What's so heroic about Masada?

Question

They didn't fight till death. They suicided!

Answer 1

The rock-fortress of Masada rises some 1,400 feet from the western shore of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth. Steep cliffs frame the four sides of this natural plateau.

Masada is best known as the place where 960 Jewish fighters took refuge after the fall of Jerusalem, only to commit mass suicide in A.D. 74. When they realized the Roman Tenth Legion would finally break through their defenses, they chose to die by their own hands as “free people” rather than be enslaved.

Jews today claim the sands of time have not worn away the message of Masada. The tragedy has inspired both a mini-series and a rock opera. And, next to Jerusalem, Masada has become Israel’s most visited site and its most profitable tourism venue.

For years the young Israeli state used Masada as the site to swear in their soldiers. After finishing basic training, they would climb the crest of Masada at dawn and take a solemn oath, “We shall remain free men; Masada shall not fall again.”

For Holocaust survivors and Zionists the desert mountain is and forever will be, a sacred stronghold, a symbol of Jewish resistance against persecution.