July 6

This morning the MBIers woke up before the sun rose, and hopped on the buses to make their way to one of the most amazing historical sites in Israel – Masada. Masada is one of the most unique and remarkable architectural structures in the world - sitting atop a mountain that, at its highest points, reaches almost 400 meters above the floor below. Masada has the ruins of Herod's temple, as well as all the signs of Jewish communal life, from the synagogue, to the mikvah, to the houses. If you want to know more about the history, you can get a brief background here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada).

After taking the shorter way to the top, in order to make it for the sunrise, the MBIers were given time to walk around the site, and the madrichim put on some role plays to convey the history of Masada. One madrich was Josephus Flavius, a first century Jewish historian, who gave an overview of the history of Masada, setting the scene. The second act was 2 women who lived on Masada who talked about what cultural life was like there. The third was Elazar Ben Yair, the leader of the Rebel Zealots against the Romans at Masada in 73 AD, who talked about what lead the group to commit suicide, rather than be captured and enslaved by the Romans. Each group then had a short discussion about the choices made by those on Masada and extrapolated to discuss the choices one makes in life in general.

The MBIers then headed down from Masada by the winding snake path from which they had a spectacular view of the Dead Sea. After enjoying a hearty and well-earned breakfast at the Masada Youth Hostel they went to the Dead Sea, both the lowest point and the saltiest area on the earth's surface. Here they relaxed at the beach and enjoyed floating around in the salty water.

The afternoon was spent travelling through the large machtesh in the desert, a huge naturally formed crater right in the middle of the Negev Desert. The machtesh is a universally studied phenomenon, as it is one of the few in the world that was not created by a meteor or impact of a large object, but rather by the movement of the land underneath it. It is an overwhelming experience to look over the cliffs of the machtesh and see the splendor of the huge sunken area. There, the group got to mix different colored sands into jars and create beautiful, entirely natural works of art.

Finally, the group ended their very long day by going to Kibbutz  Mashabei Sade  in order to rest and prepare for Shabbat. The hostel is right near Sde Boker youth hostel has an amazing promenade where the chanichim can see the valleys and mountains of the desert. David Ben Gurion’s favorite place in Israel,  Mashabei Sade is a superbly calm, beautiful place to have Shabbat. After everyone had cleaned up a bit, they had mishpachot. This is a time where participants from each camp get together with the rest of their "home" kvutza. In the evening they had an oneg from bus three, or a short play, and then rikudei am (Israeli folk dancing).