"Masada Syndrome" a Masada Travel Page by traveloturc

Masada today is one of the Jewish people's greatest symbols. Israeli soldiers take an oath there: "Masada shall not fall again." Next to Jerusalem, it is the most popular destination of Jewish tourists visiting Israel. It is strange that a place known only because 960 Jews committed suicide there in the first century C.E. should become a modern symbol of Jewish survival.Beacuse of this event there is what we call "Masada Sydrome" in psychology ...

After Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70, the Great Revolt ended-except for the surviving Zealots, who fled Jerusalem to the fortress of Masada, near the Dead Sea. Masada is situated on top of an enormous, isolated rock.King Herod has also a palace in this plateau.
The Romans were well aware that the Zealots at Masada were the group that had started the Great Revolt
Once it became apparent that the Tenth Legion's battering rams and catapults would soon succeed in breaching Masada's walls, Elazar ben Yair, the Zealots’ leader, decided that all the Jewish defenders should commit suicide. Because Jewish law strictly forbids suicide, this decision sounds more shocking today than it probably did to his compatriots. They Choose 10 soldiers to kill first woman and children than they choose one soldier to kill the rest and the last soldier made a suicide This is the tragic end of 960 Jewishs..