Last night we had an amazing experience - Verdi's Aida opera at the foot of Masada. The production was spectacular with over 100 cast members and internationally known opera stars (plus Daniel Oren, the conductor). I'm not an opera fan but the whole event was so special that you couldn't help but be caught up in it. Where else but in Israel would an opera production include two camels? (really, I'm not kidding!) As we were sitting in the warm breeze in the desert with Masada lit up, I couldn't help but think of the people who gave their lives to defend this place. It seemed a bit incongruous, to say the least, to be sipping wine and enjoying world-class music in the same place the Roman camp was established to defeat the Jewish rebels of first-century Palestine, the century of Jesus. Josephus, the Jewish General-turned-Roman historian, wrote the story of the group's mass suicide at the site. It's a story that still grips many Israelis, and Jews all over the world, who continue to debate whether the rebels' final act of rebellion was bravery or cowardice. The palace-fortress built by Herod the Great is on a plateau in a spectacular desert overlooking the Dead Sea. (By the way, if you haven't visited it you must. It was declared by UNESCU a World Heritage Site). Thank you to the Travelujah web site for telling me about this event!