By Erin Mundy

First, I want to take a moment to say how grateful I am to be a part of ATID V and to be here in Israel. Almost my entire life, I was too afraid to go to Israel…then in 2019 my son signed up for his Birth Right Trip and he was too old for me to say he couldn’t go. I had to get ok with him going to Israel. It was after that and many talks with my friends and leaders in the Jewish community who helped me get over my irrational fear and I am so thankful that they did!

Since we were all taking a turn to blog one day of the trip, I had asked Josh if this Masada-Dead Sea Day could be my day to blog. I remember being a kid and even though I was afraid of going to Israel, I always loved hearing about the Dead Sea and thought how cool it would be to float in the Dead Sea. Today it was finally going to happen❤️

We started the day especially early as we wanted to beat the Yom Haatzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) traffic. We were all loaded in the bus at 7 am and on our way to Masada the historical Jewish fortress built into mountains! The entire drive was filled with gorgeous views of Israel’s terrain.

Once we arrived in Masada, we split into two groups to make our way up the to the Masada Fortress!  While I truly wanted to hike, I am grateful to those who understood my strong desire to do so but, thankfully reminded me that with my ankle that would not be a wise decision…they were so right!  

The group of us that took the cable car, got to meet the wonderful Israeli Soldiers who were ensuring everyone’s safety at the Masada Fortress! The other group braved the Snake Trail and hiked the path of our Jewish ancestors all the way up on a beautiful, perfectly sunny, hot day.  In case anyone is keeping track, Elan made it to the top first followed shortly behind by Hannah (Hannah may have some comments about her ranking being inaccurate)!

Once on top of the Masada Fortress we took in the most breath-taking views.

While on top of the Masada Fortress,  Hadara (our amazing guide), explained how and why King Harrod built the Fortress (a three story fortress, equipped with three mikvehs in the bathhouse on top of a mountain) and what happened to him and those who came after. 

And just when we thought it couldn’t get any better; we learned a Rabbi/Sofer Stan who was there transcribing a Torah to give to soldiers and he agreed to dedicate a letter in the Torah for each of us.  We each went up and told him with our name and (and our spouse’s name) and the rabbi wrote our names in Hebrew on a card for us and then when the first letter of our name appears next in the torah, he will dedicate that letter in our honor accordingly.  

After the excitement of Masada, we had lunch outside of the Ahava Outlet where we could refuel. 

And then we were off to the Dead Sea where we were bathed in the natural Dead Sea mud with its mystic powers and floated in the sea as I dreamed of doing since I was a child!  I was surprised to see how close Jordan was to where we were floating-as a child I was so focused on the mud and floating that I never imagined what the surroundings would look like.

We made our way back onto the bus (soft and smooth from the mud and salt) and we headed back to the hotel.

After freshening up from the full day outside, we headed out to dinner where Retired Colonel Miri Eisin exploring the main points of controversy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She was extremely engaging and informative.

Toward the end of dinner and her talk, we got word of the tragic terrorist attack at an orthodox community in Elad.  Our staff were immediately in communication with security advisors to make sure we were safe and our security guard was on top of everything.  Being here in Israel and learning of a terrorist attack an hour away, my instinct was to go to fear and sadness and yet, the unfortunate truth, is this something Israelis live with and have learned not to succumb to fear and retreat.  

Our speaker ended on an uplifting note; while she doesn’t have the answers, she  believes we will arrive at a resolution because the alternative is the worst for both sides. 

And with that, we concluded our night our amazing security guard Daniel, bus driver Charli, and Hadara brought us back safely to our hotel as always.