Shellie Day 2: Qumran, Masada, Dead Sea

The Mount of Olives is about 2600 feet above sea level, and the Dead Sea is 1384 feet below sea level.  So halfway down the winding canyon there is a pullout where you can celebrate being the same elevation as the Mediterranean.  

 Here is the view from Qumran with Cave 4 in the background, where the greatest quantity and poorest preserved collection of Dead Sea scrolls were found.   We also saw many mikvot for ritual immersion, a dining room, and a scriptorium where the scrolls were copied and thus preserved by Jewish separatists around the time of Herod.

 We ascended to the top of Masada by tram.  You can see the cables and the dizzying height behind Shellie.

Herod expanded and beautified this hilltop fortress in the grandest way possible.  This palace at the northernmost tip of the fortress had faux columns and frescoes, and you can imagine the lavish way he would have eaten and entertained guests in his warm winter getaway.  There were storehouses, cisterns, and pigeous houses.

Model of the Water System

 Later, Jewish revolutionaries rebelled against Rome and occupied Masada, building a Synagogue and mikvot.

 In the location of the synagogue today a Jewish scribe or Sofer copies the Torah and stopped to chat with us.

He gave Shellie a piece of paper which reads something like, "The Lord bless you with peace."  Shellie absolutely loved this blessing.  In fact the day before she had received a blessing from an elderly Jewish man who handed her a piece of red string, then held up a Torah to her forehead and said something in Hebrew.  

 After the Jewish zealots, some Christian hermits lived up here.  This pile of rocks is the remnant of one hermitage.

 The weather was very lovely, maybe 60s in Jerusalem and 70s at Masada.  We got a kick out of this sign saying drinks were 50 miles away.  Actually only 50 meters.  We ate at a Kosher McDonalds with no cheeseburgers.

 Back at home, we ran to the beginning of our road to snap a photo of Shellie by our sign.