, about 375 years later, the Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed this most special temple and took away captives where they mourned for their land in Babylon.  They were able to return after many years and rebuild it on the very same spot along with those that were able to remain.  This is referred to as the Second Temple.
                                                                       
The Temple was in use until 70 CE when the Romans burned it down along with the rest of the city.  That means it stood for almost 900 years on the same original spot which was so special to them all.  The Romans later built a Roman temple to their many gods on the site.  Then, since the Muslim period, a mosque has stood there.  Titus had led the Roman army in the temple's destruction, leaving only the Wall which has become the only holy site left for Jews to remember their history and to pray near.  It used to be called the "Wailing Wall."
                                                                             

This Mosque of Omar stands right in the center of the Temple area
and is called (al-Harim ash-Sherif.  It was built by Clih Abd al-Malik in
738 to replace the temporary one built by Caliph Omar a century earlier.  

We see the Mosque of Omar (Dome of the Rock)  there today. Omar was the 2nd caliph and ruled from 634 to 644.  During his era, he conquered several ancient Jewish communities. such as Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia.  Most Jews were expelled from northern Arabia through his orders.  He originated the Poll tax assuring Jews and Christians protection in return of the money.  Along with protection, he gave them restrictions such as not serving in public office, wearing of distinctive different clothing so as to know who they were, not allowing any house of worship to be built, etc, etc.
                                                                         

This 2nd mosque built in the Temple area of Jerusalem was by caliph abd el-Malik in the
8th century and called El Aksa, or the farthest from Mecca.  It was to mark the site of the legendary flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Jerusalem.  

King Herod I (73 -4 BCE) was king of Judea by connection with the Romans.  He was the son of an Idumean, Antipater and his Nabatean wife, Cypros.   Idumea was also called Edom and Mount Seir, laying south of the Dead Sea and bordering on the Red Sea at Elath and Ezion Geber.  They were originally descendants of Esau and of Semitic origin and lived by hunting.   He had rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem on a magnificent scale and had erected the 2 new cities of Sebaste and Caesarea.  He was also a cruel king and a heavy taxer.  He executed dissidents.  The Sanhedrin called him on that and had sentenced him to death for it, but he was saved by Hyrcanus and Sextus Caesar, the governor of Syria.

The Temple Mount is a 37 acre tract of land on Mt. Moriah where Abraham (1948 BCE of 2nd millennium BCE) was told by G-d to sacrifice Isaac.  Of course, the Muslim story is that he was to sacrifice Ishmael.  The fact is that Muhammad (570-632 CE) lived about 2,000 years after Moses had written this fact in his Five Books of Moses, that make up the Tanakh which are the first books found in the "Old Testament."  There were many Jewish tribes living in Medina at that time and used to tell their stories out loud and outside where others could listen.  This has been a favorite story for Jews.

King David (1010-970 BCE)  was Solomon's father.  The Jebusites were a Canaanite people living in the hill region around Jerusalem which they called Jebus.  Joshua, when entering Canaan, had defeated a Jebusite-led coalition, but Jerusalem was occupied during the reign of David, which was then the only time.  David bought the threshing floor belonging to the Jebusite king, Araunah, and this story is found in (II Sam.24:15).  The Jebusites were able to stay in Jerusalem under David and became tributary under his son, King Solomon.  They became assimilated into the Jewish population.  Of course this threshing floor was the spot of Isaac's near-sacrifice, right on Mt. Moriah.
                                                                     

Another stabbing attack victim on ground

The Bible indicates that a third temple will be built on or near the site of Solomon’s temple (Daniel 9:27). This would seem to present a problem given the political obstacles that stand in the way: the religious activities on the Temple Mount are currently controlled by the Supreme Muslim Council of Jordan (the Waqf).   With the latest development of violence, the IDF are now taking over the security of the visitors.
                                                                          

On the attack 

Of course the Pope is blaming Israel instead of the stabbers who are the Muslims.  "The violence the Pope is referring to began ten days ago when three Palestinian terrorists murdered two Druze Israeli policemen while they guarded the entrance to the Temple Mount. The Israeli police entered the site and, after a gun battle, killed the three terrorists."
                                                                     

Jews praying at the Wall in Jerusalem

I must say that Israel has absolutely nothing to gain by the violence that has been going on on the Temple Mount.  It was Moshe Dayan at the end of the 1967 War-started by all the surrounding Muslim countries  attacking and Israel winning-quite the miracle considering the odds who decided on giving Jordan's religious leaders the reign of rule on the Temple Mount because of the mosque there.  Dayan had fought through the 6 days as a leader and was tired.  He didn't want to stir up their neighbors anymore than what they had just gone through.  He didn't realize their their religious leaders could be so nasty as to not even allow Jews to pray there.  They haven't been able to move their lips in prayer.  
                                                               

This American Jew intended to pray near the Temple.  He's a gingy (red-head) , like
King David was said to have been. 

       Even my relative, Stanley Goldfoot of Jerusalem and his group which was all about the Temple Mount, had not been happy about it.  But they didn't react.  The Muslims have been slashing Jews far too long on this holy site for just being available to stab and it has been going on far too long.  This incident must have been the final straw.  Stanley died in 2006.  

Yaacov Hayman, a white-bearded Orthodox native of Southern California, has worked for decades alongside other American-Israeli leaders of the Temple Mount movement. He recently took the helm of a new government body called The Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, which is charged with preserving the holy site and educating about its Jewish history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaxGnuUIeDQ guide explaining  Temple Mount

Read more: http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/376534/american-jews-beyond-western-wall-prayer-temple-mount/.  
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.gotquestions.org/mount-Moriah.html
https://israelnewsonline.org/catholic-churches-in-jerusalem-blame-israel-for-muslim-violence-deny-biblical-roots-of-temple-mount/#.WXartIjyuUl
http://www.walkingwithawareness.com/picturesIs4.htm