UPDATE ON MASADA ANNIVERSARY: the news items I mentioned yesterday appear to have been wrong. According to Josephus, the fall of Masada was on 15 Nisan (either 73 or 74 C.E.), which this year is this Thursday, 17 April (also the first day of Passover). You can read Josephus' account of the fall of Masada by following this link to book VII of the Jewish War and starting at chapter 8.