FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 65
vschneps@gmail.com
My fi rst visit to Israel
two decades ago was
to celebrate my daughter
Samantha’s Bas Mitzvah at
Masada, because the girls’ ceremony
couldn’t be done at the
Western Wall.
It was sweet to come back and
revisit the holy historical site.
Masada is the place where Jewish
zealots between 73-74 BCE fl ed
the Romans. Th ey built a fortress
to protect the men, women,
and children on a plateau on the
Masada mountain top.
My family and I fl oat in the Dead Sea
and read our many newspapers!
Th e Roman General, Lucius
Flavius Silva, tried for weeks to
reach the rebels in their hilltop
fortress. But the Jews chose suicide
rather than be captured, tortured
and turned into slaves.
Th eir bravery is what legends
are made of. Perhaps the
Romans won the battle, but the
rebels’ courage is a symbol of the
strength of the Jewish people.
From the most visited site in
Israel, we traveled a few miles
south to the Dead Sea, another
of my favorite places in Israel.
We had a buff et luncheon at
the Herods Dead Sea Hotel and
aft er lunch we got lockers and
changed into our swimsuits to
plunge into the Dead Sea.
It is the saltiest sea in the world,
so you can’t sink! I brought copies
of our newspapers because
you can sit without sinking and
read them. What fun!
We covered ourselves with
mud, promising to create the
soft est skin, and then hosed it off
a few minutes later.
We chose not to go back into
the 104 degree heat at the sea
and happily jumped into the
hotel’s pool to cool off . We were
having such fun and didn’t want
to leave, but by 5:30 we decided
we had to go back to Jerusalem
for another memorable dinner.
VICTORIA’S
SECRETS
Victoria
SCHNEPSYUNIS
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Visiting Masada and the nearby Dead Sea
Josh covered
himself with skinsoftening
mud
at the Dead Sea
beach.
The family gathered at the Masada plateau.
Addy and
Morgan don’t
mind a little
mud!
Samantha and Elizabeth fl oat in the
Dead Sea. The high amount of salt
makes it impossible to sink!
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