Ben-Yehuda, Nachman
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Nachman Ben-Yehuda (; born 8 March 1948) is a professor
emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...
and former dean of the department of
sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
and
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
.


Masada myth

One of Ben-Yehuda's subjects of research is the fall of the
Masada Masada ( ', 'fortress'; ) is a mountain-top fortress complex in the Judaean Desert, overlooking the western shore of the Dead Sea in southeastern Israel. The fort, built in the first century BCE, was constructed atop a natural plateau rising ov ...
fortress, the last refuge of a Jewish group, the
Sicarii The Sicarii were a group of Jewish assassins who were active throughout Judaea in the years leading up to and during the First Jewish–Roman War, which took place at the end of the Second Temple period. Often associated with the Zealots (altho ...
, to the Romans in 73 CE. During the
Siege of Masada The siege of Masada was the Roman Empire's defeat of the Sicarii, occurring from 72 to 73 AD – during the final period of the First Jewish–Roman War – on and around a hilltop in present-day Israel. The siege is recorded by a single contem ...
, the Sicarii committed mass suicide rather than surrender to slavery. He views the story of Masada, as presented in the early decades of the State of Israel, as a modern legend. According to his book ''Sacrificing Truth'', the rendition of
Flavius Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing ''The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Judaea ...
was embellished before and after the establishment of the State of Israel. Based on transcripts of the 1963-65 archaeological dig, he claims that the team, led by
Yigael Yadin Yigael Yadin ( ; 20 March 1917 – 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, soldier and politician. He was the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and Deputy Prime Minister from 1977 to 1981. Biography Yigael Sukenik (later Y ...
, a former chief of staff of the
Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...
, fraudulently misrepresented findings and artifacts to fit within a pre-scripted narrative. Ben-Yehuda compared the story as reported in the sole historical source, Josephus, to the myth that developed during the Zionist movement from the 1940s to the 1960s. He examined how archaeologists, notably Yigael Yadin, interpreted their findings to conform to the myth. According to Ben-Yehuda, Josephus describes the Sicarii unflatteringly. They assassinated their Jewish opponents, and would not help the Jewish
Zealot The Zealots were members of a Jewish political movement during the Second Temple period who sought to incite the people of Judaea to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Land of Israel by force of arms, most notably during the ...
s who were besieged in Jerusalem. They raided nearby villages, including
Ein Gedi Ein Gedi (, ), also spelled En Gedi, meaning "Spring (hydrology), spring of the goat, kid", is an oasis, an Archaeological site, archeological site and a nature reserve in Israel, located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the Qumran Caves. ...
, where they murdered 700 Jewish women and children. They offered no resistance to the Romans, and their suicide was cowardly, unheroic and unwise. Ben-Yehuda himself was brought up on the Masada myth, and climbed Masada himself to watch the sun rise over the
Dead Sea The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...
. Israeli youth movements visited Masada, and it was the location for military swearing-in ceremonies. According to the myth, the Jews at Masada were Zealots who escaped the destruction of Jerusalem and continued to harass the Romans. Ben-Yehuda quotes
Moshe Dayan Moshe Dayan (; May 20, 1915 – October 16, 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of General Staff (Israel), Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defe ...
calling Masada "a symbol of heroism and of Liberty for the Jewish people to whom it says: Fight to death rather than surrender." Ben-Yehuda argues that, contrary to Josephus, the myth claims that the rebels are "Zealots" rather than Sicarii, Masada was a rebel base for attacks on the Romans. The massacre in Ein Gedi disappears. Ben-Yehuda compared Yadin's tape-recorded notes during the excavations with Yadin's later statements. For example, Yadin's team found three skeletons, of a woman, a man and a child. On the tape, Yadin said that they could not have been a family. In later writings, Yadin said that they were the remains of an important commander, his wife, and their child. Ben-Yehuda believes that Yadin's distortions were ideologically motivated.


Selected books

* ''Fraud and Misconduct in Research: Detection, Investigation, and Organizational Response,'' with Amalya Oliver-Lumerman (University of Michigan Press, 2017, ) * ''Atrocity, Deviance, and Submarine Warfare: Norms and Practices during the World Wars'' (University of Michigan Press, 2013, )


References


Sacrificing Truth: Archaeology and The Myth of Masada.
Mid-60's Masada excavations forged a past through falsified evidence and concealed facts. By Nachman Ben-Yehuda (Amherst, NY: Humanity Books, an imprint of Prometheus Books) © 2002. Chapter One. Introduction: The Puzzle. Internet Archive.

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External links


Prof. Nachman Ben-Yehuda
Department of the Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences. The Hebrew University. Faculty page and CV.
History and Fable, Heroism and Fanaticism: Nachman Ben-Yehuda's The Masada Myth.
Book Review by Arnold H. Green, BYU Studies Quarterly, 36:3. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Yehuda, Nachman Israeli sociologists 1948 births Living people Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem