Drinking Horchata on Masada

I never recognized a Jewish theme in Vampire Weekend’s music until I picked up their most recent album, Contra.   The opening song—Horchata—describes the drinking of a traditional Spanish beverage in the middle of December.    The song, which has had many interpretations—from a love affair gone bad to a simple drink of joy in a warm place in winter—includes a line that instantly caught my attention:

“You’d remember drinking horchata, You’d still enjoy it with your foot on Masada.”

Masada?   What American pop band references Masada?    I instantly went to the web to learn more.   After a few clicks of my mouse, I quickly figured out that lead singer Ezra Koenig is Jewish, but that he hasn’t spoken much about his religious upbringing on albums or in interviews.   I then looked back at the lyrics and tried to make sense of them.   This simple song is about pleasure, something that can be found even in a simple Spanish drink.   In this one particular line, Koenig states that even a person with their foot dangling off Masada would remember drinking such a beverage.  

Masada is the Dead Sea mountain fortification used by Jews as the Roman Empire was attempting to destroy them during the first Jewish-Roman War.   Instead of succumbing to Roman aggression, the Jews of Masada committed mass suicide—becoming martyrs in the minds of many modern Jews.   Today, tourists climb up Masada and speak of its inhabitants as heroes who willfully took their own lives instead of being killed.    I remember my first visit to Israel, where I climbed up this large mountain and watched the sun rise alongside my friends.

Does it make sense that we as Jews view mass suicide as something to celebrate?   Masada has become a heroic place, where Jews remember their ancestors’ actions fondly.   Is large scale mass suicide something worthy of celebration?    In my mind, Masada is a deeply sad place, where people perished.     As I travel there, I always try to remember that fact.

Thus, this one particular line from Vampire Weekend’s Horchata resonates with me.    The fact that one could remember the joy of drinking a Spanish beverage with a foot dangling from a site of mass suicide says a lot about a beverage.  Must be pretty good … It also says a lot about the song’s lyricist.   Clearly, the person who wrote this song knew the story of Masada, and its ethical complications.   

Yes, Ezra Koenig is Jewish.   No, he doesn’t speak of it often.   Yet in this song, one gets the sense that he struggles with Jewish concepts and ideas like any good Jew should do.