Blessing Bethlehem

Blessing Bethlehem is a charity fundraising initiative with the purpose of helping the Evangelical Christian Arab community 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, at the LifeLight Festival in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

History

In September 2012, Ohr Torah Stone's CJCUC, in partnership with Pastor Steven Khoury of Holy Land Missions, launched a food voucher program to help the evangelical Christian community living in Bethlehem. CJCUC's Executive Director, David Nekrutman, began his dialogue with the Christian Arab community in 2009 through the organization's Bible Study Program.
Nekrutman learned of the Evangelical Christian Arab community's struggle between their ethnicity and religion and he wanted to alleviate the number one issue - 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 Jerusalem|International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem] joined the program. In 2016, the Food Voucher Program was renamed "Blessing Bethlehem" and officially launched at the LifeLight Music Festival in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.