Last week, on a beautiful June night, I found myself in the eastern Judean desert, not far from Bethlehem, at the foot of ancient Herodium, a lavish palace built by King Herod between 23 and 15 BCE. Herod was a widely despised, Roman-appointed client king of Israel, Jewish in name only, who displaced the Hasmonean dynasty. The Hasmoneans, descendants of the Maccabees, had won Jewish self-rule a century earlier, a victory still celebrated each year at Chanukah.