What is the essential difference between Jonestown and Masada (see detail)?

Question

given that, at both sites, women and children were killed to fulfill male dominated visions of religous fervour.

Answer 1

HUH?

Women and children at Masada voted to commit suicide to avoid the horrors of being made into s*x slaves by the Romans.  Had nothing to do with religious fervor.

At Jonestown, everyone was murdered, without having a clue as to what was going to happen, because Jones needed to feel that power over them.

Kind of a HUGE difference!  Intelligent, willful decisions, versus brainwashed people blindly following a megalomaniac leader.

And, umm, what does this have to do with Holidays?  Even less so with Yom Kippur, unless you intend to beg forgiveness (in a month) for making such a statement.

Answer 2

I know were this question originates

The events of Masada are complex and have apparently been interpreted in a variety of different ways (see http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/masa... for a good discussion). In the best light, a group of heroic Jews were besieged by Romans and took their own lives rather than be enslaved. In its worst reading, a group of Jewish extremists, having been kicked out of Jerusalem before the fall of the Second Temple by other Jews, took refuge on Masada. From there, they raided other Jewish settlements (and killed lots of folks). Besieged by the Romans, they apparently didn't fight much at all and elected to kill one another at the end rather than be enslaved (the question of the extent to which the women and children were afforded a voice in that decision is, perhaps, an open one). In neither reading did any of the defenders try a suicidal fight to try to save the children and other non-combatants.

I see Anne's situation as being simpler than that, and her final choice as being diametrically opposite the one made at Masada (in either reading). Two young people whom she had grown to love were in danger. Far from electing suicide, she elected to fight to the end to save their lives. (Note that I see a big difference between fighting against long odds to save someone, and simply killing oneself.)

Answer 3

You might want to reread your history.  Masada was a military siege, not a religious schism.  The Romans didn't see them as a religious group, but as rebels.  And the Jews were simply trying to stay alive and fight off the Romans. The people all chose suicide when they could no longer hold off their attackers militarily - because they believed that capture by the Romans would have been a fate worse than death.  And also partly because it denied the Romans a victory when they finally breached the mountaintop - months of fighting and dying only to gain an empty piece of land, with no prisoners to show for it.  It was a tactic that was meant to be (and was) demoralizing to the Roman Army, to help in the larger battle being fought all over Israel.