For the last week, I have traveled on an experience called REALITY Global, run through my organization, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. REALITY empowers exceptional young people to enhance their leadership skills through an immersive personal and professional development journey through Israel grounded in the Jewish charge to repair the world. I traveled across the country with 50 incredibly influential young social entrepreneurs (mainly from North America) from Tel Aviv to the Golan Heights, from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee, from the lowest point, the Dead Sea, to the highest, Masada.
We visited Masada, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, overlooking the dead sea and saw the incredible ruins from the Roman fortress built by King Herod as a refuge for himself if a war broke out. Around the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, the Sicarii, a group of Jewish rebels, overcame the Roman army guarding the fortress and dwelled there for the next few years, eventually with about a thousand Jews in total. When the Roman army came to lay siege to Masada and restore ownership to their fortress, the Jewish defenders inside decided to all kill themselves instead of being killed by the Romans, as they felt so strongly against the Roman values and culture.As we visited the top of Masada, I was struck by the technological innovation (such as the water system) of the Romans when building the fortress, as well as the gaudiness of the Roman palaces, bath houses and more. We had an enriching conversation about the leadership lessons that can be learned from Masada, such as never entering a situation without an exit strategy and making decisions/taking actions that relate to your values and what you believe in during times of great distress.
I had visited Masada before but visiting with this group felt incredibly special. As entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, many are constantly dreaming, creating and building -- this place serves as an important reminder to think before you act and fight for what you believe in, in whatever way that fight may manifest. This was one stop on an inspiring journey throughout Israel, I cannot wait to come back.
