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Masada- Mountain of Individuality

"I just want to share with you my personal experience here," our tour guide, Danny, recalled atop the Israeli desert fortress known as Mount Masada. "My older son, when he was in the regular army, some of the best infantry units, when they finish the basic training over four months, they do a unit parade. In the regular units, they do 23 miles. In the really special units, they do forty miles, nonstop. They march from two o'clock in the afternoon, the whole afternoon, and at eight o'clock in the [next] morning, they climb up Masada."

Danny had a knack for telling a story and despite the fatigue I felt from heat exhaustion, I made sure that I was attentive for this one. His syntax and thick Israeli accent made it hard to understand what he was saying at times, but having heard the history from a sabra (Israeli-born citizen), I realized that the emotion he put into his story would surpass any story I would ever read in a textbook. Words that previously sat on a page now came alive as Danny summed up the historical story of 967 Jewish men, women, and children, who committed mass suicide rather than forgo their personal freedoms to the empire of Rome. With his story, the past, present, and future of a culture converged into one. The realization that I was part of this rich culture had enraptured me and sparked a fresh sense of completeness throughout my entire body. As much as I wanted to suppress it while he related his story, I could not, and struggled to keep my mind focused on the story.

"...You should see a mother running to see her son," Danny had continued without stopping for me to absorb piece by piece what he was saying. "He climbed up...sweating. He was standing and when he saw us, you could see his heart start to shine. I asked him, 'How was it?' and he said, 'Daddy, don't ask.' But you could see him standing here with the rest of the boys holding in one hand, the rifle, the other one, the Bible. And they swore that what happened to Masada won't happen again. This is a memory that I carry with me all of my life. This is Masada to me; the place that became a symbol for us as Jews, that no one would put us in that condition again."

It was at that point where the full story of Masada not only hit me inside the heart, but became ingrained within my soul as well. I couldn't pinpoint exactly when I discovered my nature as a person, strong principled and individual, but perhaps it was at the same time I realized how important my Jewish heritage meant to me. This excursion to Masada helped me realize that in a world where people try to match each other, or outdo each other aesthetically, that deep inside of me, my religious principles, background, and identity are what make me unique. True independence and individualism come from being true to oneself and not allowing oneself to be manipulated by others. I am not the most religiously observant person in the world, but I find myself rather religious in beliefs, and that is the keystone of my identity. I would never let anyone take my heritage away from me, nor deny me the freedom of practice. Like the men, women, and children who died at Masada, I too could not compromise my most basic tenets.