Dear Friends of Israel,

Since yesterday was the "Liberation Ceremony on Cosmic Unification" and such a significant day for HF and TPs and the formal start of a New Heaven on Earth and in Heaven.

Since today is the beginning of the New Year 5760 for Jewish people around the world, it seems that it would be providentially good to begin this newsletter from the Holy Land.

(Publisher's note: For the moment, news will be from October 1996 up to the present date of the newsletter. In the future I would like to publish news from before this, but I need the cooperation of someone who worked in Israel before our family arrived. Volunteers welcome for the next issue ! )

To date there have been approximately 120,000 couples that received the Blessing at different levels and forms. In 1997 two couples representing Judaism, Islam and Christianity as well as Jewish-Israeli, Arab-Israeli and Romanian were Pre-Blessed in a fully formal ceremony in Tel Aviv. One couple was Pre-Blessed in a full ceremony in Gaza. After that there was another couple Pre-Blessed in the South.

From this point the whole perspective on how to Pre-Bless people changed from trying to bring them to a formal ceremony at our centers and homes to going out to Pre-Bless directly door-to-door. This was the "Campaign for World Peace through True Love in the Family". Approximately 20,000 couples were Pre-Blessed through this direct approach to couples in their homes. The other 100,000 were pre-Blessed through a direct approach on the street or in the stores with Blessing Nectar, Water and Candy. Many of them were also asked to sign their agreement to the four points of the Pre-Blessing. For each of the formal ceremonies officiated by TPs there was also a formal celebration in Jerusalem, sometimes linked by satellite. These were also supported at times with smaller ceremonies in Nazareth and Eilat. For 1999 there was a celebration in Jerusalem on February 8th, the date of the Blessing and then 10 days later another celebration in Nazareth, then another 10 days later a celebration in Beer Sheva on February 28. There were 33 couples represented in Jerusalem, 4 couples in Nazareth and 43 couples in Beer Sheva.

Over 100 couples have attempted the 40 days separation and about half have successfully fulfilled the 3 day ceremony. The education of these couples is an on-going task, some with workshops, some with lectures in their home, some with speeches, some beginning Hoon Dok Hae, some attending family meetings. We are handicapped by lack of Hebrew speaking members, though some of the Japanese volunteers have become quite proficient at speaking the language. We are also challenged by the two other predominant languages spoken here, Russian and Arabic. Most of our outreach materials have to be in all languages as well as English in order to be able to communicate successfully with the majority of the population.

As of today there are established volunteer offices and centers in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Nazareth, Haifa and Beer Sheva. Eilat, Tiberias, Nablus and Gaza have been pioneered but with no permanent locations. All the main cities in Israel and the Palestinian Territories of the West Bank have been visited extensively for Pre-Blessings and Fund-raising.

There have been three Bridge Ceremonies involving Jews, Japanese and Arab-Israelis involving more than 100 people. There is a signed up agreement membership of over 20,000 with a few core people in each major city mentioned. The volunteers from Japan have been "cycling" constantly back and forth from Japan, largely due to the unending effort and encouragement of the NMs from Japan, Mr. and Mrs. Abe. Generally there are approximately 20 in the country at any given time. This is unusual for the Middle East where most countries are lucky to maintain even a presence of one or two at any time.

FFWPU was inaugurated on October 27, 1996 by the NMs from the USA, Mr. and Mrs. Gabb in Tel Aviv and has been the organizational body that has sponsored all the Blessings, backed up by the legal status of the WFWP.

Sponsored by the WFWP as a "Campaign for the Protection of Youth" the Pure Love activities have begun encouraging youth to help protect each other from sexual relationships before marriage, from AIDS, illegal drugs and violence. Entitled in Hebrew "Love for the sake of Love" the Pure Love theme is spreading through the society and schools with the interest and support of Blessed couples, parents and with the tireless effort of the Japanese volunteers.

The Women's Conference for Peace in the Middle East has been convened twice in May 1997 and May 1998. This has been a successful gathering of representatives throughout the Middle East, often attracting very diverse involvement. There has been always much to restore in relationships, but the overall result has been very positive, in this very volatile area of the world. IFWP has had a number of Conferences involving Jews and Moslems both in and out of Israel. The last one being held in Spain. These seem very positive steps forward.

* If you have any comments or you would like to include news about the work happening in the Jewish communities around the world, please send your articles or commentary to: Stephen Gabb e-mail: ffwp @ isdn.co.il or fax them to me at: 9727-628-8942 (Tel / Fax ) 

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