Coming Home – In a Time of War

Yael Eckstein  |  June 17, 2025

I’ve got to admit something … one of my greatest fears. Throughout my two decades living in the Holy Land—and especially since the terror and violence of October 7—I’ve always feared being trapped outside Israel while my family was trapped inside. This past week, that imagined fear, that nightmare, became reality.

I was in the U.S., working with The Fellowship’s American partners, and had at last boarded a flight back to Israel—back home, to hug my husband and four children, to sleep in my own bed, to work from my own office, to be home…

… and then war with Iran broke out.

Midair, Israeli airspace was closed. My plane was turned around. I was stuck in America, not knowing when I would get home, not knowing when I’d see my family, not knowing what tomorrow held for Israel. There I stayed, stuck, praying for a miracle.

In the U.S., I was still getting code red alerts for incoming rockets in Israel on my phone—it didn’t know I had left the country. I watched the news as rockets slammed into residential buildings in Israel … some of them buildings I’ve walked by dozens of times.

Then, I got a call from some dear friends. They got one of the first approvals to go back to Israel. So, I went from New Jersey to Boston. My friends had a car waiting to take me to the airport, where I boarded the flight that had approval to land in Israel.

When I first made aliyah, moving to Israel two decades ago, seeing the Holy Land as home for the first time was one of the sweetest moments of my life. And each time during my years of working at The Fellowship—when I’ve returned home from America or from Ukraine or from any spot where God’s children depend on our help—stepping onto the holy ground of Israel is always sweet.

But this time, returning to Israel was like seeing the Holy Land for the very first time all over again. Stepping out of that plane and onto the truly holy ground of Israel brought me to tears.

But something else brought me to tears, too. Something about the Israel I came home to.

Here in Israel now, everything is different. Everything is empty. Ben Gurion Airport was eerie—nearly shuttered as I got off the plane. The streets and stores are empty, since people need to stay near bomb shelters because of the constant Iranian missile attacks.

But despite this Israel that welcomed me, I couldn’t keep from falling to the ground and kissing this Holy Land that is my home, my family’s home, and the Jewish people’s home.

During this whole chaotic trip, I was overseeing The Fellowship’s lifesaving operations of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and sheltering the poor – from the time that the first Iranian missile struck Israel when I was in America, through the long plane ride home, and from the moment the wheels touched down in the Holy Land. The Fellowship and our supporters are Israel’s on-the-ground humanitarian first responders, and we follow the rockets to provide lifesaving aid in real time … all the time.

Being able to hug my babies after they’ve been living in bomb shelters and I’ve been far away in America was the greatest homecoming gift I could imagine. And I thank God that He is here, with us—with my family, with my people, and with the Holy Land of Israel—because with Him anything is possible.

With blessings from the Holy Land,