On top of Masada, with the Dead Sea in the background

When we left Jerusalem early this morning to drive east down into the Jordan valley, the lowest place on earth, it was raining lightly. The Judean Desert was covered with a beautiful green carpet of grass and wild flowers, thanks to an unusually wet winter. Our first stop was Qumran, the place on the northwestern edge of the Dead Sea where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. To walk through the ruins of the settlement that once housed the oldest biblical manuscripts known to exist was very moving, plus we enjoyed our first view of the Dead Sea, with the Kingdom of Jordan on the other side of the Sea.

David explains Herodian architecture

From there we drove further south along the western shore of the Dead Sea until we came to Masada, a rock plateau used as a fortress by Herod the Great. Today Masada is best known as the last holdout of the Jewish rebels in their revolt against Rome, until they were defeated in the year 73 CE. A cable car brought us to the top of the plateau, and David – our wonderful guide, whom the students have grown to appreciate tremendously – explained the archaeology and read the riveting account of the fall of Masada as related by the first-century Jewish historian Josephus.

After lunch, we traveled north along the Dead Sea coast to the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve.  Ein Gedi is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible several times, most notably as David’s refuge from King Saul. It is now the site of a beautiful natural area in the midst of the desert, complete with waterfalls and wild animals. Students marveled at unusual sights like the hyrax, shafan in Hebrew, a medium-sized rodent that makes its home in the reserve. We hiked up to some small pools and cooled off by sticking our heads under the waterfall, enjoying the contrast of pools of water in the dry desert.

Floating in the Dead Sea

This brief dip gave us an appetite for swimming, which we indulged with a visit to the Dead Sea beach at Kibbutz Kalya. Most of the group enjoyed bobbing like corks in the salty water, slathering themselves with the mineral-rich mud, and looking across to the mountainous Jordanian shore across the water as the sun grew low in the sky.

After rinsing off the mud and salt, we rushed back to Jerusalem for our dinner with Forsan Hussain, former Executive Director of the Jerusalem YMCA, social entrepreneur, and founder of a new business venture designed to invest in diversity. After a delicious Moroccan feast, we were also joined by Eli Spector ’13, a Rice alum who moved to Israel after graduation and is now serving in the Israel Defense Forces. Eli spoke to the students about his experiences living in Israel and serving in the army.

After dessert we stumbled back to the hostel, exhausted after another productive and exciting day. Tomorrow we will travel to Bethlehem and the ancient fortress of the Herodion.