Masada and The Dead Sea

Masada. Worth googling, but I will share what I learned. It is a cliff mountain where King Herod build a fortress and getaway community when he reigned sometime from 36 BCE to 4 AD...



Only actually 6 ft above sea level, but you feel like you are on top of the world.

When Rome took Israel around 70 AD... some Jews fled to Masada and lived there to escape the Romans. They lived there for 3 years while the Romans tried to attack and capture them for their own use (slaves.) After 3 years of watching the Romans below them making advancements they had finally seen that they had two options...to be taken by the Romans and loose their lives or identities, or to take their own lives with their honor. They chose honor. The men took the lives of his families and then each others lives until the last man took his own. When the Romans reached the top of this plateau they found all the remains of this moving and bold statement...These Jews felt so strongly about not allowing their families to be taken, beaten, raped and enslaved they chose death over it. What would you do? Such a vital part of Jewish history. I loved being there and learning about Masada and what it means to the Jewish people.

Powerful stuff. The renovations are incredible. Much of it was original though. Living places, cisterns, the oldest synagogue (they believe), a Roman style bath house(complete with tile and etchings from 2000 years ago!)

Then we headed to the hotel to take a dip in the dead sea!

This place is incredible. In the middle of the dessert, the lowest place on earth...1300 ft below sea level, 33% salt and blue like the Bahamas! Once you are in you begin to float. No need for tubes here. Its so fun. But beware if you have a cut on your skin...it burns. But the oils and salt combine to heal and rejuvenate your skin. I sound like a commercial but its all true.

OK so I didnt share about the Holocaust museum Yad Vashem.

I sound like my dad but EVERYONE should go and see a Holocaust museum. It was almost unbearable to walk through and see what the world allowed and what human kind is capable of. I had tears in my eyes half the time. It took about 2 hours to walk through this BRILLIANTLY created museum. Video, art. newspapers, artifacts. I was blown over. I thought I knew a good deal about WWII and the Holocaust but I was wrong. There is so much more. I enjoyed it for many reasons and I think it is vital for anyone whatever your belief or station in life but I ate it up because ( and this might sound silly) of my love for Musical Theatre. Just coming out of doing the show CABARET I was immersed in Nazi Germany for a few weeks. But I was hit by how much theatre there is that comes from the pages of this history. Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, The Producers, The Diary of Anne Frank, South Pacific, just to name a few. As an actress I want to be able to understand every character I play and where they have been. There is more drama in this era than any since then, I believe. My heart hurts still seeing those images and hearing the stories. I am so very thankful to have had the chance to experience this and in ISRAEL no less. Powerful.

I can not fathom how we as humans can be capable of believing that because someone is of a certain race or religion that they are less, scum, vermin, not worthy of life and liberty. The Jewish people have had a history of being at the end of this spear. Almost unbelievable. We must love above all else. The lies and hate that permeated from the Nazi's (and crusaders,christians, muslims even soviets) tried to take out the Jewish people. But they have survived and the pride you see in this nation from the Jewish people is quite a tribute to that.

We who call ourselves Christians must keep ourselves away from any kind of hate or lies that would lead us to do our fellow man harm. It hurts me to know that Christians are responsible for a large part of the persecution of the Jews. They are our roots. We must remember and love. Ahava