Narrative on Masada

The past two days were our first introduction to the MAKOM seminar. We spent time talking and exploring the role of narrative in the way that we experience and relate to Israel. There were some heated debates about the positives and negatives of presenting a romanitsized view of Israel on a teen program and about whether we are being honest with ourselves and others about how we show and what we show of Israel. The whole debate was initiated with a video that the Jewish Agency put together just over 10 years ago for Israel's 50th. It showed Aliyah movement, a war and the horah, an aliyah movement, a war, and a horah, etc and ended with the death of Rabin. It makes me think that if I were to make a video of my 27 years, what are the highlights that I would include? Would I include birthdays, my batmiztva, graduations and awards? Would I include the warts that I had removed in first grade because it seemed traumatic at the time or the lice I got at camp my first summer?... just to show that everything was not as easy and happy as birthdays and smachot would indicate. Then the question came up about what is the role of the movie? Is it to summerize the past? Serve as propoganda? Record history? Entice visitors to come or maky Aliyah? That greatly effects what and how things are added- or omitted.

This morning, after a night not-really-sleeping in a bedouin tent, we woke up before the tushy crack of dawn to hike up Masada. We arrived at the top just as the first rays of sun were breaking the horizen and were in the middle of the amidah when the sun appeared over the Jordanean mountains.

Breath-taking! (and not from the climb up!)

After tefillot and some wandering around the top, we were further introduced to the idea of myth and narrative through some shiur (lesson) type peices about the intense parallels between the personal biography of Josephus and the history that he documented about Masada. How he was told to draw straws in a suicide pact and how Elazar ben Yair arranged for the same to happen with the Zealots in their battle against the approaching Roman army. We studied 5 excerpts recorded from 5 different tour-guides atop Masada. The use of the narrative and the message of each was vastly different. They ranged from "we are a military nation and as soldiers we have to fight for what we believe in (zealots had the right idea)" to "the zealots were worng and had it not been for Yochanan ben Zakai (who escaped from Jerusalem and then convinced the Romans to let some of the scholars out so that they could start a center of learning in Yavneh) then there would be no Judaism, since the zealots all died." I was made to think about the point of the narrative that we tell. Masada, a central and one of the most famous tiyullim (trip destinations) in all of Israel has a lot of history but like with anything else, we have to be careful about how we share that history. With each of the 5 narratives, I saw a connection to something in Modern Israeli history- the settlements (although this could apply to many different issues in Israel and even in the US- ie healthcare). We should disband the settlements, we should protect and arm the settlements, we should move to the settlements, the settlements are a form of terrorism, we should negotiate regarding the settlements, etc.

I see a beauty in starting a lesson about Masada to a synagogue group by saying- we are here on Masada. A place with a rich history for our people. People come to here and relate to the history of this place in many different ways. Soldiers see this place as a call to arms- a reminder of why they have to defend this country. Torah scholars come here to remind them of the importance of Torah learning rather than fighting...And we are here to make this place come to life for what it means to be Jews and Americans/Israelis/tourists/citizens/etc. How can we find meaning in a place so rich with narrative and yet full of myth. How does this influence or effect our relationship with each other, the land and the history?

Something to think about as the MAKOM seminar will continue all year.

Shabbat Shalom!