Blessing Bethlehem
Blessing Bethlehem is a charity fundraising initiative with the purpose of helping the persecuted Christians living in the city of Bethlehem and its surrounding areas. It was launched in September 2016 by the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC), at the LifeLight Festival in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Background. In September 2012, Ohr Torah Stone's Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC), in partnership with Pastor Steven Khoury of Holy Land Missions, launched a Food Voucher Program to help the local Christian community living in Bethlehem. CJCUC's Executive Director, David Nekrutman, began his  dialogue with the local Christian Arab community in 2009 through the organization's Bible Study Program. Nekrutman and Khoury became friends and traveled the world together to tell Christians and Jews about how God is bringing both faith communities together, in a bond of love. Convicted by Judaism's ethos of Covenant Land comes with Covenant Responsibility, Nekrutman learned of the Christian Arab community's struggle between their ethnicity and religion and he wanted to alleviate the number one issue affecting Bethlehem Christians - poverty. With initial funding from American Jewish donors, the Food Voucher program began by purchasing vouchers from  the Rami Levy supermarket chain. In 2013, the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem (ICEJ) sowed into the program. In 2016, the Food Voucher Program was renamed to "Blessing Bethlehem" and was officially launched at the LifeLight Music Festival in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.