In her essay Yael Zarubavel challenges the assumption that group memory, which is different from history, is in decline by looking at Israeli selective collective memory. In her analysis Zarubavel focuses on two moments in time that are turning points in the Israeli collective experience and memory: the fall of Masada in AD 73 and the Shoah (1939-1945). First, Zarubavel argues that the fall of Masada, which for a time was erased from the collective memory of Jews due to the near loss of the historical account of Josephus, returned and took a new narrative during modern times of Israeli state building. In modern times Masada is remembered as a time of pre-state patriotism and courage that is representative of the Zionist national spirit, as
