Yael Eckstein Named One of 50 Most Influential Jews

The Fellowship  |  September 9, 2021

As the Jewish people celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, our friends at The Jerusalem Post again released their annual list of the 50 Most Influential Jewish People. And, for her work in leading The Fellowship in our work of helping Israel and fulfilling prophecy from the Bible after the passing of her father, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, President and CEO Yael Eckstein features in this inspiring group of influential Jews:

“There was a lot of pressure on me to fill his shoes,” she recalled. “But I decided that he had filled his shoes and I will fill mine.”

She knew, taking over, that most organizations that pass to the second generation usually fail – especially Christian ministries. In her first year, Eckstein lost the fellowship’s long-standing chief operating officer and its director-general. She put together a budget in hopes of just breaking even, but surprised even herself.

“We had expected to raise $123 million that year,” Eckstein said. “We closed with $173m. And this year, two years later, we have doubled our donor base from around 300,000 donors to 627,000. We have almost doubled our budget, too, which means we have helped almost double the amount of people.”

And she did all this in the shadow of COVID-19, during a war with Hamas and a lot of other surprises…

In the past two years, she said, she has proven that Christians loved her father, but did not support Israel because of him. It is a genuine support for God’s country.

Her father fought for three decades to achieve acceptance for Christian support for Israel. Today, Eckstein said, people appreciate and celebrate it.

“As a religious woman, I am in such a privileged position,” she said. “I help people make aliyah, provide food to the hungry, and I have a platform to teach Christians more about the roots of their faith.

“The Torah is coming alive in Israel,” she concluded. “Christians are yearning for that connection.”