The Final Day

We had to wake up very early this morning to make our ride to Masada. Masada is a rock plateau on the east edge of the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. The site is filled with ancient palaces and fortifications. After the First Jewish-Roman War a siege of the fortress by troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of the Sicarii rebels, who preferred death to surrender. You can learn more about Masada at http://mosaic.lk.net/g-masada.html. Anyways, the plateau is about 1,300 feet high, however, since its neighbors, the beaches of the Dead Sea, are the lowest dry point on the globe, it should make sense that the top of Masada is only 400 feet above Sea Level. So now to the hike. On the way up, we took the easy way through a path that is basically straight up from the bottom to the top (the Roman Ramp) and took not even 15 minutes to hike. Everyone was fine for the hike and we stayed hydrated so we were all fine. Once at the top, we walked around as our tour guide explained the significance of many of the difference spots throughout the ruins. This place was built around 30 BCE so for a 2,000+ year old building, we definitely know a lot about it. One of the more interesting spots to me was the synagogue that was erected and is now part of the ruins of Masada along with a mikvah. It was cool to see how far back in history the Jewish tradition goes. When our archaeological expedition ended, it was time for our descend down. To go down we took the snake path which is a windy path made up of over 700 ancient rock steps in total. Not to sound supper macho or anything, but it was relatively easy. This summer I went to China and hiked 6 miles of the most remote and crumbling part of the Great Wall (see my China blog at www.coryinchina.com). In comparison, Masada was a walk in the park. Well, after about a half-hour hike we reached the bottom.

As most people know, a trip to Masada is not complete if it is not followed by a swim (or float I should say) in the Dead Sea. On the boardwalk by the sea, we had our last Israeli lunch of the trip; Schwarma traditionally. It was delicious and I was prepared for the Dead Sea. The Sea is actually a salt lake bordering Israel and the West Bank to the west, and Jordan to the east. Its surface is 1,385 ft below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface on dry land. The Dead Sea is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water which makes for a harsh environment where animals cannot flourish, hence its name. We went in and, because of this intense salinity, we were able to float. It was a weird but very cool feeling. Even weirder was that when you picked up the earth beneath you (if you even could because it was so hard to get under the water with it pushing you up) it was not sand as I expected. The sea floor here was made up of salt crystals the size of golf balls and smaller. It was very different then the New Jersey beaches I'm used to. As I went in the water, the water would push my body up. It was one of the most relaxing things ever. I was just floating and enjoying, soaking up the sun. I was warned that it would hurt any open cuts or other body openings, but it really didn't. It was pleasant. When I got, however, the story is a bit different. My eyes were burning a bit and my skin was gross with a layer of Dead Sea oils on it. Nothing a little shower couldn't fix though. We had a chance to get back to the hotel after before our closing program.

The closing program was done at the Kotel. We all gathered at the holiest site in the Jewish belief to end the most emotionally draining and amazing two weeks of most of our lives. Sherrie, the lady in charge of the whole trip, spoke to us. She did such an amazing job putting our delegation together. The tireless hours Sherrie spent educating the staff and working with the tour guides and, of course, the time she spent sharing her experiences with us paid off. Sherrie is an incredible person who was an essential part to the impact of the past two weeks that just ended. Additionally, Trudy, the survivor that traveled with us, is such an inspiration. She adopted 101 new grandchildren in the past two weeks and we all have a mutual love that is indescribable. Trudy persevered not only through the atrocities of the Holocaust, but, she was stronger then some of us walked through the sweltering streets of Israel this past week like she was a teenager. Of course, I cannot mention how amazing everyone was without bringing up my bus captains. I was on the red bus and was fortunate enough to spend the past two weeks with Ellen Goldstein and Rabbi David Kessel. These two remarkable and incredibly educated individuals were always there for us. They helped unify us as a group and make this experience easier for us all. Now, back to the closing ceremony. We had a little closing discussion (which I will recap in my final blog). What I would like to talk about now, however, is our experience at the Kotel. The massive beautiful wall in front of me has seen so much history, it has so much prayer. It is such a magnificent and spiritual place. Amongst the prayers I made I asked god something important to me. I asked that I am able to return back to this wall, in the State of Israel, as a healthy man. As a group of boys and I finished we got together in a circle and did, what I would call, a communal prayer through song. We sang a ningun (a melody). While there were no words and no meaning, our song meant a lot. People praying came to us and told us how beautiful it was to see such young people so proud to be where we were doing what we were doing. We continued singing other songs together and then something amazing happened. A man came up to us and said how beautiful it was and told us to come to a car. Unbeknownst to us, in this car was one of the head rabbis of Israel. This frail old man was sitting in the passengers seat with security and an entourage in the back seat. He was obviously an influential and learned man. We were told to go to his window and one by one he put his hand upon the head of the ten boys who were singing and said a prayer for us. To be honest, I don't know who this guy was and I don't know what he said but I felt something as he blessed my soul. It was a sign from god that I belonged here, standing in front of the Western Wall singing and praying. It was a sign of the importance of the two week journey that I just completed. It was a sign from god that I was doing what I was supposed to. Now it's time to fly home. I will be doing a final wrap up blog still but I hope that you have enjoyed reading this and traveling alongside with me.
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