In the book Masada the Last Fortress, Eleazar ben Ya’ir, leader of the Zealots (rebellious Jews), gives a moving speech to the Jews. The speech was to persuade the Jews to not live the rest of their lives in slavery to the Romans but to die by their own hands. In these moments left us, let us choose a noble end, preserving our freedom and maintaining our personal dignity. Since we must die, let it be by our own hands. It will be easier to bear. Let our wives die unabused, our children without knowledge of slavery, ourselves as free men. But first, let our possessions and the whole fortress go up in flames. It will be a bitter blow to the Romans to find us beyond their reach and nothing left for them to loot. Only let us spare some of our …show more content…
While this decision is the climax of the Great Revolt, Masada is a mountain with a significant history, a life, and a death. Masada the mountain is located in the Judean Dessert of Israel. Masada has a wonderful view of the Dead Sea. The history of Masada starts when the fortress was built by King Herod the Great between 37 and 31 B.C. He built two luxurious palaces, a significant water system, exquisite bath houses, along with pools and cisterns. The cisterns held water which were needed for the people living there. Herod also had a wall built around the compound making it a fortress. In 66 A.D. the Jewish and Roman war began, known as The Great Revolt. The Roman kingdom was an outrageously powerful kingdom that conquered surrounding kingdoms. Consequently, the Romans were prosperous. They were so powerful and prosperous that Caesar wanted everyone to worship him. The Jews rebuffed this because they only wanted to serve their God, thus starting the beginning of the Great Revolt. As a result of this action, 967 Jews (Zealots) fled to Masada in 70 A.D. fighting their way into the …show more content…
They used resources such as wood, weapons, and water to survive. It was a goal for the Jews to make life as normal as possible and to not think of the Romans. They lived in fear but they did not let that fear altar their daily routine of life. Women would run the household, which included cooking and cleaning. They also farmed for wheat, fetched water, taught children, and took care of children. Men trained to learn how to use weapons, made battle plans, and learned a family trade. Men would be healers or apprentices while others would study to be rabbis or priests. In Masada the Last Fortress, Simon said, “A wedding is exactly what we need now! It will take people’s minds off of their fears” (Miklowitz, G.). The Jews wanted to make life as normal as possible. They had celebrations and weddings. They laughed even though they were living in fear. The elders continued to tell stories. People sang, ate, and dressed up. They made life
income in this situation was to sell things at the marketplace, and even there, Jews were
...f the major Optimism of the Jews is that they could not comprehend the killing of all their people. They see it as a task that contains no possible way to be fulfilled. They justify it by saying “Was he going to wipe out a whole people? Could he exterminate a population scattered throughout so many countries? So many millions! What methods could he use?” (6). The answer to their question is yes but there is many chances to escape this fate, although the Jews of Sighet deny it.
The books talk about how the Jews got little food and used all contacts to stay alive and survive. They both talk of how they being killed and burned. The thought of rebellion and the shut down by elderly Jews. They did whatever was necessary to survive from there because it was like being in hell. In Maus Vladek states, “ to die it’s easy ...but you have to struggle for life”(122). Struggling would bring you something even better but death its the worst
Rather, they were content to. scrape out a meager living just to have adequate food on the table and a roof over their heads.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Resistance: it takes many forms, from the simplest denial to an armed revolt. The Jews exhibited almost every form of resistance against the
In their daily activities they primarily attended to their live stock and crops and anything else their farm needed. They used the same old tools they had for centuries; the tools their ancestors developed. The whole family work literally all day as hard as they could. Even the children put in their part. The boys helped their farther with the crops and the girls helped their mother tend to the livestock and/or make food.
The Zealots had been rebelling against the Roman Empire the Great Jewish Revolt. However, they lacked proper leadership, and therefore had poor training and discipline, as well as little preparation for battle. Titus, a Roman military commander, was instructed to put this Jewish rebellion to an end. So he surrounded the city of Jerusalem with the Legions, Macedonia, Apollinaris and Fulminata, and had Fretensis occupy the Mount of Olives, which was a mountain ridge adjacent to Jerusalem. This strategy aligned with what was written in Luke 21:20, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.” This unfortunately was a...
They were not allowed to go to any other school unless it was a Jewish school.” (Rossel 54) The Jews were moved into towns called ghettos, forced to live away from non Jews.... ... middle of paper ... ...
In this case, the woman goes as she starts a new life with her fiancé. Before the wedding, the man goes to the synagogue and they throw nuts. and sweets at him to symbolize sweet life with his bride-to-be. Both the man and woman fast on the day of the wedding, like at Yom. Kippur, for forgiveness and the start of a new life.
However, even though the exiles were allowed to return to their ancestral homeland of Judah, many of the people chose not to return but to remain in the recently conquered city of Babylon. There are many contributing factors concerning why these Hebrew exiles chose to remain. Even so, it is difficult to understand why a people, who were located in Palestine for over a millennium and who had such strong religious beliefs and practices, would choose to abandon the location of their now destroyed sacred Temple and ancestral home after being exiled for only fifty years.
In 63 B.C. Roman power spread to Judea, the Jewish homeland. At the time King Herod was the ruler of Judea, he accepted Roman rule and angered many Jews by doing so. After the death of Herod many Jews revolted against Roman rule for 10 years. At this time there were two main factions of Jews, one group, the Zealots wanted to rid Judea of Roman influence. The other group was waiting for a messiah as scripture had prophetized. The Messiah, or Savior would restore the kingdom to the Jews.
...suffering from harsh treatment and facing eradication, they had hope and faith for a better life. A life which Moses helped to bring them following his command from God.
In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen shows examples of how most marriages were not always for love but more as a formal agreement arranged by the two families. Marriage was seen a holy matrimony for two people but living happil...
That is the question—Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep—no more—and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation” (III,i,56-63)
Although what we were told by God, in many primitive civilizations marriage was primarily industrial. During early times husband and wife were not much together; they did not even eat together very often.(The Marriage Institution 1). Their marriages were always planned by their parents and in some cases brides were bought. Polygamy was also frequent in the early history of marriage. Although, as civilization progressed monogamy became the idealistic goal of human sex evolution.(The Marriage Institution 6). In addition, as civilization advanced, marriage became more seriously regarded and the wedding ceremony became recurrent. The marriage ceremony grew out of the fact that marriage was originally a community affair and also primitive man had no records, so the marriage had to be witnessed by many people.