Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah started tonight. Our guides, Amir and his brother Asaf, told us the story. After the Jews revolt against the Syrian Seleucid kingdom succeeded, they needed to cleanse and rededicate the Second Temple, which had been violated by the Syrians. They needed to burn the menorah candles for many days, but they only had enough oil for one day. A miraculous thing happened and the menorah candles burned for eight days. Our bike group had our own portable hanukkah candles in a short cardboard stand. Here’s Asaf telling the story.

Today was a rest day, which I really needed. I don’t know if I’m still fighting my cold or if the killer head winds yesterday just took too much out of me.

We had a short pre-breakfast jaunt and saw some teenage Ibex.

Little did we know that we’d see a fully grown one on the kibbutz lawn when we got back.

A delightful breakfast (I counted 60 different dishes of food available for us!!) followed by a trip down the road to the remote mountain palace/fortress of Masada, built by King Herod in the early years Common Era. This is where the last group of Jews held out against the Romans in 73 CE. The Romans laid siege, but the 960 Jews decided that they would rather kill themselves than surrender. When the tide of battle went against them, the men killed their wives and children, and then each other. When the Romans finally entered the fortress, they found everyone dead except for a couple women and five children who had hidden.

The site was forgotten for centuries, but someone read the Josephus history in the mid-1860s and began to excavate. Much of the site was found intact. Fancy bathrooms with heated floors and mosaics.

Here’s a model of the northern palace:

And here’s our “history lite” talk:

This place was huge. It covered the whole top of this hill, sort of like a butte. And here’s a shot of most of the group as we sat outside the synagogue.

In the afternoon, I wandered over to the kibbutz spa. It’s a lovely place, with an indoor pool full of extremely salty Dead Sea water where you bob like a cork and a beautiful outdoor pool with great views.

That’s all folks… Off to bed!