Crouse recounts pilgrimage to Israel

She described three major faiths found in Israel: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

“It was a wonderful adventure. It's a real mix of people and faiths in one place,” she said.

During the nine-day tour, the group toured the ruins of Masada, and stopped at biblically significant sites such as Caesarea, the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, and Cana. They also visited cities such as Tiberius, Haifa, Nazareth, and Jerusalem. 

Crouse said although the Mount Carmel monastery, Stella Maris, did not have an elaborate exterior, the interior was impressive.

“Inside it was just absolutely gorgeous. In Rome several years ago, our tour guide told us when we went to the Vatican that most people back then did not write or read so they learned the stories from the pictures and statuary,” Crouse said.

She shared photos and described stone cases bodies were stored in after being treated with oil and spices.

“Once the body is decomposed, they put the bones in boxes made of stone. The size of the box depends on your longest bone,” Crouse said.

An additional discovery Crouse made during the trip was that  Jesus was likely born in a cave.

“Most of their buildings are made of stone of some kind because they don’t have wood there,” she said. “We went to many holy places. They generally would build a church on top of whatever the holy place was, whether it was where Jesus’ family lived or whatever. They're very elaborate.”

Crouse described the Last Walk in Jerusalem, also called the Stations of the Cross or The Way.

“We went early in the morning because there are lots of people and that way we could stand at each of the spaces and read the passages about that particular station. I was really impressed by this. We had a little booklet we followed along as we went through the stations,” she said.

Crouse said she felt safe walking through the various sites.

“When we went into Bethlehem, we went through a gate where there were soldiers and so forth. They didn't check us, but tourism is a big part of their economy all over Israel, so they welcome us as tourists,” Crouse said.

Crouse recounted the story of one of her former students from Israel, a basketball player, who had completed her required military service before she could attend college.

Since she grew up on a farm, Crouse was interested in agriculture practices on the tour. The main crops she saw were bananas, figs, and olives. She said the banana plants were much smaller than she had imagined and they were covered with netting to protect them from the sun.

She shared photos and described people selling vegetables and other fresh produce on the narrow streets of Jerusalem as well as foods such as falafels, fish, and pocket bread. She shared her favorite salad recipe from the trip which included grated carrots, olive oil, Kosher salt, horseradish, sugar, and mustard.

“As a Family and Consumer Science person, I had to get a cookbook. I may not ever use it, but I had to have it. The food was fabulous,” Crouse said.

—Tena L. Cook, Marketing Coordinator