6 Friday, April 3, 1981 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS IBM Traitor Josephus Invented Masada Suicide Story? Selectrics '388 (Continued from Page 5) man on Masada had a wife and children. But this was surely another of his inven- Full Warranty 342-7802 tions. While a few of the Sicarti may have been ac- companied to the outpost by their families, as a rule • • • • • 4 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • When you join our V.P. Club Membership • • • • • • Complete Video Library. 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The Masada guerril- las were surely true to type — young men, un- encumbered by family obli- gations It is being argued by some who uphold the authentic- ity of Josephus' account of the mass suicide of the Masada defenders that this action was in keeping with a traditional Jewish pattern, attested by Jewish history in the Middle Ages. But Jews committed suicide only when they were un- armed and unable to fight for their lives, as was the tragic fate of many Jewish communities during the Crusades. It was only after some Jewish communities of the Rhineland (Worms, Mainz, Speyer and others), helpless before their attackers, realized what' faced them' that they decided - to die by their own hands. Let there be no mistake about it: whenever and wherever Jews had arms, they fought unto death as they did during the Warsaw Ghetto revolt — and there were revolts and uprisings in virtually all Nazi-made ghettoes and death camps, including Auschwitz. Dr. Yigael Yadin, who ex- cavated Masada with the acumen of the ingenious ar- cheologist he is, strangely holds that the Josephus ac- count, including the in- vented Eleazar speeches, is true. As a result, Yadin mis- interpreted the artifacts and also the human re- mains his expeditions found on Masada. For example, he wrote that the skeletal remains found in one of the rooms of Masada's "palace villa," were without doubt "the remains of some of the de- fenders of Masada." He makes this identification on the strength of Josephus' statement: "And he who was the last of them all (i.e., those chosen by lot to kill all those on Masada), took a view of all the other bodies . . . And when he perceived that they- were all slain, he set fire to the palace, and with the force of his hand ran his sword entirely through himself and fell down dead near his rela- tives." Yet — and surely this is a_ contradiction to this statement — Yadin also wonders: "Could it be that we had discovered the bones of that very fighter and of his kith?" And all this on the strength of Josphus' con- trived Eleazar speeches written in Rome, and as Prof. Thackeray com- mented with tongue in cheek, "subject to minor restrictions of which the need for a shorthand re- porter was not one." But why should Josephus put into the mouth of Eleazar "the products of his own invention?", as Ed- mund Wilson characterized the speeches of Masada's commander. There are two reasons. First, there was Josephus' guilt on account of what he did at Jotapata where he was in command of the Jewish army that fought the Romans. After the Ro- mans inflicted a disastrous defeat on the Jewish army, Josephus took refuge in a cave where another 40 men of his army were hiding. Surrounded by the Romans and promised immunity if they surrendered, Josephus tried to convince his com- panions that they should trust the Romans and sur- render. But they would not hear of it, demanding that without hope for escape or resistance, they should die honorably by their own hands and that Josephus should join them in death as "the Jewish general" — and not let himself be taken cap- tive and paraded by the Romans in a victory display. But Josephus wanted to live. He suggested that, in- stead of committing suicide, which is forbidden by Jewish law, they should cast lots and "he upon whom the lot fell should kill the next one," and so on — until all had been killed — and then the lastvone should kill himself. In the end, Josephus was left with one other. And, he wrote, "as he was very desirous neither to be condemned by a lot, nor if he had been left to the last to imbue his right hand in the blood of his countryman, he persuaded him to trust the Roman assurances (i.e. to surrender) and to live as well as himself." Yet, earlier, Josephus had said to his companions-in-hiding, "it would be unfair, when the rest are gone, some- body should repent and save himself." Josephus was this "un- fair" one who not only saved himself but joined the Ro- mans as a traitor to his own people. It seems the act or treason did not trouble his conscience but having lured 39 men into death must have disturbed him. Cer- tainly, one motivation of Josephus' invention of the fiction of Masada was his craving for catharsis. By glorifying mass suicide as heroism, he pro- ved to himself that by entic- ing the 39 at Jotapata to commit suicide he had bes- towed immortal glory upon them. Another reason for- Josephus' invention of the mass suicide of the Masada guerrillas was his eager- ness to flatter his Roman masters. His story could not but please Flavius Silva, the commander-in charge of the siege of Masada. It pro- ved that the Judeans were "heroes" while protected by the natural defenses of Masada. But when they had to fight the Romans, man to man, they chickened out and comitted suicide. Those who uphold Josephus' reliability on the end of Masada argue that with so many eye-witnesses who said they saw. the 960 bodies of those who had died by their own hands, Josephus could not have fl- sified the record. However, if today, after the Nurem- berg and Auschwitz trials at which the Nazi crimes were proved, and after the Eichmann trial and the evi- dence presented there, "Re- visionist" pseudo- historians, some of them holding professorial chairs at American universities, can proclaim and be be- lieved that "the Holocaust is a Jewish invention," surely Josephus could have in- vented also. th e L i n en Le l twit L oft But Only For Awhile! We're moving from Franklin Road to Maple Road. Our new. larger quarters and even grander selec- tion will be ready on about April 1 5th. the Linen Loft W. Maple Rd. just east of Telegraph...soon! DR. LEONARD H. GOLDSMITH PODIATRIST FOOT SURGEON Takes pleasure in announcing the opening of his new office for the treatment of Medical and Surgi- cal disorders of the foot. Located at the Rutland Medical Center 17333 W. 10 Mile Rd. Southfield, Mich. 48075 3 Blks. E. of Southfield Road Office Hours By Appointment Telephone 559-8844